I've found that to true as well... find a nice spot, then someone sees where
you're hooked, and then feels absolutely compelled to drop their hook right
next to you. Happened down in Belize. We waited until the small fleet
gathered, then picked up the anchor and moved about 200 yard away.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Bart" wrote in message
oups.com...

Ellen MacArthur wrote:
Wind generators. Solar generators. Diesel generators. Shore power cords.
Fridges. Freezers.
Air conditioners. Water heaters. Microwave ovens. Propellers. What do all
these have to do with
sailboats? I think the answer is people like that don't want a sailboat.
They want to put their house
inside a boat. That's OK if they just stayed far far away from people who
don't want to be hassled
by all their commotion. And out of sight of people who don't want houses
navigating around.
Not to mention their air pollution. Why do anchorages these days
have to smell like an airport or a
truck stop? Why does the biggest smelliest noisiest boat always anchor
right upwind of the fleet?
They can't seem to stay away. They get as close to you as they can.
It's as if they really want to
bother you.

Most people are sheep looking for a herd. So they cluster
together and skip perfect anchorages, if they are empty and
race to crowd into an anchorage that is overcrowed.

I can think of many time where I was the first to anchor in
what I thought was a perfect anchorage that was empty,
late inthe day, only to find 3-4 boat follow me in and crowd me.
This was in Macarel Cove south of Jamestown, RI.

I always try to anchor away from everyone else and people
will think I know some "big secret" abou the bottom or something
and pull up there hooks to move next to me.

I think it all comes down to fear. People are afraid to be on
their own. They think having other people (boats) around will
make them safe.

Speaking of sheep. Did you know there are 60 million sheep
in New Zealand and only 3 million people? The sheep are
looking for a good leader then they are going to take over.