Anchoring

[Viv]

There has been some chat on the forum about anchoring overnight and concerns about anchor dragging.
I read this in our Sailing Holidays manual (yippee only 4 weeks to go!) which might or might not be useful.
Quote: If anchoring overnight, we are in the habit, if there is any wind about at all, of laying our kedge anchor off the bow in addition to the bow anchor for security. This should be laid about 15 degrees from your bow anchor. This configuaration should never drag and will allow you to sleep easy. Unquote.

This is in relation to the non-tidal waters in Greece.
Does this make any sense to anyone, and does this work in such tidal waters as ours?
Sheila

[allan]

I'm not sure why this should help although, obviously, any extra anchor will help. On the YBW forum I put a description of how I was shown to set an anchor alarm. If you wish I could repeat it on here?
Allan

[Viv]

Yes, why not Allan - there must be others interested.

[allan]

One point about anchor alarms, I always use my handheld GPS as I can have this on the bunk next to me. When I drop the anchor I try to do it, initially, from a stationary boat. Once the boat has stopped, I set the GPS alarm before going forward. I then drop the anchor and twice the depth of chain. Then I give the boat a small burst of reverse to spread the chain and add the rest of the chain required. As my boat is heavy and my motor is quite powerfull I only ever reverse with low revs to set the anchor. My main point is to set the anchor alarm near to the centre of the anchor circle, so you can set it smaller.
Allan
PS Should someone reset the time of the forum?

[Cardiff Yacht Club]

We are now on Central European Time. Board doesn't seem to have BST.

Edit: Or maybe not. Hmm......

[ishtar]

Does this work?

[ishtar]

Aha, yes it does. That admin fella doesn't know anything.

Go to your profile (link at the top). Find 'currently observing DST' and set it to yes.

[sandpiper]

I've not used two anchors on my boat but I have on a friends off Weymouth. The theory is that two anchors splayed apart at an angle share the load, and so are individually 'feeling' less pull. Also by splaying them at an angle it reduces the boats tendacy to yaw about. However as the tide turns theres a fair chance of the two lines getting tangled.
I'd imagine that in the near tide free Med it would work well in a blow.

[allan]

Time now sorted.
For anchoring I agree that two anchors are good for the med. I would worry about using two in the Bristol channel. Turning on two anchors could mean that all the pull is on the smaller (kedge) and if it moves, not only could it tangle but it could disrupt the main one.
One thing that is forgotten about anchoring, told to me by a French friend. Anchors set by moving, if it breaks free it will probably reset itself. Rather than lifting an anchor that has failed to set, driving the boat upto it and trying to set it at a different angle saves a lot of effort.
Allan

[Deleted]

I've read, though never tried, that if your worried about holding in a blow, the best way to use 2 anchors is one behind the other on the same chain / rode. Not sure how far apart they should be. Perhaps the same as the depth of water?

Anybody done this? Comments?

[ishmael]

Two anchors sounds like double trouble!!

You simply need one good anchor. I'm CQR fan, with 8mm chain and 16mm warp (what's all this about rode, its a warp!) . The important thing is to know what the depth will be at high water and after having 'set' the anchor lay out 5 times the depth, unless you're using all chain in which it could be 3 times HW depth. Check again that the anchor it 'set' by full rev astern.

When you're happy that all is OK, row ashore and spend the evening in the pub. If the mooring is not near a pub, leave and go somewhere else! After having spent the evening ashore on returning to the boat switch on the GPS anchor watch and set to the appropriate radius, the boat will swing round with the tide. Its always worth taking a compass bearing just to check. Thats it. Go to sleep. All you have to do then is wake up every half hour and check that you're still in the same place!

Year before last a couple of boats from CYC spent a memorable night ashore, followed by an equally memorable night in a howling gale in the Camel esturary.

Two anchors? No way. Good ground tackle and making sure that its all well 'set' and everything is OK