"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 16:20:58 -0500, "Roger Long"
wrote:

My 32 footer is small enough that a series of jerks
to bring her around pointing towards the anchor usually sets it very
firmly.
Then, I let out the full riding scope and usually sleep soundly.

Hopefully you back down on it with the engine at some point. That is
the acid test for me and I highly recommend it. Take a shore sight on
something to verify that you are not moving even an inch, then go to
sleep.


As the rode pays out I give it a few "jerks" to get the anchor to roll over
and start to dig in.

I "dig in" at 1500 rpm for about 20-30 seconds while taking transits on
shoe. I also feel the rode forward of the bow roller to make sure the rode
is taut and that there is no vibrations which might indicate that the anchor
is not set.

"Jack Dale" wrote in message
news:d%wBh.84744$Y6.41487@edtnps89...

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 16:20:58 -0500, "Roger Long"
wrote:

My 32 footer is small enough that a series of jerks
to bring her around pointing towards the anchor usually sets it very
firmly.
Then, I let out the full riding scope and usually sleep soundly.

Hopefully you back down on it with the engine at some point. That is
the acid test for me and I highly recommend it. Take a shore sight on
something to verify that you are not moving even an inch, then go to
sleep.


As the rode pays out I give it a few "jerks" to get the anchor to roll
over and start to dig in.

I "dig in" at 1500 rpm for about 20-30 seconds while taking transits on
shoe. I also feel the rode forward of the bow roller to make sure the
rode is taut and that there is no vibrations which might indicate that the
anchor is not set.

Great minds think alike. g

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

"Wayne.B" wrote


Hopefully you back down on it with the engine at some point. That is
the acid test for me and I highly recommend it. Take a shore sight on
something to verify that you are not moving even an inch, then go to
sleep.


Nope. Interesting how people's environment effects their perspective. What
is it you have Wayne, 6-71's? People have been anchoring under sail for a
lot longer than there have been engines. I'm not going to start the engine,
warm it up barely, and the run it up to near full power just to set an
anchor. 15 hp in reverse isn't going to put a lot more strain on it than my
heaving. With the line in your hands, you can also sense a lot about the
bottom, is the anchor just holding in weed, is it hooked on a stone. When
each jerk get's firmer and firmer, you know it's going down and will
continue to do so with more strain.

When I do anchor under power, I back down but the engine is warm and it's
convienient.

None of this is appropriate to your big power boat with it's big engines and
high windage but I've never draggged.

Shore bearings I do take.

--
Roger Long

GO TO BOTTOM .. NO TOP POSTING FOR ME.
==========================================
"Roger Long" wrote in message
...

"Wayne.B" wrote


Hopefully you back down on it with the engine at some point. That is
the acid test for me and I highly recommend it. Take a shore sight on
something to verify that you are not moving even an inch, then go to
sleep.


Nope. Interesting how people's environment effects their perspective.
What is it you have Wayne, 6-71's? People have been anchoring under sail
for a lot longer than there have been engines. I'm not going to start the
engine, warm it up barely, and the run it up to near full power just to
set an anchor. 15 hp in reverse isn't going to put a lot more strain on
it than my heaving. With the line in your hands, you can also sense a lot
about the bottom, is the anchor just holding in weed, is it hooked on a
stone. When each jerk get's firmer and firmer, you know it's going down
and will continue to do so with more strain.

When I do anchor under power, I back down but the engine is warm and it's
convienient.

None of this is appropriate to your big power boat with it's big engines
and high windage but I've never draggged.

Shore bearings I do take.

--
Roger Long
================================================== =================
This is from my Power Squadron Course .. taking it again. Always good to
get a refresher.

The vertical distance to the bottom includes: 1. height of the bow of boat
to water surface. 2. depth of water. 3. anticipated difference in water
depth due to the rise and fall of the tide.

Approach the place you intend to anchor against the wind or current;
whichever is stronger.

Lower [ never throw ] anchor, let it hit/set on bottom. Allow the boat to
drift with the wind or current. Use more rode than you need for the planned
scope. This will increase the horizontal pull ..

When satisfied the anchor is set, take in extra rode. tie to bow cleat ..
use a Cleat Hitch.

Take a bearing to object of shore. To check for dragging.

no engine .. not for sailing vessel.

"NE Sailboat" wrote in message
news:6jEBh.455$aM.343@trndny03...
GO TO BOTTOM .. NO TOP POSTING FOR ME.
==========================================
================================================== =================
This is from my Power Squadron Course .. taking it again. Always good to
get a refresher.

The vertical distance to the bottom includes: 1. height of the bow of
boat to water surface. 2. depth of water. 3. anticipated difference in
water depth due to the rise and fall of the tide.

Approach the place you intend to anchor against the wind or current;
whichever is stronger.

Lower [ never throw ] anchor, let it hit/set on bottom. Allow the boat to
drift with the wind or current. Use more rode than you need for the
planned scope. This will increase the horizontal pull ..

