Anchoring is not for the faint hearted. Take a 25 kilo (55 pound) anchor. Attach it to one end of a chain. 50 metres of chain is 100 kilos (220 pounds). Attach the other end of the chain to a 36,000 kilo (18 ton) boat. Throw anchor and chain over the side. Then hope (pray) that it keeps the boat from going to any of the wrong places.” It is particularly critical if you are there for the night. It is nice to sleep believing that you will wake up in about the same place that you went to bed. In the last month we have anchored overnight 22 times.
It’s a lot like ground tying an elephant to a toothpick with a string in a field of mice. And then spending the night on his back.
We generally perform this exercise one of two ways. The first involves setting the anchor in a bay and allowing the boat to swing with the wind and current. The second is to anchor the bow and then back up to a quay and attach the stern to the quay. A variation of the two is to anchor the bow and take a long line ashore or setting a second anchor from the stern to keep the boat from swinging.
The complications come from: Depth of water? How well the bottom holds which kinds of anchors? How well the bottom will let go of the anchor when you want it to? What is the fetch in the direction of the prevailing and/or expected winds and/or currents? What other boats are in close proximity and where their anchor and chains are? The amount of chain that they put out will determine the size of the circle that they swing in. If it is different than the amount that you have out, close proximity can become zero proximity with a wind change. Rocks, reefs, and other obstacles can be visible or just below the surface. Perception carries 50 metres (162 feet) of chain. That makes 10 metres (33 feet) the outside maximum depth that we can anchor in.
On the
The other captains watched us with careful eye. They, also, were concerned that we not come so close. In their case, it was their boats, anchors and chains that they felt for. One boat’s anchor can disrupt another’s.
We picked a place. Dropped the hook and 45 metres of chain in 7.5 metres of water. The anchor set. Even though 4 other boats anchored in this same small bay and the wind did shift during the night, we all rode safely without incident.
One more complication: We later discovered that this beach is a “nudist beach”. When asked not to come so close by a swimmer, Fred replied, “We are just looking.” Not the right answer. Not what he meant, but exactly what she suspected.
Phyl & Fred
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