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Paul
 
Posts: n/a
Default Great weekend

So we anchored this weekend for the first time (for those of you just tuning
in we're 1 month new to boating).

My anchor is a danforth knockoff and seems to weigh about 1 ounce, it's
really light. We putt-putted out to Big Grenadier (Pitch Pine Point I
believe it's called) running through the textbook steps for anchoring to
make sure we had a good grasp of the "how to" of the whole thing even if
just in theory. We were a little anxious never having done it before and
made a deal not to lose patience with each other.

So we found our spot and motored forward and with the wife handling the
anchor I stopped our forward momentum. She lowered (not dropped) the anchor
and gave me the sign that it was on the bottom (by yelling "OKAAAAY IT'S ON
THE BOOOOTTTTTOOOOOM" ... clearly we have yet to work out some hand
signals).

I reversed slowly ... and here we temporarily depart from the textbook.

At this point I have to mention that there was another cruiser making his
way through the cove and at exactly this point he altered his course to
ensure that the room I wanted to use to back down would be filled up by his
friggin' boat. I was a little incredulous and kept backing down thinking
that he couldn't possibly not realize what I'm doing. But no, he really,
really wanted to use that bit of water (as opposed to the 80 square miles of
EMPTY water available to him) so I ended up knocking off my rearward
momentum and bascially getting totally balled up while I waited for him to
pass.

He gave me a wave as he went by ... I pretended not to notice.

In the meantime the wind shifted and everyone simply swung on their anchors
while I drifted and dragged everything towards them -- I had been trying to
hold position but relative to what? Everything was moving. While trying to
figure out if my position was salvageable I lost track of where the rode was
and started worrying that I was going to overrun it -- and here we sort of
forgot the part where we agreed not to lose patience with each other.

So ... we retrieved the anchor, took a deep breath, apologized for being
snarky and got set to do it again.

This time it went great. Had what felt like a really good set and spent a
few hours hanging around there. I spent most of the time worrying about
dragging the anchor but I did manage to squeeze some enjoyment out of the
afternoon.

When it was time to go everything went well, I went forward and helped when
we got to the chain since the anchor was much heavier than before ... it
pulled up about 3 tons of mud. A few good dunks and it was cleaned off but I
have to tell you, seeing all that mud there gave me a great feeling -- it
was like a giant brick of mud, really hard. That thing had been dug in nice
and tight, not bad for a 1 ounce anchor.

We anchored twice more on the weekend and dragged once. Here are the things
I learned:

-- you really, really need to mark your rode so you know how much line you
have out. If you lose track you can't just eyeball it because most of your
rode is now underwater.
-- a washdown on the bow would be a great thing.
-- it's really easy to get disoriented as to where you are in relation to
.... well, everything. Everything moves on the water including the water,
there's nothing to use as a solid reference point.
-- the harder you set your anchor (within reason obviously), the more
comfortable you feel while hanging off it.
-- the lovely anchor lady should be the one who indicates the various steps
such as hold, drift, back down and come up.
-- even though the full light on the holding tank is on, you can squeeze one
more pee in there
-- having a 1/2 and a 3/4 full light on the holding tank would be a great
thing



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JohnH
 
Posts: n/a
Default Great weekend

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 14:19:48 GMT, "Paul" wrote:

So we anchored this weekend for the first time (for those of you just tuning
in we're 1 month new to boating).

My anchor is a danforth knockoff and seems to weigh about 1 ounce, it's
really light. We putt-putted out to Big Grenadier (Pitch Pine Point I
believe it's called) running through the textbook steps for anchoring to
make sure we had a good grasp of the "how to" of the whole thing even if
just in theory. We were a little anxious never having done it before and
made a deal not to lose patience with each other.

So we found our spot and motored forward and with the wife handling the
anchor I stopped our forward momentum. She lowered (not dropped) the anchor
and gave me the sign that it was on the bottom (by yelling "OKAAAAY IT'S ON
THE BOOOOTTTTTOOOOOM" ... clearly we have yet to work out some hand
signals).

I reversed slowly ... and here we temporarily depart from the textbook.

At this point I have to mention that there was another cruiser making his
way through the cove and at exactly this point he altered his course to
ensure that the room I wanted to use to back down would be filled up by his
friggin' boat. I was a little incredulous and kept backing down thinking
that he couldn't possibly not realize what I'm doing. But no, he really,
really wanted to use that bit of water (as opposed to the 80 square miles of
EMPTY water available to him) so I ended up knocking off my rearward
momentum and bascially getting totally balled up while I waited for him to
pass.

He gave me a wave as he went by ... I pretended not to notice.

In the meantime the wind shifted and everyone simply swung on their anchors
while I drifted and dragged everything towards them -- I had been trying to
hold position but relative to what? Everything was moving. While trying to
figure out if my position was salvageable I lost track of where the rode was
and started worrying that I was going to overrun it -- and here we sort of
forgot the part where we agreed not to lose patience with each other.

So ... we retrieved the anchor, took a deep breath, apologized for being
snarky and got set to do it again.

This time it went great. Had what felt like a really good set and spent a
few hours hanging around there. I spent most of the time worrying about
dragging the anchor but I did manage to squeeze some enjoyment out of the
afternoon.

