Why Fortress anchors

you do have it a bit easier out there than the crowded waters of say Newton on a sunny Sat eve

Sometimes taking the anchor out in a dinghy can mean placing it accurately, amongst a crowd of other boats and anchors and chains and rodes. though never done it myself.
 
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Seriously though, I personally have never had to take an anchor anywhere in a dinghy during my now quite long life and conceive no time when I would think it necessary (or even safe if waves) so would be very low on my priorities for selection of any anchor.

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How big are your tides?

I hit and landed on a mound of shingle just outside the gutter in Fishguard lower town last year. It was my fault, I took my eyes off the sounder to try and hear what my sweetheart was saying, when I realised she was saying 'oiy! it's getting really shallow here' it was too late /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Now, the harbour dries, it was HW neaps and for two tides in the 10 minute window I had I managed to find another high bit. The tides were going up by 10cm each time but prolly less with the high pressure. The one that got us away was walking the anchor behind the boat across the gutter.

Had it not been drying it would have been a dinghy ride.

Trouble with a cat, there is no heeling her off the putty, we can gain a little by shifting weight up to the bows to lift the aft of the skegs a little. There are many other reasons to use the dinghy, setting up a fore an aft anchor, kedging off a wall in the wind.
 
placing it accurately, amongst a crowd of other boats and anchors and chains and rodes.

Yer pulling my leg /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. What do you do with the boat while one is poncing around with an anchor and the rode in the dinghy?

Just drive in and just as accurate (maybe more so) in the boat. After all, I assume that it will be clear enuff to pull yerself up to the anchor when one eventually wants to retrieve it then drive away so must be clear enuff to drive in too and drop it.

Yes, we are a little backwater with generally uncrowded conditions but they sometimes do occur. And many of us also specialise in fitting into tight little crannies among rocks, etc to avoid the weather. Always just drive in, after all one has to do that dinghy or not.

Glad to see that, just as I would have expected, you are a good enuff driver to have not needed to carry the anchor in the dinghy too /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Regards

John
 
Not when one, when rafted up, some inhabitants of Newton will take an anchor out when on a raft with other boats. Makes placement a bit easier in very congested conditions
 
Ok, Ok I concede - Newton Creek anchorers have the choice of learning to drive, having a Fortress anchor and giving it rides in a dinghy, or moving to some part of the world with decent waters to boat on.

Howz that? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

John
 
better. you ought to try it for real though. You NZ boaters have no idea what a packed sun filled Sat eve is like in most popular anchorages, and I hate you for it.
 
Yer forget, I've bin around and there are other places with crowded anchorages apart from Bitland. But personally I wouldn't bother.

Git to bed and dream, see it is near bed time in the anchorage /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Dream_On.jpg



Ho Hum, time to row that rotton Fortress out again in case the boat swings in the night /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

John
 
Bon Accord Harbour, Fitsroy, Issy Bay in summer. Who needs a ding. You can walk from one side to the other on all the boats parked there.

Very very rare to see secondary anchors deployed.

Maybe NZ boaties are less paraniod, too pissed, just lazy, don't bloody know about boating /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. I'd pick no.2 as a common option /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. Could be NZ boaters are so much tuffer than can handle steel anchors in a ding /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif. Some kiwis can stand in the middle of 45,000 people and have a pee, mind you they could also get a sound thrashing with a handy handbag as well /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Ooh goody, a mid term anchoring debate

For a cat you can be quite annoyingly dogmatic /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I agree that for most purposes a good bower anchoring system is all you need however, read on...

We have used a second anchor to hold the bows into a sprightly wind to prevent her shearing around which is what she wont to do having relatively high prows. We've tried the sail on the backstay which works-ish but dominates the cockpit and makes a row as the boat shears. So out into the dinghy to lay the second at 30-50 degrees off. Once laid we all sleep peacefully in our beds.

In Norway, we stick out an anchor at the back to hold us off a ring bolt on the nose, as do the commercial vessels. OK, they have a proper stern anchoring system but on a yot space and cash are limited.

If you happen to call into the Bahamas on your travels you'll see a fair few boats with a Bahamian moor (two anchors off the nose cast fore and aft in a stream) to keep the boat aligned in a narrow channel.

You are probably not convinved but then I wouldn't expect you to be, as I said earlier we use one 'cos it works.
 
grubbing around Poole harbour (neap tide movement 2') it can be very usefull to take the anchor for a run in the dingy then haul yourself off the mud on the anchor rode!

this of course works better with the outdrive/outboard up as you can slide nicely over the mud.

getting out and walking isn't the wise option as it's soft and very deep in places!

Anyhow we clearly need to have a photo competition through the summer 'taking the anchor for a dingy trip' - Newton's definitiely a good opportunity.
 
Had wondered about those GMac but haven't had the pleasure of being there so could only rely on what I have been told. Torrent Bay can get crowded at times too, but a place we avoid when so - easy to do as a bit out of our way from here with much better places in between.

Couldn't find a photo of Kawau busy with forum sized yachts but http://www.millenniumcup.com/site/milleniumcup/files/MCBig/KAWAU.jpg shows one with some superyachts (largest in the photo is around 300 foot) all with their Fortress anchors rowed out by their dinghies /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif - just so peeps can see what Kawau is like just a short sail from Auckland.

Obviously they keep a little way away from each other liking a bit of searoom, so not very crowded, and not inclined to raft up (although we have had the pleasure of rafting up with a smaller one in our "little" boat).

Duncan may be pleased to know that I have helped carry a superyacht's anchors out over the mud before a storm, but we walked (er staggered) not rowed.

Perhaps someone could post a photo of Newton Creek?.

John
 
Re: NC snaps

Thanks Chris, and the other photos on the page are of interest too.

{Perhaps to clarify for some posters I have said before on these forums that I enjoy photos of and hearing about other peeps home waters, so my interest is genuine. Especially of places I have not been, of which the Solent is one}.

Regards

John
 
Re: NC snaps

Gezz.. there's a few traps in that Solent looking at the photos, banks here, ledges there.

Newton Creek looks a cool spot though.
 
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