Anchoring  92% DRAFT

Piloting a boat is only part of the activity.  Securing your boat is just as, if not more, important.

[important - The ideas contained within are those of the author.  No warranty is expressed or implied.   It is expected the reader has a working knowledge of boats, lines, anchors and docking and obtains first hand expert opinions and guidance at the dock to ensure their safety and the proper use of all marine equipment and accessories.  Consult your marina owner, local Power Squadron, or United States Coast Guard for answers to any questions you may have.]

INTRODUCTION

While on a rendevous with other members who frequent the Rec.Boats newsgroup, a discussion ensued around the topic of boat anchoring. Specifically, the fact that the concepts of anchoring escape some boaters leading to frustration on the part of the boat driver seeking a firm hold and endless fascination for those who get to watch the spectacle. It was decided that this would be a good topic to present for the Novice Boater Resources and work began on this article. Special thanks need to go out to Ted Ginity and Scott (Racboat) for reviewing this article. Together they bring over 50 years experience to boating and their advice and guidance has been invaluable for this article. And remember, just because they reviewed it doesn't mean they are obligated to correct every error. Unfortunately for me, any gaffs are my responsibility alone.

This article will cover the basics of selecting and arriving at an anchorage, setting your anchor (hook), different factors to consider, and finally, leaving the anchorage. This article is written to be as accessible as possible to all boaters. Hence, overly technical jargon and detailed specifics have been eliminated. The topics covered herein are discussed in detail in many of the books listed in the Recommended Reading section as well as Chapmans. Readers are urged to seek out the formal coverage of this topic in those books as well as to get hands on instruction on when possible.

CHOOSING AN ANCHORAGE

Anchoring out can be one of the greatest joys of boating. Almost all boats have the proper equipment to easily anchor, but surprising numbers of boaters never use it! This can be due to many reasons, but fear of the unknown should not be one of them. Before you decide to go "hang on the hook," for an afternoon or evening, you first need to decide where you'd like to do this. Cruising guides and local boaters can be some of the best sources of information for good harbors, but a look at most any chart can also be an easy tool to find suitable gunkholes. Here's a list of some of the thing to look for when choosing an anchorage:

Suitably deep water at low tide. Don't pull up the shore at high-tide and have the water leave you beached when it decides to go out! Depending on your plans, you want to be able to pull in, drop anchor, and leave without worrying about being aground.

Off a main channel: Traveling down a busy channel is a lot of fun, but sitting still in it can be a rolling, nauseating experience. When you drop anchor, you don't want your peaceful stay ruined by constant wakes kicked up by passing boats. These wakes can travel miles, so you don't want to pull over on a busy channel and drop anchor unless you have another reason for being there, such as crabbing or a good fishing location. Look for small creeks and rivers off the main channel or areas protected by natural or man made break waters.

Busy and popular? OR quite and peaceful? This is where local knowledge is really needed. After awhile you'll find where your favorite haunts are. If there is a near by beach bar or you are near a metro area, chances are you'll meet a lot of others. If it is off the beaten path, it may be quieter, but you'll surely find others with you.

Soft sandy bottom or hard rock? You may be limited here by your geography. Lucky for us, granite bedrock just isn't found in the Chesapeake Bay and may be unavoidable in areas of New Hampshire. Again, local knowledge and charts will indicate what you may be in for.

Note: Be sure your anchor is designed to hold in the area you plan to visit! Not all anchors are created equal! Discuss the proper equipment for an area with local experts at marine supply stores and marinas.

Cable crossing? Military area? Don't forget to check your charts for cable crossings and other underwater items (such as old bombs)! Many trips have been ruined by catching a cable lying on the bottom. Avoid these areas where and when you can. Look on shore for signs indicating where the cable enters and leaves the channel. Military restricted zones are normally well indicated on the charts also.

