Anchoring Etiquette Clashes with Local Culture

[Kings Gambit]

So, my wife and I sail into an anchorage at the eastern end of Santa Cruz Island, which is a National Park. There are a couple of yachts already anchored there on a single hook, one of which appears to have sailed down from British Columbia. We take a spot a respectable distance from each, drop the hook and spend the night. All is well. The next day the two yachts depart leaving us alone in the anchorage; it's Wednesday. The following day, Thursday, a guy and his wife sailing in a Catalina 34 arrive around noon. He putts around me a couple of times fairly close, but says nothing. He arrives upwind of us & slightly to port, near a shallow reef offering a nice vista of the anchorage area ahead, and drops his hook. Our depth is about 25' and I have about 110' of ground tackle out. By the time he drops back to set he's within my swinging radius. No problem until he starts rowing out a stern anchor. I hail him and advise that he's setting inside my radius, and that when the wind changes to east as it does nearly every morning out there, I could swing into him. He responds to me: "Put out a stern anchor!" This "exchange" goes on for a while but he's actually ignoring me until he's anchored by the bow & stern and resting in his cockpit. I then pull out my loud hailer so I'm sure he can hear me being up wind and advise him that he had created a potentially hazardous situation that might cause damage to our boats. He ignores me with a dismissive gesture.

Some time later he's out in the dinghy; I'm in the cockpit with a cigar--so I probably appear "calmed down." He comes over, introduces himself, and offers to put out my stern anchor (which is attached to the stern rail) and help me pick it up. I told him I'd like it better if he re-anchored outside my radius. That I have "priority" here and it's his responsibility to stay clear of me; not the other way around, and that I'm sure he knows that. He responds "You're in the sweet spot. You're keeping others from enjoying this side of the anchorage by requiring too much [swinging] room; this is a popular anchorage." I look around--"Sir--there's nobody in here but you and me!" "Well, there'll be more when the weekend arrives. That's the way we do things here, we all get along." [The hailing port on my boat is outside of the local area.] I reply, "Sir--this is a NATIONAL PARK; when we arrived there was a Canadian boat in here--now how would he or I know it's the culture here to deploy a stern anchor?" He said: "I've been coming here for more than 20 years--that's my traditional spot up there, and I'm not moving!

So what's the solution--what would you do??

 

[Stu Jackson]

There is just no end to stupidity. Sorry it was a C34. What's the boat's name?...

 

[agprice22]

So, my wife and I sail into an anchorage at the eastern end of Santa Cruz Island, which is a National Park. There are a couple of yachts already anchored there on a single hook, one of which appears to have sailed down from British Columbia. We take a spot a respectable distance from each, drop the hook and spend the night. All is well. The next day the two yachts depart leaving us alone in the anchorage; it's Wednesday. The following day, Thursday, a guy and his wife sailing in a Catalina 34 arrive around noon. He putts around me a couple of times fairly close, but says nothing. He arrives upwind of us & slightly to port, near a shallow reef offering a nice vista of the anchorage area ahead, and drops his hook. Our depth is about 25' and I have about 110' of ground tackle out. By the time he drops back to set he's within my swinging radius. No problem until he starts rowing out a stern anchor. I hail him and advise that he's setting inside my radius, and that when the wind changes to east as it does nearly every morning out there, I could swing into him. He responds to me: "Put out a stern anchor!" This "exchange" goes on for a while but he's actually ignoring me until he's anchored by the bow & stern and resting in his cockpit. I then pull out my loud hailer so I'm sure he can hear me being up wind and advise him that he had created potentially hazardous situation that might cause damage to our boats. He ignores me with a dismissive gesture. Some time later he's out in the dinghy; I'm in the cockpit with a cigar--so I probably appear "calmed down." He comes over, introduces himself, and offers to put out my stern anchor (which is attached to the stern rail) and help me pick it up. I told him I'd like it better if he re-anchored outside my radius. That I have "priority" here and it's his responsibility to stay clear of me; not the other way around, and that I'm sure he knows that. He responds "You're in the sweet spot. You're keeping others from enjoying this side of the anchorage by requiring too much [swinging] room; this is a popular anchorage." I look around--"Sir--there's nobody in here but you and me!" "Well, there'll be more when the weekend arrives. That's the way we do things here, we all get along." [The hailing port on my boat is outside of the local area.] I reply, "Sir--this is a NATIONAL PARK; when we arrived there was a Canadian boat in here--now how would he or I know it's the culture here to deploy a stern anchor?" He said: "I've been coming here for more than 20 years--that's my traditional spot up there, and I'm not moving! So what's the solution--what would you do??

