Hello and welcome to the world's most contentious issue in the cruising world
and that is anchoring and anchors. I am going to throw a cat among the pigeons
and try and describe how to anchor effectively and efficiently in six easy
steps. On our vlog recently we've been anchoring around the Anambas. And the
Anambas quite deep waters. We anchored in the capital Tarempa, in
some pretty rubbish anchoring conditions. It prompted a couple of questions
from people... First one came from Yves Lemoine, he says...
And then there's another comment from... asderfizdergnd... dunno if that's the correct
way of pronouncing your name...
Well, to answer asderfizdergnd question first we've actually done
that. On episode 68 Liz breaks down how she ties the rolling hitch on our anchor
chain. We'll talk a bit more about snubbers in a bit, so I must go back to
Yves' comment about it being very stressful. I think one of the best ways
to combat stressful anchoring situations is obviously to have confidence. And in
my mind that confidence doesn't begin as you're dropping the anchor, it comes way
before that. And that brings me on to the first point, and that is having
confidence in your ground tackle. Ground tackle, by definition, is your anchor, your
chain, your connector between the anchor and the chain, your bow roller and your
windlass. So starting from the deck down, make sure that you service your windlass
because believe me if you've ended up like us with a broken winlass there is
nothing worse than having to weigh 60 meters of chain by hand in the blazing
sun, it's horrible. Keep inspecting your chain, keep an eye on it, make sure it's
not rusting too much. It will rust a little bit invariably, obviously, but if
it's in that kind of state try and get it re-galvanized. Swap the chain over
once every two or three years or so, just end-to-end it, take it off the anchor
and just swap it over. The next bit of course is the connection
from the chain to the anchor. This is another controversial one. Swivels. We
have a swivel between our chain and our anchor and it has served us well. Not all
swivels are created equally, some are better than others, so if you are going
to have a swivel (and they do work and there are good ones out there) do your
research. Finally the world's most controversial topic is anchors
themselves. In the last 10 or 15 years we've seen what we call new generation
anchors. They're new designed anchors. They're originally based on the Bugel. The
German Bugel with a roll bar, and there's quite a few different variations
out there. As I say we have the Rocna, but there are plenty of others that are
really good. I think the problem comes from people that are still using
old school anchors who have never used a new one. It's a bit like saying
"Why do I need to change my 20 year old laptop when I can still send email
from it?" Well a new laptop can do it probably more efficiently and quicker.
In the same way new generations can set quicker and they hold better. I know
because we started with a plow, a CQR. For two years we dragged a few times. It
takes a long time to set, and it didn't really give us a hundred percent
confidence. The day we put the Rocna on our lives changed! So please, if
you've got the money for it, if you have the budget (and in my opinion the anchor
is possibly possibly the single most important piece of equipment on your
boat that's going to give you peace of mind) it is worth spending the money on.
So please do have a look at that. So that's your ground tackle. Once you have
confidence in your ground tackle, you are now ready to tackle the anchoring itself.
But before we even get there, there's the next step which for me is doing your
research. This can be broken down into two sections: the research of the
location you're going to be anchoring in, and the research of the weather.
So the location. There's a plethora of information out there on anchorages, on
locations, on countries, and they normally come in the form of pilot books. We have
met a few cruisers who proudly boast that they do not buy pilot books.
Whilst I understand the logic of wanting to go to a new place and discover your
places, your own anchorages, and not to ending up
where everyone else is anchoring - I get that, I do get that - but to write off
pilot books altogether I think is a little naive. Pilot books are very well
researched and well written, and they provide a lot of information not even
just on the anchorage itself but the surrounding areas, on the history, the
culture of the places that you're visiting, and they really are worth the
money. Don't photocopy them, you know people put
a lot of time and effort into these so it's worthowning your own pilot
book. Of course with the internet age there's lots of blogs out there, lots of
people have written blogs on certain anchorages. Don't stick rigidly to them,
don't try and anchor where they have put the anchor coordinate because you know
that every other man and his dog is going to be anchoring at that spot. Use
it as a guide. Collate as much information as possible, get to know the
anchorage before you've even been there. Get familiar with it,
understand the lay of the land, know where that church is on the hill or the
cafe on the beach, or there's an outcrop here, or maybe there's an underwater
coral bommie at the entrance. Familiarize yourself with all these objects and
these sites before you've even got to the anchorage and that will hold you in
good stead, and give you a little bit more confidence when you do eventually
approach the anchorage. The other area that's worth researching, as I said, was
weather. Look at the weather, not just your
five-day forecast, but look at localized weather. Perhaps more importantly
localized weather. See what happens. Two areas of localized weather that I
would really give some time to researching are afternoon sea breezes
and squalls. With an afternoon sea breeze invariably you'll end up pointing out to
sea, with your back end pointing onto land, being blown onto land. So just be aware
of that, and know how strong those sea breezes can pick up. More
importantly, what kind of fetch that creates. Squalls. Where we are right now
we get a lot of westerly squalls that come through from Sumatra. They can blow
pretty strong and they normally come around in the afternoon/evening
time. So we try to anchor defensively by understanding what possible scenarios
you're going to end up with with weather-wise. Fetch is probably
the one thing that is going to upset your anchor more than anything else.
