I borrowed a friend's boat for the week..

[Divecoz]

Had a bit of trouble anchoring in the mooring field.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxg30c6z00E

[dlandersson]

Looks like moi on any given weekend.

Had a bit of trouble anchoring in the mooring field.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxg30c6z00E

[Phil M]

To know so very little about sailing, and to be able to charter a sailboat yet.
Maybe they pulled their certification papers out of a cereal box that morning?

[BOAT]

That's why in Dana Point Harbor in the free anchorage areas you not allowed to leave your boat - they have a rule that someone must be on board at all times because too many boat renters dragged anchor lines through the area and a lot of empty boats ended up on the rocks.

Here in Oceanside they do let you leave your boat unattended when at anchor in the free anchorage area (not sure why?) I have often wondered about that.

Imagine how scary that was for any of the boat owners that were on shore at the time that guy came barging in!

[Whipsyjac]

I'd already watched that on youtube a few times,

How about a proper analysis and breakdown?

So the skipper fudged it, how about we look at this as a lesson on what to do once you're in trouble? Let's stop laughing or at least stop ROTFL and start "Helping" here's a perfect seamanship training video.

Coulda happened for a lot of reasons other than bad seamanship:

You're heading into irons to douse your sails before entering the anchorage and there's a sudden squall from your beam...you're drifting....your crew panicked...you have a halyard or sheet tangled and under tension, where's the rigging knife...skipper has a medical emergency at the worst time...admiral or crew has a med emergency at the worst time...Your heading into the wind to drop sail, you just started the engine and it stalled just as you loose momentum and sail trim now you're drifting backward

A bunch of reasons I could be in an anchorage out of control other than being a total moron(just a partial moron...a mor?)

Let's see what we can learn from this video

First Radio for assistance, ask for assistance, establish communication with other boats, first responders always pause to establish chain of command, give command of the situation to the first reliable looking guy in a dinghy so all you have to worry about is your own boat and crew while someone else oversees the bigger picture.

What's the best way to deal with the fouled rudder and prop?

Launch your own dinghy and take a painter off the bow to try to get some control?

Rigging knife so the boat stops sailing altogether or at least stops so you can drop anchor or spare anchor.

I look forward to learning from this,

Willy

[mastreb]

We were anchored out of Avalon on Catalina island one morning, when I looked up through the window and saw we were moving fast relative to the boat next to us. I panicked and ran up into the cockpit to fire up the motor and get the boat under control, when I realized we weren't moving, the other boat was.

Completely adrift, nobody aboard. I watched it hit the boat behind us as I called the harbormaster on VHF 16. They came out and towed it away.

I saw no hanging anchor chain or rode, so my guess is the rode came uncleated.

[Tempus]

The lessons I took out of this:

1. Drop the sails well before you get near your intended mooring/anchoring point (cough....I knew this when I first started sailing at age .

2. Take decisive action to minimise damage to other people's boat.

3. I am amazed at the good will and patience of those assisting. Yes they're doing it to save their vessels from these numbskulls, but even then, good humour seemed to be maintained.

A few years back we had our boat on Sydney Harbour for the NYE fireworks. Everyone who owns a boat...including those who never use them...is on the harbour for NYE. We anchored in Farm Cove right near the Sydney Opera House with great view of the bridge. Midnight fireworks were great. All good. Most boats up-anchored and disappeared into the dark heading for home. We chose to remain anchored there for the night. Later I got up to check the anchor to find a boat had come in and anchored just up wind of us with no understanding of how an anchor actually works (scope). He was so close I was able to stand on my bow and fend his boat off with my foot. How the two boats never hit still amazes me. I decided the best thing to add to this equation was distance!