Block island is a challenging place to anchor.

[TomY]

I know that having anchored here before. For Maine sailors -used to anchoring far from other boats- BI is an eye opener. We like it all.

My family spent a few memorable days anchored in the Great Salt Pond (photo below), in 2011.

2018, not much has changed in the Salt Pond. Motor boats (mobo's), rule in Southern NE and with our centerboard up, we're amongst them anchored in BI.

A challenging anchorage is good practice for us. I get rusty here in Maine, anchoring alone often. So many protected anchorages to choose from, I often don't even set my hook for an overnight.

You take your time hunting up a space amongst the boats at BI. Approaching very slowly from DDW is the best to spot potential 'slots' ahead. Once you see a wide enough candidate, you slowly stalk between the anchored boats, all eyes on you. Keep your focus.

One hazard is the nervous guy on his deck, glaring at you and pacing. He's waiting for you to get close enough to talk to you about what you're thinking,...

My advice? Ignore him, pretend you have hearing loss(which I do, to some extent). You need full concentration to to do the spatial calculations in your head. Depth, current, boats nearby/ size, windage(swing), the weather forecast for your stay, the bottom, your insurance, and on and on. He has nothing offer you.

I was lucky with this pill, he scowled and headed back to his cockpit. Soon he had another distraction hunting up a spot on the other side.

Once the hook is down, then it is time to take stock of your chosen location. I always assume I may have to move so I don't set the hook immediately.

The water is a little thin over there,...

Southern NE is often crowded. You expect a bit more noise, there is almost always an engine or generator running, especially amongst the mobo's. But they're good neighbors.

This spot is a favorite of ours as there are very nice beaches to land on nearby. Lot's of public access in Southern NE along their coast.

There are times of complete quiet on the water here, just like home. I look forward to those precious few minutes at dawn to enjoy the beauty of Block Island, here in the cockpit with a cup of coffee at 5:45am.

 

[Joe23455]

A nice read, good pictures as always, and thanks for the reminders of focus on anchoring in a crowd.
Enjoy your New England Winter, I just put Trinity on the hard last Wednesday. Time for the Holidays.

joe
s/v Trinity

 

[TomY]

A nice read, good pictures as always, and thanks for the reminders of focus on anchoring in a crowd.
Enjoy your New England Winter, I just put Trinity on the hard last Wednesday. Time for the Holidays.

joe
s/v Trinity

Thanks, Joe. It was a great season. Looking forward to a white Thanksgiving this week on the coast of Maine.

 

[rgranger]

what is happening here?

 

[uncledom]

I dock at Payne's. The thing I dislike about the Great Salt Pond is that when you come from downwind to dock it might not be the same downwind as when your neighbor's anchored. You might be putting your hook in a position to theirs to have a meeting on the swing. I like over scoping my line and there every one keeps a shorter scope it seems. Plus Hunter sailboats swing nonstop on anchor like a drunken sailor. I love Payne's dock.

 

[jssailem]

Either the skipper missed the rock off his beam when setting the hook.

Or he’s taken on a serious large passenger.

Crew forgot to turn on bilge pump.

Or doing interior organizing someone moved the piano.

 

[capta]

In the snowIy pic, though a lovely pic, brrrrrrrrrrrrr, why is the flag at half mast? Sometimes I miss important goings on, down here.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

California shootings … shootings before that … wildfires … the frequency of these things is causing semi-permanent flag lowering, it seems. Or were flags lowered for Vets day this year given 100 year anniversary of ending "Great War"?

 

[TomY]

what is happening here?
View attachment 158576

Dead solid gone aground as the tide went out. We never saw the owner. May have been ashore unaware or left to avoid the humiliation of Youtube. Amazingly, I seemed to be the only one who took a photo so this may be a regular occurrence at BI.

In the snowIy pic, though a lovely pic, brrrrrrrrrrrrr, why is the flag at half mast? Sometimes I miss important goings on, down here.

Scott has it. Seems the flags are more at half mast than full these days.

 

[TomY]

I dock at Payne's. The thing I dislike about the Great Salt Pond is that when you come from downwind to dock it might not be the same downwind as when your neighbor's anchored. You might be putting your hook in a position to theirs to have a meeting on the swing. I like over scoping my line and there every one keeps a shorter scope it seems. Plus Hunter sailboats swing nonstop on anchor like a drunken sailor. I love Payne's dock.

Coming from away, you can't guarantee getting a mooring or dock space in popular harbors in Southern NE. It's with that in mind that I expect to have to anchor in BI(or Cutty, Nantucket, etc). If a mooring is available and the weather forecast iffy, I'll take one. All in all, I like to anchor my boat when I can. It's a great feeling of freedom.

Thanks for mentioning 'swinging like a drunken sailor'. I have found that many boats, even those with an all chain rode, can sail, wildly, at anchor. Luckily our boat with it's low freeboard and yawl rigging windage way aft, sits still on a chain and rope rode. But as you say, scope can be a problem for us as the current or wind changes. If I anchor next to a high sided boat and see it has most of it's windage forward(even with all chain), I know I have to allow more room.

It's as much an art as science, anchoring. I've knocked, and have been knocked by a few boats in the middle of the night. No damage done. Most people in an anchorage are cooperative and try to make everyone happy.