Setting your Anchor Alarm??

[Divecoz]

I have had Issues with this when single handing.
What I do: ..I select a spot , drop my anchor with 30' of chain and the appropriate amount of rode and a rubber snubber to reduce shock.. set the anchor and then set the alarm.
Let's assume I now have 50' to 60' of chain and rode out . This boat is going to swing in the night. It may well ,as most has experienced ..
Clock..180 degrees from my original location. So I set the Alarm with a swing of about 50'... All is good with the world.. Unless that wind picks up and continues in the same original direction.. Then I could drag 50 ' towards shore ..shallower water, before.... the alarm sets off.
BTW Murphy's Law says, you'll always drag onto shallower and rockier water hahaha..
It seems like I should actually set the alarm where I drop the anchor? However, even as quick as I claim I am "for an old guy" by the time all is done ?
That didn't work the way thought it would....
I have under calm conditions ... Grabbed the anchor rode and walk her back to the helm and reset or set the alarm. Not so good when the wind is kicking up.. What do you guys do in this situation, when single handing?

[kmclemore]

Why not just rig your anchor line to a point between the pulpit and the first rail stanchion? Then it won't swing at anchor, so you can set a closer point to measure... problem solved!

[pokerrick1]

Too smart

This is why I don't anchor - -- not smart enough

Rick

[Russ]

So I set the Alarm with a swing of about 50'.

I think you are setting the alarm too close. That is if you are giving a 50' swing.
GPS has at best accuracy of 8' but let some clouds move in and that goes to to maybe 50' and your alarm goes off just there.

Honestly I've never really used my GPS alarm, but I'd probably give it a radius of my danger zone.

--Russ

[Divecoz]

Hummm Object is to always ( I , thought read have been told) Have your boat when at anchor.. Point into the wind...So do I dare, tie her off, amid-ship?
How will that effect her ability to point?
What side attachment point would be strong enough , on a MacGregor.
Example. DaveB and others are familiar with....Pelican Bay 40 to 50 boats , 25 to over 45 mph winds, for over 2 days .. 60 hours..

[vmohome]

Iphone has some awesome Anchor alarm apps using the GPS

[kmclemore]

Divecoz, Frank C has written quite a bit on the forum about his method of making an Anchor Bridle, and it works very well. Here are a few of his postings that explain it...

From: http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... dle#p75556

Once again ... the easiest way to learn about side-anchoring is to run a quick prototype "Lunch test." Just tie-off your anchor rode to the aft pulpit stanchion. Here's the "Lunch Hook Test Mode", no chocks, no bridle, no investment, no hassles:

1. Anchor normally & cleat the rode at the bow;
2. Now pull another ten feet of excess, leftover rode from the anchor locker;
3. Lead surplus rode outside the pulpit;
4. And back to the last stanchion where pulpit ends;
5. (this is adjacent to the "deck seam" between anchor hatch and fore-hatch);
6. So now you have a "5-foot loop" of anchor rode at the stanchion
   (leading back to the bow cleat, also to the remaining pile of rode);
7. Tie that "loop" of rode onto the stanchion base;
8. Release your original cleat, so the bow now rides forward & rode bears onto the stanchion.
9. Leave some slack from the stanchion & re-cleat the lazy rode as a backup to the stanchion.
10. You'll be amazed that just this little change dramatically reduces swinging.

OR, try the "Lunch Hook Bridle Test:"

1. Anchor normally & cleat the rode at the bow;
2. Insert a half-hitch loop into the lazy rode, after the cleat;
3. Tie a 15-foot dockline into this little loop of rode
   (use bowline knots in both places if you know how - easy to release);
4. Lead the dockline outside the stanchions & shrouds, secure to either winch;
5. RE-cleat the lazy rode (on the idle cleat) about six feet behind the new loop & dockline;
6. Uncleat the original cleat so the anchor now pulls the triangle of lines (off-side cleat + the winch);
7. Lengthen or shorten the dockline at the winch to alter the bridle triangle;
8. Testing an infinite number of bridle points to learn the hull's bridled behavior.

From: http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... dle#p34086

I was so happy that I upped the order to 260 feet, giving myself enough for that long dockline I've been wanting for my "anchor-bridle / preventer." Here's the logic.

Dockline
My multi-purpose, 60' dockline has a dock-loop in each end (simple bowline for starters). With one loop over stb-aft cleat, it will lead forward along the hull, thru the boweye, and then back to aft-port cleat. Looped at both aft cleats, the 60-footer leaves barely enough slack for docking. But, when docking on the portside, move the stb loop forward to drop over the stb winch, giving a ~45' dockline on port .... and similarly if docking to stb, loop over the port winch. The 45 feet provide some combo for hooking two dock cleats with a springline & tail. If the cleats aren't handy, there's still another 15 feet of surplus hanging on opposite side of the boat. (Hope I don't regret cutting 60' instead of 75')?

• (I expect [when underway] that I'll pull some surplus line fwd & loop around the two bow cleats, dressing the line up to the rubrail. Except for wanting an anchor bridle, the line could simply lead through both bow cleats instead of the boweye.)

Preventer
When running downwind, boom to port, hook the port dockloop over end of boom, and pull it short & cleat it using the starboard dockline. It pulls freely side-to-side through the boweye, and it will hold the boom out to port until uncleated. (I'm thinking I might actually use the jibsheet cleat for quick releasing ... 60 feet of line should easily enable this). Obviously, it can prevent the boom to either side of the boat.