Right or wrong, you are entering into a power struggle that will ruin your time. Deploy the stern anchor. Let it go. Enjoy your time there. Consider that you are both right for different reasons.

Take my word. I deal with conflict for a living. I am a psychotherapist and do lots of work with couples.

Thanks.

Andrew

 

[DannyS]

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Right or wrong, you are entering into a power struggle that will ruin your time. Deploy the stern anchor. Let it go. Enjoy your time there. Consider that you are both right for different reasons.

WADR, and cudos to you for what you do, but changing anchoring etiquette would seriously affect how folks interact in anchorages in a BIG way with big harm.

If you aren't a frequent anchor-er, then you might want to read up on it.

If some bozo came in AFTER ME and told me how to deploy my own anchoring gear, I'd have to call you for psychological counseling.

For HIM!

 

[Zed]

What happened in the end?

 

[woodster]

hell just raft up with the guy and see how he likes bigger crowds ...he may have some good food on board that will serve the both of you ...if ya can't beat um join um and smoke the heck out of the cigar:stirthepot:

 

[Kings Gambit]

What happened in the end?

I told him that I had called the Park Ranger to report the situation (which was true), giving the name of his boat, in case any damage resulted. He told me that I may as well call back and give the Ranger his name too, for all the good it would do me. He then said that he was a retired police officer. I reiterated that he then clearly knew the "rules of etiquette", etc. After that, I did nothing except stand anchor watch most of the night. The morning east wind was light, and my rode being all chain, we just pivoted around the "pile" on the bottom beneath us and did not approach him too closely. After breakfast that next morning, we picked up and left.:neutral:

 

[woodster]

he didn't say a retired police officer with honours.....not all of them or good cops ....and you could not plead in the name of common courtesy...he would have informed you that he wasn't common ...which is evidently true.....that was a no win situation for sure

 

[Kings Gambit]

he didn't say a retired police officer with honours.....not all of them or good cops ....and you could not plead in the name of common courtesy...he would have informed you that he wasn't common ...which is evidently true.....that was a no win situation for sure

There is a "culture", however, when anchoring around Santa Cruz Island. In some of the tighter anchorages one must deploy two anchors for one's own safety. In others it's not necessary, but it's frequently done nevertheless. If those guys are there first, I put my stern out or else anchor far enough away that I would not threaten them with fouling on a wind shift. I wonder sometimes if many even know that it's actually OK to use only one anchor if there is room to swing around.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Right or wrong, you are entering into a power struggle that will ruin your time. Deploy the stern anchor. Let it go. Enjoy your time there. Consider that you are both right for different reasons.

Take my word. I deal with conflict for a living. I am a psychotherapist and do lots of work with couples.

Thanks.

Andrew

I think I know one tenet of conflict resolution, as it has been said: "If you want to get along, go along!" Perhaps I don't think that a stern anchor is a good idea since I might have to depend upon him to help me recover it, b/c he had the dinghy out and I did not. I already think the guy's an a-hole, so now I'm going to depend on him for help? Sure, it's possible to recover a stern anchor w/o using a dinghy by backing (or blowing) down to the anchor location, etc., but I don't really know what the situation might be when I need to pick it up. By then some other a-hole might be parked, or swinging, over it, blocking access. I disagree that we were both right. What if I had not been carrying a stern anchor--would he still be "right" too? In that case, would he be "right" forcing me to reanchor for safety due to his intrusion after our having been there for 3 nights? Not knowing that we had taken that spot in deference to the other yachts already anchored there when we arrived. The anchorage was not crowded. I was not selfishly denying other would be anchorers from coming in and finding a spot. It was about him--not "the village." Since it was only the two of us in there, I probaby should have hooked up the loud hailer to a van Halen CD and rocked him out all night long! He knew he was "in the wrong" but did not care; afterall, there is no law that governs "anchoring rights", so I suppose it could be anything. Will we now negotiate our anchoring privileges at each new spot with whomever is there already or arrives late into the night?

