How do you enter a anchoring spot with boats already there?

[Doug W]

who else here sets their anchor and then spends 20-30 minutes intensely monitoring for any sort of dragging? In our home waters, on coves we've anchored in uncountable times, we tend to set and barely pay attention. However, in less known or unknown waters, I'll sit on the bow and Angie will sit at the helm ready to start and move us in any sort of non-holding situation...

[yukonbob]

I set the drag alarm and have a drink. If it hasn't gone off in 30 min I turn it off until I go to sleep. I'll only turn it on if the wind is up or we're exposed. If it's dead calm I don't worry.

[BOAT]

terrified of being one of the 99.997% idiots (at least when it comes to anchoring), I've avoided most situations where I'm sharing an anchorage with others on the hook unless we are the first onsite with the anchor set. The couple times I've entered an anchorage while traveling unknown waters and I needed to set an anchor, we have opted to set as shallow as possible and as far away as possible and study the lay of everyone else's anchor lines to try to mimic them.

I dread the day that my anchor drags and we are near someone's $100000 boat!

Also, we seem to swing back and forth a lot at anchor--more so than heavier keel boats. (anyone have any tips to lessen that? Storm sail? Snubber on anchor line and bow-ring? More Rum so that I don't care?)

Doug

I go shallow because I am too cheap to carry a lot of chain. It's also an old habit of mine to go shallow because the wind on the pacific normally blows west towards the shore so us old timers that were sailing trailer boats in the 70's with retractable centerboards could use them for "alarms" so we would drop the anchor shallow and then blow back to the beach. You get a good set that way as it's harder to drag an anchor uphill than downhill. Back then we did not have GPS or anchor alarms either, so we set our own "alarms" by dropping our centerboards. If we drifted to shore the centerboard would bang noticeably and let you know in a hurry you were drifting. Then you just haul up the centerboard and re-set your anchor. My habit in a crowded bay was to always tie a milk jug to my anchor with a thin line of twine so I knew where the anchor was. You can't do anything about the idiot power boats that always throw out an anchor and then drag it over everyone else anchor lines. Powerboaters are dummies because they never have any sense about what direction the wind is blowing until AFTER they throw out the anchor. My rule is NEVER anchor near power boaters. Catamarans are also to be avoided.

Power boaters and Catamarans drag anchor and they are the hardest to avoid because they also anchor shallow - don't get tangled up with them. Make safe harbor where other sailboats are if possible.

[Highlander]

paint ur boat navy grey & name her Minesweeper !!!with some beer barrels hanging off the stern corners

J

[Ponaldpe]

[quote="Highlander"]paint ur boat navy grey & name her Minesweeper !!!with some beer barrels hanging off the stern corners

J [/quote


I have been looking for a name for the Mac, and their might still be some Navy gray in the shed.

[Doug W]

paint ur boat navy grey & name her Minesweeper !!!with some beer barrels hanging off the stern corners

J

[Catigale]

I did a week trip down the Hudson and one night a huge cabin cruiser idled up and tried to anchor near me. Probably figuring the mast meant depth.

They promptly grounded, bent props. I decided I wasn't interested in trying to tow a 20,000 lb boat on a tidal estuary in the dark with two kids on board, beyond my pay grade.

[grady]

I did a week trip down the Hudson and one night a huge cabin cruiser idled up and tried to anchor near me. Probably figuring the mast meant depth.

They promptly grounded, bent props. I decided I wasn't interested in trying to tow a 20,000 lb boat on a tidal estuary in the dark with two kids on board, beyond my pay grade.

Good call!!!!!!

That is hilarious!

[yukonbob]

Cat's story reminded me about a story a few years back. A buddy had just purchased a 25ft bay diver and wanted me to come along for the shakedown on our Southern Lakes system. Another buddy who claimed to frequent the lakes was in the lead heading into the narrows and short river that leads from one lake to the next. Clipping along at 35-40 mph and after having my head down for a few minutes organizing and mixing myself a drink (its nice to be a guest sometimes) I looked up and noticed where we were; Having spent a fair amount of time on the lakes I mentioned that he might want to move farther to the left. He responded that he was just following the other boat. No sooner had I told him that if he didn't move over to the channel we were going to ground, the other boat hit bottom at full speed and threw a 20 ft high plume of lake mud into the air
Okay moving left he says This lake is controlled for hydro and lake levels rise throughout the summer, and the other boat was following his GPS track from the following late summer/fall. They did get off bottom with a whole lot of mud sucking and throttle then sheepishly followed us up the marked channel the rest of the way into the next lake.