When satisfied the anchor is set, take in extra rode. tie to bow cleat ..
use a Cleat Hitch.

Take a bearing to object of shore. To check for dragging.

no engine .. not for sailing vessel.


My friend in Los Angeles harbor who had the ferro tank sailboat had the most
unique method of setting anchor I've ever seen. While I wouldn't repeat it,
it seemed to work for him. But then, he had a rock hull (and though I still
think fondly of him, possibly a rock head as well). He would approach his
chosen anchorage at about 5 knots, cutting the anchor loose when he judged
(if that is the right word) that he was approaching the point he wanted his
anchor to set. A 45 pound CQR tailing heavy chain would then plunge to the
bottom, chain paying out behind until it reached the preset scope,
eventually digging in and swinging the boat around. He always did this under
engine power, scaring the bejeezus out of every other boat in the anchorage
and any virgin crew aboard. He was not open to other methods of anchoring,
having had such success with his "power drop" method forever.

Downright scary.

On Sat, 17 Feb 2007 09:07:01 -0500, "Roger Long"
wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote


Hopefully you back down on it with the engine at some point. That is
the acid test for me and I highly recommend it. Take a shore sight on
something to verify that you are not moving even an inch, then go to
sleep.


Nope. Interesting how people's environment effects their perspective. What
is it you have Wayne, 6-71's? People have been anchoring under sail for a
lot longer than there have been engines. I'm not going to start the engine,
warm it up barely, and the run it up to near full power just to set an
anchor. 15 hp in reverse isn't going to put a lot more strain on it than my
heaving.

Well Roger, you are entitled to your opinion of course, but I beg to
differ. Yes, I do have 6-71s driving big 30 inch props, and yes, they
can generate a *lot* of thrust even at idle speed. I estimate they
put out about 20 hp each at idle, but I usually only back down on one
engine unless really concerned for some reason. 20 hp is capable of
generating 300 to 600 pounds of reverse thrust thanks to the big
props, enough to stretch a 3/8 chain bar taught or nearly so.

Now for a little story, a very recent one in fact. We went cruising
this weekend up Pine Island Sound in SWFL, to a nice little cove
called Pellican Bay on the north end of Cayo costa Island. It is a
well protected harbor and we had it almost to ourselves because of the
chilly weather. On our way in however we noticed a very unusual
trawler that had clearly been modeled after a George Buehler "Diesel
Duck" design.

http://www.dieselducks.com/

We motored over in the dinghy on Saturday afternoon to get a better
look, ended up meeting the owner, and were invited aboard for a tour
of the boat. He had hand built it over 4 years and something like
$100K in cost even though doing virtually all of the work himself. It
was beautifully done to professional quality in almost every respect,
and he and his family were out for their first cruise since launching.

To make a long story short, we got hit with a 35 to 40 kt squall about
2:00AM on Sunday morning, and awoke to see his boat heeled over on a
sand bar about 1/2 a mile away from us. Sure enough his anchor had
broken loose during the squall, and they had dragged aground at nearly
high tide, on their very first night out. We are not entirely sure of
all the subsequent details but believe he was required to sign a
salvage contract with SeaTow to get pulled off. I'm sure it was an
expensive lesson in how not to anchor, and it would not be a good
thing to have on your insurance record.

We of course had done our usual due diligence anchoring on 5:1 scope
with 3/8ths chain, and a heavy anchor well dug in under power. As far
as I could tell from the GPS plot, we never dragged an inch even
though the anchor load probably exceeded 2,000 lbs during the squall.
This morning when we pulled up, the windlass would not even budge the
anchor off the bottom. I ended up locking off the chain and pulled it
out with the 6-71s. The anchor was so well set it must have had at
least 200 pounds of mud and clay on it.

Moral of the story? You really can't be too careful. The force of
the wind at 40 kts is 16 times greater than at 10 kts, and 40 kts is
just a routine squall in my experience. I've seen them as high as 60+
on an otherwise nice day.

PS: Thank you Glenn Ashmore. That 120 lb Spade is some awesome
anchor, and it is darned cheap insurance, especially these days when
your first claim is likely to be your last.

"Wayne.B" wrote

20 hp is capable of generating 300 to 600 pounds of reverse thrust thanks
to the big
props, enough to stretch a 3/8 chain bar taught or nearly so.

Yes, but 20 hp doesn't do much with a skinny little two blade sailboat
wheel. When backing down against the anchor the propwalk puts most of the
horsepower into just swinging the stern around sidesways with very little
strain on the anchor rode. I probably get more dig in just by janking on
it.

Sailboats are different.

--
Roger Long

"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote in
:

recently i read a post where someone described how he kept his anchor
in the cockpit, with the chain stored in a bucket. he would then
deploy the anchor from the cockpit, see that it was set well, then
walk the rode up to the bow and tie off there. While it could really
only work with small boats and small anchors too, this idea seemed
simple and brilliant to me. Am i the only idiot who never thought of
it?



