Navigator wrote:
I've noticed something strange. I had suspected it for sometime but just
a little while ago my suspicion was confirmed. We had sailed to a small
island and moored in the only cove. Chart indicated no hazards, just
sand with small shell bottom. Dropped the anchor (Sarka) in about 4m of
water and laid out about 6:1 rode as per usual.

Is "sarka" a type of anchor? How much scope do you let out to set the
anchor?

.. The depth under the keel
indicated 5m. Went to bed. During the night I woke up with a strange
feeling of uncertainty. Perhaps the boat's motion had changed but
nothing obvious. Peering into the blackness, the loom against the stars
indicated we had not moved.

??? Dang you're good, doing celestial navigation to within a couple of
meters by eyeball through the port.

Why didn't you take a bearing, or better a transit, on some fixed
objects on shore? That way you can really tell for sure if you've moved
outside your swing circle.


... Nevertheless, the feeling did not go away. I
flipped on the depth sounder and it read 4m but then started to chnage
-then 3.5 then 3.0 then 2.5 and that is when I reached for the engine
key. But it stopped rising at 2.3 and we need 1.8m.

I thought you said your depth sounder indicated depth under the keel?

... With little tide
left all would be well. As I watched it slowly increased again. I
deduced that we were ever so slowly swinging over an uncharted rock.
Intrigued I snorkeled out in the morning (Brrrrrr) and saw the rock. We
had laid just enough rode to place out keel right over the center of a
2-3 m wide rock platform with sand and deep water all around it.

Now why did we just end up over a rock? My suspicion is that boats seek
out rocks -is this possible? If so, why do boats seek them out?

The Finagle Factor: perversity of the universe trends towards a maximum.

Same reason why boats sitting around a start line in no wind tend to
magnetically drift together.


Did I wake up because the small swell was accentuated as we swung over
the rock and I sensed it in my sleep?

It's possible.


Any similar experiences?

Mostly, I've awakened at some change that I *thought* meant we were
dragging, but turned out to be harmless. Or fishermen putt-putting by in
the wee hours. Most recently, I woke up about 2 minutes before the turn
of the tide when we were anchored in a channel and swinging to the
current. I watched the boat swing around and settle down peacefully,
dozed lightly in the pilothouse for about an hour waking up every few
minutes, then went back to bed when it was obvious that nothing was
going to happen. This kind of thing is a sailors instinct and almost
everybody who cruises much developes it in some degree.



OzOne wrote:
We seem to become ultra sensitive when hanging off a hook.

Alternately, I was tied alongside a jetty a few years back, dropped
off to sleep and woke to find that I was neatly tied off ON THE OTHER
SIDE of the jetty.
I asked a local about it and he said that fishing boats sometimes use
that wharf to unload. He had helped them quietly move us around the
end and onto the other side without waking us.

Those guys were slick all right. They must unload pretty quietly too!

No mean feat with a 46' yacht.

OK, now you're bragging...

Fresh Breezes- Doug King