[BOAT]

Haven't done much lake water myself - the stuff sort of scares me. (Ain't no lake water around here anyway). If I ever go to a lake I plan on taking Mr. Sumner with me - he's the expert on lake mooring and he knows how to dive on an anchor when there's trouble. (Never need to do that over here in the pacific - it's plenty sandy).
Only time I ever had to dive on an anchor was in the Sea of Cortez (cuz my dad MADE me dive on it) I was scared because there was a tiny octopus near the anchor and I did not want to go near it. (I'm afraid of sea creatures - that's why I don't fish).

[Catigale]

You should be afraid. You guys get sharks in your tornados out there.

[Highlander]

Haven't done much lake water myself - the stuff sort of scares me. (Ain't no lake water around here anyway). If I ever go to a lake I plan on taking Mr. Sumner with me - he's the expert on lake mooring and he knows how to dive on an anchor when there's trouble. (Never need to do that over here in the pacific - it's plenty sandy).
Only time I ever had to dive on an anchor was in the Sea of Cortez (cuz my dad MADE me dive on it) I was scared because there was a tiny octopus near the anchor and I did not want to go near it. (I'm afraid of sea creatures - that's why I don't fish).

This sounds too Fishy to be true !!

J

[BOAT]

You should be afraid. You guys get sharks in your tornados out there.

The watersprouts suck the sharks up out of the ocean like a big vacuum cleaner:

Then the sharks drop down out of the clouds on people.

I saw them on TV.

[Highlander]

You should be afraid. You guys get sharks in your tornados out there.

The watersprouts suck the sharks up out of the ocean like a big vacuum cleaner:

Then the sharks drop down out of the clouds on people.

I saw them on TV.

Really & what children's channel were u watching

J

[mrron_tx]

terrified of being one of the 99.997% idiots (at least when it comes to anchoring), I've avoided most situations where I'm sharing an anchorage with others on the hook unless we are the first onsite with the anchor set. The couple times I've entered an anchorage while traveling unknown waters and I needed to set an anchor, we have opted to set as shallow as possible and as far away as possible and study the lay of everyone else's anchor lines to try to mimic them.

I dread the day that my anchor drags and we are near someone's $100000 boat!

Also, we seem to swing back and forth a lot at anchor--more so than heavier keel boats. (anyone have any tips to lessen that? Storm sail? Snubber on anchor line and bow-ring? More Rum so that I don't care?)

Doug

I go shallow because I am too cheap to carry a lot of chain. It's also an old habit of mine to go shallow because the wind on the pacific normally blows west towards the shore so us old timers that were sailing trailer boats in the 70's with retractable centerboards could use them for "alarms" so we would drop the anchor shallow and then blow back to the beach. You get a good set that way as it's harder to drag an anchor uphill than downhill. Back then we did not have GPS or anchor alarms either, so we set our own "alarms" by dropping our centerboards. If we drifted to shore the centerboard would bang noticeably and let you know in a hurry you were drifting. Then you just haul up the centerboard and re-set your anchor. My habit in a crowded bay was to always tie a milk jug to my anchor with a thin line of twine so I knew where the anchor was. You can't do anything about the idiot power boats that always throw out an anchor and then drag it over everyone else anchor lines. Powerboaters are dummies because they never have any sense about what direction the wind is blowing until AFTER they throw out the anchor. My rule is NEVER anchor near power boaters. Catamarans are also to be avoided.

Power boaters and Catamarans drag anchor and they are the hardest to avoid because they also anchor shallow - don't get tangled up with them. Make safe harbor where other sailboats are if possible.

Boat..... I vote for the set the hook and then more rum . Ron.