One of my friends, Dan, had a Hatteras 56 FBMY. He didn't really have a
cockpit, the helm was in his living room and another one on the patio
(flybridges don't have enough room for a pool, ya know..)

The medium Hat would deploy its anchor from either helm station. There
was one button for UP and one for DOWN.

He never used the anchor until I challenged him to go to the Charleston
Tugboat Races near USS Yorktown (CV-10). Just out of the channel, but in
plenty of tidal current coming down the Cooper River, I pushed the DOWN
button and let the anchor hit bottom in about 35' of water in the pluff
mud. I let the current drag us away putting the train engines in neutral
and keeping the DOWN button pressed backing away about 80 yards. When I
let up the button, the chain groaned and the Hat just sat there on her
tether, much to his amazement.

She held just fine for hours until way after the race was over. (White
Stack one by a pollard...(c We had dinner and sat on the patio under
the stars, then pressed the UP button until the anchor showed up. I
dragged it in the water while backing down to wash the mud off it before
winding it all the way into the chain locker. (I don't know how much
chain it had but it was a lot!) We motored back to the marina enjoying
the lights of Charleston passing slowly by about 10PM...how beautiful she
is....

That started a great Summer of anchoring out after I proved to him she
would trail her hook just fine. The next weekend we spent two days
anchored off Bird Key behind the island. We dragged by jetboat behind so
we'd have something to buzz around in leaving the "Big Camper", as Dan's
wife used to call her, on her hook in calm waters.

I liked the part about refilling her tanks on DAN'S credit card....(c;

She's sold and renamed, now. Dan and Kay have a huge diesel pusher
motorhome that dwarfs a Greyhound bus. They liked it so much they've
ordered an even grander road mansion, custom made to their tastes this
time.... I miss the old Hat and spending Saturdays in her bilge fixing
this or that or playing with the 8V92TA train engines in her two engine
rooms....on DAN'S credit card, of course...(c;

"Fill 'er up!", I said to the diesel dockhand while Dan held both hands
over his pulsing heart...(c;

Larry
--
Vista has been out a week.
Is Service Pack 1 ready yet?

On Feb 16, 9:38 am, "Shaun Van Poecke"
wrote:
....
recently i read a post where someone described how he kept his anchor in the
cockpit, with the chain stored in a bucket. he would then deploy the anchor
from the cockpit, see that it was set well, then walk the rode up to the bow
and tie off there. ...
Shaun

I have done this, and, while it is certainly a small boat trick, I
have done it with a 20 ish pound Danforth with a bit of chain in a 36
foot boat several times and on smaller boats as well... It is just
the thing when you: have things set up or have time to set them up,
are anchoring under sail, are single or short handed and want to see
where you anchor hits the bottom (eg looking for sandy bits in the
coral). Otherwise, I think the over the bow method is best.

-- Tom.

In article ,
"Shaun Van Poecke" wrote:

My anchoring technique when sailing solo has always been pretty laughable.
At least for observers anyway. For some reason, it never occured to me that
i could anchor from any place on the boat other than the bow. anchoring in
isolated places usually went ok; a quick sprint to the bow with the motor
still running in neutral, drip anchor and drift back until i had enough
scope, then tie off.

Anchoring in crowded areas, particularly if it was a bit choppy or there was
a strong wind could really be an experience though.... the usual scenario
sees me dashing back and forth as i drift too far too fast to get the anchor
placed exactly where i want it, tripping over loose lines all the while.

recently i read a post where someone described how he kept his anchor in the
cockpit, with the chain stored in a bucket. he would then deploy the anchor
from the cockpit, see that it was set well, then walk the rode up to the bow
and tie off there. While it could really only work with small boats and
small anchors too, this idea seemed simple and brilliant to me. Am i the
only idiot who never thought of it?


After reading the 30 messages I see in the thread, I believe the best
answer is "slow down", possibly adding an "aim further upwind" as a
usual action.

I tried the aft launch and while it worked, it was more trouble than it
was worth.

In that sort of situation, I come in with the engine ticking over (as it
always is in a possibly tricky situation), choose my spot, furl the jib
and head up-wind. I start strolling forward while we have a knot or so
on, reaching the bow before we lose the momentum. Then I pay out line,
keeping slight tension on the rode, bring up the slack at about 3:1 and
then snub it at 7:1. After flaking the main sail and putting the cover
on, I check the rode again. Only after about 5 minutes settling down do
I back down, and then only at about 1000 RPM, as our feathering prop is
effective.

It's always so funny to see someone come into a dead-easy anchorage,
stop and futz about before heading forward -- at which point the boat's
dropped back a couple of lengths and is making pretty good speed, fast
enough that the Danforth just sails over the bottom and doesn't hook.
Then they do it again!

Even funnier are the ones that drop the anchor and rode in a pile, then
immediately back down at 2000 RPM. Anchor never gets a chance to set and
they plow a furrow the length of the anchorage.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's NEW Pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/