"JimC" wrote in message
y.com...


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.


''stainless steel''? that's a good one, Jim.


SV