Anchor Bridle
By this time you've already figured the third leg of this tripod. The longline is outside the hull, through the boweye, and perfectly positioned for a bowline on a bight to tie-off the anchor rode about 4 to 5 feet aft the bow. No matter where the bowline is inserted, the longline permits scooting it fore'n aft by adjusting length using the off-side cleating position (aft cleat, winch or bow cleat). So this is how I'll be testing the anchor bridle for reduced sailing on the rode. (The anchor rode itself must still be cleated at the bow, with slack to the bridle's bowline - natch).

From: http://www.macgregorsailors.com/forum/v ... 79#p131379

For anchoring in mild conditions only ... rather than cleating your anchor line at the bow cleat, try tying the anchor line to the aft pulpit stanchion. You may tie-off to the aft stanchion of the pulpit on either side, port or starboard.

The physics:
The natural curvature of your hull, itself, is repeatedly "tacking" through the eye of the wind.
Snubbing the hull at either forequarter prevents the bow from passing across the wind.
This reduces the swing angles from 120 degrees to about 40 degrees.
The pulpit stanchion isn't the best choice of an anchor snub, but it will work for anchoring in mild winds.

[kmclemore]

!	kmclemore:
	Sorry, everyone - I must have mis-clicked somewhere along the line tonight and inadvertently locked this thread. It is now unlocked. Mods do make mistakes sometimes. Mea culpa.

[Divecoz]

Thank You Kevin
I researched this topic of attaching anchor points amid ship.. Every site I find say NO... Danger.. Do not do this..albeit it was in reference to high winds changing winds and overnight anchoring ,as a side bar(thats my issue and point of this thread) . My concern is to be able to reduce the target area for my GPS when I am asleep.. I found the very same guy... DaveB talked about in the mark your anchor rode thread and I found him in a different boat 3 times in one month at 3 different safe harbors. He was a menace ! He took up the area, literally of a Football field. At least in SW Florida where I trailered my boat to for 4 months . You can expect your boat to clock the compass, over night. Go to bed pointing north, sometime in the night you may well find you've clocked the compass and are now pointing south Into the wind and the waves and by the time you arise in the morning your back to pointing North again.. Thanks Guys.. I will play with this problem and I may make that trip again next month for the winter again...

[tchariya]

Drop a second anchor from the stern to stabilize?

[Russ]

Drop a second anchor from the stern to stabilize?

Unless a storm is brewing...then you want to ensure your boat will point somewhat to windward. Sumner has a story of tying his boat cross the wind. It wasn't pretty.
Some have dropped stuff off the stern (mush anchors etc.) to slow the "sailing" at anchor.

Years ago before fun gadgets like GPS, I built a simple anchor alarm. A weight (few links of chain) attached to string dropped close to the anchor. The other end tied to a pull switch (like you find in a closet) to a buzzer. If we dragged, it pulled the string, pulling the switch, turning on the buzzer box next to my head.

Also good to note about swinging 180 degrees on anchor. If that happens, under some circumstances it might be worth popping your head up to see if you are in fact dragging, then reset the alarm.



--Russ

[c130king]

Also good to note about swinging 180 degrees on anchor. If that happens, under some circumstances it might be worth popping your head up to see if you are in fact dragging, then reset the alarm.

Just me...but I am "worrier"...if I was swinging 180 degrees I probably won't be sleeping as I would be up every 5 minutes checking things. But then again with my bladder I am up all the time anyway.

But if it was just a gentle swing due to the turn of the tide or current as opposed to bigger wind changes maybe I would sleep through it.

In my few anchoring experiences I have never set an anchor alarm...in fact I turn my GPS off.

I am going sailing/camping this weekend. I will play with the anchor alarm and see what I get.

Jim

[vizwhiz]

Y'know, looking back at the original question - I can see why this would be such an issue...you'd have to set the anchor alarm right where you drop the anchor...if you have, say, 50' of rode out...you'd expect the boat to make a circle of 50' in any direction from the anchor point - and if you go outside that 50', it would indicate that you were dragging... But unless you carry the anchor back to where your GPS is located, so you can drop the anchor and hit the button at the same time, the chances of you actually getting the "center of the circle" as your anchor alarm point seem pretty slim, especially when sailing alone.

And if you set the alarm at 50' once you've let out the rode and you are in your first-position-of-the-night, you'd alarm every time you swing through about 60-70 degrees from where you started (depending on how sensitive/accurate your GPS was)...or, as he said, you could drag 50' before the alarm went off...

It sounds like a catch-22 if you're single-handed...unless you carry the anchor back to the cockpit next to the GPS unit...I'm interested to see where this goes and what other kind of responses come in. The advice on setting up anchor lines sounds good, but doesn't address the first question...

[CampCook]

I set the alarm as I drop th anchor. When the anchor is set, I know the radius. Add 20% for gps random error and something for boat length if you like and that bcomes the guard distance entered into th device. The last step is get out the glasses and survey the swing area visually. Works for me.

[sasbibic]

Take a look on this WEB, maybe Personal Anchor Alarm solves Your problem http://anchoralarm.zkd.si. Software is still in development, but You can test it.