Private property? With only a few exceptions, the open water is there for public use. Millionaires in their mansions may not like to look out there window and see a bunch of boats anchored off her their shoreline or their quiet cove alive with swimmers. However, unless you violate some noise or pollution ordinances, you can anchor most anywhere you like. Just be sure to be respectful of others privacy and property our you might find local land owners working to pass restrictions to keep boaters and other water craft away.

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS

With these thoughts in mind, you are now ready to drop you dock lines and head out to the selected anchorage. As you reach your anchorage, one of the first things you want to do is take a look around. Mentally answer these questions:

Question: How many other boats are out there?
Reason: You want to be sure you can get in and out safely.

Question: In what direction are other boats pointing?
Reason: As you will see, this will affect your approach and anchoring.

Question: Are any other boats anchored by the bow AND stern?
Reason: As you will see, your boat will swing on the anchor. If you swing, and others don't, you could bump them.

Question: How far apart are the other boats?
Reason: Unless they are your friends, you may want a little privacy or they may want privacy.

Question: Are any loud or running noisy and stinky generators?
Reason: Do you want this annoyance next to you?

Question: Are you planning on being loud and running a noisy or stinky generator?
Reason: Do you want to park next to someone and ruin their day?

Question: Are there any shallow spots? See any tree stumps sticking out of the water?
Reason: You don't want to inadvertently ground yourself or ding your prop.

Since you have taken the time to survey the situation, you now have an idea what you plan to do. Often, it is easiest to have the person who will handle the anchor out on the bow to guide your approach. Since you may be some distance away, work out some hand signals to communicate during anchoring. Often, the person on the bow can see things more clearly and will direct the movement of the boat to the helmsman. If there is a current flowing or breeze blowing, slowly approach your anchorage with the wind or current in your face (upwind) and allow the boat to come to its natural rest. You will usually be pointing into the prevailing current or wind, so approaching in that direction, if you can, makes the time to settle shorter. Depending on your boat design, you may be pointing in the direction of the wind and not the current depending on which affects your particular boat more (power boats and sail boats respond differently due to their superstructure and keels, respectively).

Once you have found where you want to be, continue past it about 8 times the depth of the water. For example, if your depth meter says 8 feet of water, pull ahead about 56 feet. If you depth meter says 10 feet of water, pull ahead 80 feet. Don't worry, as you will see, you will end up back where you want to be. Which brings us to dropping anchor!

ANCHOR MECHANICS AND DEFINITIONS

Before we talk about how to set an anchor, we should first talk about how an anchor works. To get started, it may be easiest to say what and anchor is not. An anchor is NOT 500 POUNDS OF DEAD WEIGHT THAT HOLDS YOUR BOAT DUE TO ITS WEIGHT! Think about this. You can lift most recreational boat anchors with one hand. Can you lift your boat with one hand? What makes you think an anchor (15 pounds) can hold your boat (several hundred or thousands of pounds) by virtue of its weight if it weighs so much less? It can't and it won't.

An anchor is sometimes called a hook and by and large it works like a hook. Here is an experiment. Get a fishhook, attach it to a piece of string. Holding one end of the string, throw the hook and string out in front of you onto a carpet. Now pull it towards you. What happens? Chances are the hook eventually grabs the carpet and you can no longer pull it without setting the hook deeper or breaking the string. (How many fishermen have learned this the hard way on a bad cast?) This is the same way most anchors work. Step by step it follows that:

Now that we have the analogy out of the way, lets talk a little bit about dropping anchor in the boat. As you can see now, the reason we pulled ahead was to give us enough room to back up and let out enough line. A rule of thumb for the proper amount of line is 7 to 10 times the depth of the water you are in plus the distance your anchor cleat or bollard is above water.  This is called anchor SCOPE. Sometimes scope is expressed as a ratio length of rode over depth of water (ex. 7:1).  For my purposes, I'll just refer to it as the length of the road and assume the depth is constant and accounted for.  For example:

Your boat height above water usually won't change much, so estimate what that is whenever you get the chance and write it down somewhere. Now, whenever you want to drop anchor, just add that to the depth of water indicated on your depth meter and multiple by 7 to 10. That's the amount of length you need to let out BEFORE YOU TRY TO SET THE HOOK. As you backup, let out the line. Don't try to pull the anchor, just let out the line. Having length indicators set into your anchor rode or a color coded anchor rode makes this easier. Got that? Think about it again. If you held the fishhook so it just touched the ground and walked backwards, would it catch? Maybe, but probably not. The pointy part is being held up. Anchors work the same way! They can't grab the bottom unless you let them lie down properly.