 

[Daveinet]

About a few hours into the night, I would have rowed over and cut his stern anchor line and gone to sleep.

So was this a forced retirement?

 

[Stu Jackson]

About a few hours into the night, I would have rowed over and cut his stern anchor line and gone to sleep.

That is so wrong in so many ways. It made me spill coffee all over my keyboard.

I sure hope you were kidding, but the lack of any emoticons makes me think you were serious.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

 

[Daveinet]

Half the humor is to keep you wondering.

BTY: It may very well be that area is super crowded on weekends or seasonally, which has resulted in an alternate anchoring technique. While it may not have been necessary at that specific time, because of the need at other times, it may be SOP for that area.

 

[Kings Gambit]

About a few hours into the night, I would have rowed over and cut his stern anchor line and gone to sleep.

So was this a forced retirement?

My dinghy was not deployed. I suppose that I might have swum over, "knife in teeth", do the dirty deed, then swum back to our boat. In any event, I obviously agree w/ Stu-- that would not have been a good idea. Sort of akin to slamming on your brakes at 70 mph to shake-up tailgaters. Might shake 'em up into an accident were someone gets badly hurt or killed. I don't know anything about the man beyond what he told me.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Not unreasonable

Half the humor is to keep you wondering.

BTY: It may very well be that area is super crowded on weekends or seasonally, which has resulted in an alternate anchoring technique. While it may not have been necessary at that specific time, because of the need at other times, it may be SOP for that area.

Dave,

Not unreasonable. Could be, but I think KG's point and yours is that is simply wasn't "at that specific time."

That was something, more than a simple misunderstanding, on the part of the other skipper.

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Dave,

Not unreasonable. Could be, but I think KG's point and yours is that is simply wasn't "at that specific time."

That was something, more than a simple misunderstanding, on the part of the other skipper.

Thanks for clarifying.

Can't expect transients up and down the CA coast to "know" SOP for all of the anchorages encountered if it is different from the common practice of yachters the world over--the Etiquette of new arrivals staying clear of boats already anchored, etc. The truth is that you can get nearly as many yachts swinging on the hook in an anchorage as you can with them anchored bow and stern as yachts come and go individually. Spacing is perhaps a little greater between single hook yachts due to swingings out of phase caused by a number of reasons, including variation in ground tackles. However, spacing in either approach is haphazard, thus inefficient, except when an organized group or club comes in. The group leaders might set up a bow-stern arrangement for their members BUT they usually arrive FIRST and scope out territory in a nearly vacant anchorage. They don't come in and start fouling the yachts that might be there already.

What the everyday bow-stern guys want is to anchor close to the rocks w/o having to worry about swinging into them. Fine--but then get there first. If I'm anchored off the rocks at a distance that allows me a full 360-deg swing w/ rode stretched out, and some bozo comes in and fixes himself between me and those rocks inside my radius, he's made an error and violated boater Etiquette. He's made a mistaken conclusion that since I'm not in that space at the time of his arrival, that it's "free" or "open." Negatory--I am using that space just as if I were in it then BECAUSE I might be in it a few hours hence. It's part of my "stake" on the spot I've chosen. Just look at a chart of commercial anchorages. Each designated "spot" is circular. Ships have to anchor at the center of their circle. No other ship may enter the designated radius of another, etc. But we're not that strict. A yacht may anchor inside my radius if he swings with me. The problem is that the "culture" operates not from an appreciation of where and when bow-stern anchoring might be justified, but b/c "that's the way we do it here." It's an ignorant attitude.

 

[Brian D]

Can one not just drop a 30# mushroom anchor off the stern just to retard any swing? I know it will not prevent swing, but it would slow the swing by dragging the anchor.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Can one not just drop a 30# mushroom anchor off the stern just to retard any swing? I know it will not prevent swing, but it would slow the swing by dragging the anchor.

To what purpose--boats swinging together, i.e., normal oscillation in a common wind w/ boats on single hooks, or to avoid swinging into a fixed boat on a wind shift?

 

[justsomeguy]

Half the humor is to keep you wondering.

-snip

The other half establishes intent.