When it was time to go everything went well, I went forward and helped when
we got to the chain since the anchor was much heavier than before ... it
pulled up about 3 tons of mud. A few good dunks and it was cleaned off but I
have to tell you, seeing all that mud there gave me a great feeling -- it
was like a giant brick of mud, really hard. That thing had been dug in nice
and tight, not bad for a 1 ounce anchor.

We anchored twice more on the weekend and dragged once. Here are the things
I learned:

-- you really, really need to mark your rode so you know how much line you
have out. If you lose track you can't just eyeball it because most of your
rode is now underwater.
-- a washdown on the bow would be a great thing.
-- it's really easy to get disoriented as to where you are in relation to
... well, everything. Everything moves on the water including the water,
there's nothing to use as a solid reference point.
-- the harder you set your anchor (within reason obviously), the more
comfortable you feel while hanging off it.
-- the lovely anchor lady should be the one who indicates the various steps
such as hold, drift, back down and come up.
-- even though the full light on the holding tank is on, you can squeeze one
more pee in there
-- having a 1/2 and a 3/4 full light on the holding tank would be a great
thing


Sounds like you had a super time, even tho a little hairy once or twice.
Anchoring will get easier with practice! I bought some markers at Boat US,
They're pieces of rubberized material about three inches long and 3/4 inch wide.
They're in 30' increments, which works well for me. I seldom have more than 90'
out. They slip between the braids of the rope and stay in place very well. Also,
they're cheap!

If the anchor is tight, I'll wrap the rope around the bow cleat one turn. Then,
when the bow dips with the passing of a wave, I'll tighten the rope quickly and
hold it. When the next wave raises the bow, the anchor will usually pull loose.
Now, if you're in calm water, that won't work, but it's worth knowing.

Good luck, good boating!

John
On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD
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Lloyd Sumpter
 
Posts: n/a
Default Great weekend

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 14:19:48 +0000, Paul wrote:

So we anchored this weekend for the first time (for those of you just tuning
in we're 1 month new to boating).

My anchor is a danforth knockoff and seems to weigh about 1 ounce, it's
really light.


Yeah, the Danforth (and clones) are great anchors for "reasonable" bottoms
like mud, which is what you find in 90% of anchorages. But there's nothing
like a good, heavy anchor for piece of mind...


We anchored twice more on the weekend and dragged once. Here are the things
I learned:

-- you really, really need to mark your rode so you know how much line you
have out. If you lose track you can't just eyeball it because most of your
rode is now underwater.


I just use the "old" method: if you're more-or-less 6 ft tall, your arms
outstretched is about 1 fathom (6ft). Pull the line out that way and
count. OTOH, markers ARE nice - even electrical tape every 20 ft or so.

-- a washdown on the bow would be a great thing.


Amen! Headmistress Peggy reminds us that anchor-lockers are often the
worst source of odours (except she spells it "odors" )

-- it's really easy to get disoriented as to where you are in relation to
... well, everything. Everything moves on the water including the water,
there's nothing to use as a solid reference point.


To see if you're really "hooked" while backing, look at the trees beside
you. If they appear to be moving forwards, you're still moving backwards.
Line up a couple, and when they don't move wrt each other, you're stopped.

-- even though the full light on the holding tank is on, you can squeeze one
more pee in there
-- having a 1/2 and a 3/4 full light on the holding tank would be a great
thing


Again, Peggy's recommendation: http://www.snake-river.org/ Accugage tank
sensors, the cheapy one shows empty, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full for 4 tanks.
Seems to work great!

Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36

  #4   Report Post  
Paul
 
Posts: n/a
Default Great weekend

I just use the "old" method: if you're more-or-less 6 ft tall, your arms
outstretched is about 1 fathom (6ft). Pull the line out that way and
count. OTOH, markers ARE nice - even electrical tape every 20 ft or so.


Somebody mentioned whipping cord. I might give that a shot since it comes in
teal (my boat is teal, forgive me my vanities but even my cutlery matches
.... sorry).

To see if you're really "hooked" while backing, look at the trees beside
you. If they appear to be moving forwards, you're still moving backwards.
Line up a couple, and when they don't move wrt each other, you're stopped.


For the first time this past weekend I increased the engine above idle speed
after the initial set. I didn't really have the guts to do that up until now
and it worked great.

I think I'm getting a somewhat better sense of the feel of the boat. This
time when backing down I felt the anchor chatter a bit and then bite. I
could feel the boat come to a stop and noticed its change in attitude as it
tugged the line. When I increased the throttle adding a couple hundred rpm I
could actually feel the anchor dig in further and then the bow nosed down.

I had no doubt this time, it was set.

By the time we left the anchorage we had swung through about 150 degrees and
in fact were pulling the anchor up from almost the opposite way we had set
it but it was still dug in tight. This was the first time I needed the winch
to free it (windlass whatever ... geez so many terms) and the mud was packed
in so well I had to finish cleaning it back at the marina (as opposed to
just dunking it a few times).

Again, Peggy's recommendation: http://www.snake-river.org/ Accugage tank
sensors, the cheapy one shows empty, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full for 4 tanks.
Seems to work great!


I seem to remember this being mentioned before. I checked the site out and
I'll be asking some questions before my purchase. Thanks.



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