"Roger Long" wrote in
:

Anchoring, being one of those things best done slowly and delibertly,
is one of the easiest single handed maneuvers. When I read posts
about how to avoid rushing around and minimizing risk it makes me
think the issue is one of the overall approach to single handing and
vessel management and not of dealing with ground tackle.

Getting the anchor up under sail in a tight anchorage is a bit more
difficult but not much.

This is one of those things that's easier said than done. If you're in a
benign situation, then yes, it is easy. If you've got 20+ kts of wind and
other boats anchored too close, then it would be a huge challenge. What
happens if you drop the hook and it doesn't grab and you're being blown
onto another boat or a reef? In non-single-handed anchoring you'd have
one person at the wheel driving forward as the other person hauls the
anchor in. For a single handed operation I don't know the answer to this,
but it sure doesn't look like a good situation. It can be tense enough
with 2 people let alone 1. I've seen this happen and I've jumped in my
dinghy and offered to lend a hand.

Single handed operation is inherently more risky and that's especially true
when anchoring around other boats where mistakes can cause harm to others.

-- Geoff