You might be wondering why so much line and is it really necessary. Think about the hook analogy again. The flatter the hook lies on the carpet, the more it can dig in. By letting out more line, you are letting the anchor lay flatter and grab the bottom more.  On a calm day when you are awake and about, you might be able to use less. But if you plan to sleep overnight, leave the boat for any reason, or the currents or weather are picking up use all you can. Better safe than sorry anytime!

SWING RADIUS

Now that you have your anchor set, you probably realize that your boat is swinging all over the place and winds and currents change.  With a lot of anchor line out, you have created a large swing radius.  This is why you looked to see how other boats were anchored when you pulled into the  anchorage.  If other boats only have a single anchor out, they too will be swinging.  You want to make sure your swing will not interfere with their swing.  So give yourself plenty of distance between boats. 

 There are some complicating factors to consider.  (1) One is that others boats will generally respond to winds and currents in the same way your boat will.  So even if you are close, you may swing together and never bump.  UNLESS, the other boats are anchored by bow AND stern.  In small coves or during raft-ups this is not unusual, but I will leave it that you should NOT do this until you get more experience and first hand knowledge.  Being anchored by both bow and stern can create serious safety issues (i.e. get swamped) should seas get big and your boat can't swing to put the bow into the prevailing wind or current. (2) The other consideration is that sailboats and power boats will often respond differently to the prevailing winds and currents than power boats will.  Due to this fact some harbour masters will actually segregate power and sail boats into different areas.  The reason is that sail boats have more aggressive keels that are influenced by currents and power boats often have higher superstructures to grab the wind.  So if you are the odd-man-out in an area, be sure to give yourself plenty of room!

You are now safely hooked to the bottom! From here on out it is easy; socialize, read, sleep, watch the stars whatever you care to do.

WEIGHING ANCHOR

Eventually, you will need to leave your anchorage. This is easier to do than setting the hook, but there are still a few things to do. First of all, get your gear stowed and everything secure. Run the blower and get the engine ready to go. Once you have the engine started, have the person handling the anchor go forward and get ready to handle the anchor. If the person handling the anchor is strong enough, they can probably pull the boat to the anchor leaving the helmsman nothing to do but enjoy the ride. If not, have the helmsman pull forward while the person handling the anchor stowes the anchor rode. Once you get over the anchor and your rode is running straight into the water, give it a firm pull to break it free. Hopefully this will only take a strong tug. If it won't come free at all, there are a few tricks to try:

If you think you are on a muddy bottom, tie your anchor rode off to the anchor cleat or bollard. Then have the helmsman give a little forward thrust to help break the anchor free. Usually this is all it takes.

If your anchor is still stuck, you can try to bring leverage to bear. Have everyone come forward and stand on the bow. Give the anchor a good tie off to the anchor cleat or bollard. Then, have everyone walk to the stern. Often, the leverage of this see-saw action is enough to pull the anchor free.

If the anchor is still stuck, you may be hooked under a rock or tree limb. This is a not so good situation as it may involve hopping into the water and working it free or freeing the anchor line, securing a float to it, and coming back later.

Note: To avoid the last situation, many anchors have an eyelet on the crown to attach a sentinel line to. When you lower the anchor you lower both the lines with a float to note the sentinel line. Should your anchor get hung, you can use the sentinel line to pull the anchor up by the crown. Unfortunately, if you do not have the line attached before you set the hook, this won't do you any good.

With your anchor up and secured and safety shackle attached you are now ready to head on out! See you next time.

Glossary of terms