We've sat pretty in 80 plus knots before now in an anchorage without the
anchor budging. That's because the sea state was relatively flat. But
if you're in a situation where the fetch builds up you're going to end up doing
this... the boat's going to be rocking backwards and forwards and it's that
which is likely to drag your anchor. That and also the swaying of the boat very
strong wind. You might find if you've got a lot of windage on the boat that
you'll sway from side to sid,e that could also disrupt it. But really I'd just be
careful of that fetch, it's the one thing that you really want to keep an
eye on. So you've done with your preliminary research, you know what to
expect, so now we approach the anchorage itself. Don't be afraid to scope it out.
There is nothing wrong with coming into an anchorage and doing a little circuit,
maybe a couple of circuits, just cruise around going among the boats (not getting
too close of course!) just see how everyone is lying. Just get really
familiar with the lay of the land and also to try and find a good spot. Avoid
anchoring too close to other boats. There's absolutely no need for it.
Especially in a big anchorage. There really is no need for it. I just (you know
it's a bugbear of mine)... those that have watched our videos know that I hate
anchoring too close to other boats. This has actually come down from experience.
We have been in situations where people have anchored too close, the wind's picked
up, their anchor is dragged... And they are shitty situations to have to deal
with. There's no point in putting yourself in those situations. The other
reason for giving us lots of space is that I like to shower in the afternoon
on the back of the boat, and you do not want to get a face full of my ass! As you're
scoping around, if you can see the seabed keep an eye on it, see if you can find a
sandy patch. Do try to avoid weed, rocks, and coral. Once you've found your spot we
are now ready to drop the anchor and this is the tricky bit. It's not really
tricky at all, it's pretty straightforward. So the first thing you
want to do is to work out in which way the boat is pointing in relation to the
wind or the tide, whichever is strongest. And you want your nose into that.
If you're not sure, there's two ways you can work this out: you can look at other
boats to see where everyone else he's pointing, or drop something in the water
that will float and see which way it moves. You want to be pointing into
the wind or into the tide. The idea really is to know where you want the
anchor to lie, and where you want the boats to lie. Obviously they're going to
be in two different spots. So this is where the whole timing technique comes
in. If there's two of you it's useful to have someone on the bow. That person on the
bow can do two things: the first is if you've got clear waters you can
actually see the anchor go down, you can see where it lands; the second thing is
they can count the chain, because what you want to do is to lower the anchor
down and as it hits the seabed you want to put the boat into astern. As you're
putting the boat into astern you're paying out the chain, but you don't want
to go into astern too quickly. If you go too quickly or too soon all that's going
to happen is you're going to have a chain at this kind of angle and it's
just going to pull the anchor along and it will be difficult to set. If you go
too slowly, or you put the boat into astern too late you're going
to end up with a whole lot of chain over your anchor, which you also want to avoid
because that chain could wrap around the anchor. So it really is a careful
balancing act. What we tend to do nowadays is Liz will stand at the bow
and she will put her arm up when we are approaching the length of chain, or when
the anchor is about to hit the water... so basically if we're in 10 metres and that
10 meter mark is coming over the bow, Liz will put our arm up and I'll know
when to start putting the boat into astern. Some people release the capstan
and just let the chain run freely with the weight. We tend to use the button
with motor so that we pay it out more slowly. As the anchor hits the seabed the
boat's going to start going into astern and you pay out your first 30 meters if
you're in 10 meters of water. 3:1 scope, I'll come on to that
in a minute. But we'll put out 30 meters to start with. As you put out 30 meters the
person on the bow will stop paying out the chain, but you keep the boat going
in astern. Again, not too quickly, just fast enough so that it pulls the chain
and eventually pulls it taut. This is where the person on the bow can come in useful.
