Joe wrote:
Capt. JG wrote:

You don't need an anchor light in a designated anchorage, although it's a
good idea.

You don't need someone on watch if you're confident of your anchoring and
conditions are mellow.


I have to dis-agree with you Jon. When I say at sea I mean in the Gulf
of Mexico here. It's easy to have shallow enough water to anchor as far
out is 15-25 miles in places. Under 100 ft for me, I only carry 325 ft
of chain. I'm less worried about dragging anchor than getting run down
by a commerical vessel. If you do drag, or lose your anchor all
together with a 6 kt current could carry 48 miles in 8hrs with a fair
chance of hitting a platform. We normally tie to a platform offshore,
or use field bouys. Platform it's a must. any shift in weather can put
you into the legs ect. Myself I can not sleep easy with no one on
watch, even on my own boat. Now if you were inland in a cozy cove it's
a totally different story.


Joe, are you saying you tie up to one of the oil platforms, and if so,
how do you keep your boat from swinging into parts of the platform when
currents change? (Might be hard on the mast.) Or, do you only do this
when you maintain a watch to monitor the situation continuously?
Somehow I don't think my little boat would fare as well in that kind of
situation as Red Cloud, built of reinforced stainless steel of course.

Jim

Jim