they can actually stand there and indicate what the
chain's doing. So they can raise their arm to show you when that chain is taut, and
when it's like that ease off on the throttle, put it into neutral and what
should happen is the anchor will bite. You'll know when it bites because
the boat will line up in line with the anchor and the chain. The second
thing is that you might feel a sudden sort of lurch forwards, and that is when
you know the anchor has initially bitten. If the anchor's dragging the person on the
bow will be able to tell you because they'll see the chain will be doing this...
and you may even hear the anchor dragging as well. When you're happy
that it's bitten, put the boat back into astern, and again, not too much but just
enough so that you pull that chain taut. You should be able to let your hands
off the wheel and keep it in astern and it should hold it there. I mentioned
3:1, and that in 10 meters of water we put out 30 meters initially. We
tend to put out more than that. So once we've got the chain set, and we're happy
that the anchor is bitten then we'll put out some additional chain as well. So we
might put out another 20. So we end up 5:1 scope. At this time try and
find a transit. This is where you find an object on the boat like a
stanchion or shroud, and you line it up with something ashore that isn't going
to move - it could be a tree or it could be a building - line those two up, stay in
one position on the boat and all things being equal your transit should stay
roughly in line. Of course that will change if the tide changes or the wind
picks up. I should mention that different anchors we will require different
anchoring techniques. With our CQR we took a long while to get that to set, and we
would end up having to put the motor into quite high revs. With the Rocna
it's the opposite. If you poke the boat in too many revs astern you are likely
to rip your windlass off the bow because that thing bites so quickly! So, again,
it's just a balancing act. You'll get a feel of when to ease off on the
throttle, indeed how many revs to give your boat into astern to make sure that
it is set. The theory though is that you can put your boat into full
revs stern and you won't drag. OK so now we're ready to put the snubber on.
The idea of the snubber is to take the strain off the roller
itself. There's a couple of ways of doing this. For many years we used a 3/8
stainless steel hook, which we would hook over one of the links and just pay out
excess snubber. As we paid out more chain you'd then tie off the snubber and
you would continue to put chain out. So the chain ends up loopy, comes over the
bow and it ends up looping like this as the snubber takes the strain. There's a
couple of issues with using a hook. It's nice and easy to install but they can
come off quite easily, especially in rough weather. This is why we
switched over to the rolling hitch method. It's a bit more involved but we
feel a lot safer with it. Now I mentioned earlier Liz has done a whole piece on
this. If you go to episode 68 (I'll put a link up here now and also in the
description) this will show you how Liz ties the rolling hitch onto the chain.
So, to conclude then. Make sure you've got good ground tackle, your confidence in
anchoring begins with that ground tackle. Make sure that you've invested in it
wisely, and that you service it regularly. Do your research. Check out the lay of
the land beforehand, and also check out weather systems and weather patterns,
especially localized weather. Go into the anchorage already knowing it in your
mind's eye, what it looks like. Pick a clear spot and try to avoid anchoring
as close to other people as possible, the more space between you and your neighbour
more comfortable both of you are going to be. Take your time actually
anchoring itself. It's not a rush. If you're not happy with the anchor, or you
end up lying too close to someone else, or you don't quite feel that it's bitten
right, weigh anchor, do it again! There's nothing wrong with
that. Use your transits once you've set the anchor. Also monitor the boat. So
once you've set the anchor you can then use an app, or use your chart plotter, and
put it on "track" so they actually track where the boat goes. You'll expect it
over a period of hours to move, seemingly move erratically, that will happen.
Over 12 hours you'll get a clear idea of the general movement of the boat.
It's also worth mentioning a Facebook user group that Liz
and I are members of called anchors and anchoring. It's run by a guy called Andy
Marsh. Just look up Anchors and Anchoring. It's a very useful forum, very
friendly forum, where they discuss different anchoring techniques, different
anchors. They'll post up articles and tests that have been done. Very
useful, especially if you're new to anchoring.
So I hope that that gives you a few pointers. No doubt there's people watching this who have their own
technique, so interested to know what you think. Let us know in the comments
below. Don't forget to hit that "like" button if you like this video, and the
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Peace and Fair Winds!