The way I see it, the anchoring issues can be divided into 3 basic types.
1) You're on a single hook and someone comes in and anchors too close to you when it's not necessary b/c of lots of available space. Assume for the sake of discussion that you're both with about the same amount of scope out and both on chain, or both on nylon, rode. If the wind stays up over the whole time (i.e., does not die completely), the two boats should swing in some kind of unison, the only problem being that if Mr. Clueless Latecomer parks too close, and as you swing toward each other in the natural oscillation, he gets too close for you to relax with your afternoon drink, etc.-- He's a jerk and should move--but most of the time he will not, b/c it's only part of the time the two boats ever get close.
2) You and CL are on different types of rode and therefore most likely on different scopes. If you're on chain, CL will swing more toward you than you will toward him. I think these guys don't care b/c they may sense (or even know, somehow?) that you probably will not swing into them. If you're on nylon and CL wants to put down chain, he may actually stand further off, just enough, perhaps. Here's where your "I might swing into you in the middle of the night" approach might work. The real problem here is that if the wind more or less dies off at night (as it usually does in CA), the boat on nylon drifts around on the slightest of zephyrs whereas the boat on chain may stay close to the vertical point of where its chain hits the bottom. SO, even if he's technically outside your swinging radius, you may not be out of his. When the wind dies, your boat (if on chain) will remain close to where it was when the stretched-out chain relaxed to the bottom, whereas he may drift completely around (180 deg) on the zephyrs and swing near you, or into you.
3) Is when you're on a single hook and CL parks his motor yacht close upwind of you, and close to a weather shore or obstacle, and drops a stern hook to boot. You think (b/c you are not clueless yourself) that Clueless Latecomer dropped the stern hook b/c he somehow knows that if the wind shifts, his motor yacht will blow to that shore and perhaps go aground on it. If true, then why, you ask yourself, doesn't he see it's the same issue for you (who does not have a stern hook down). When the wind shifts around, now I'm going to blow into him (but where I'm still far enough from the weather shore/obstacle) b/c he will not swing with me. When you explain to CL the issue, and ask him to move out of your radius, you get the incomprehensible reply that he put his stern anchor out b/c other boats in the anchorage have theirs out. Which ones?--none near us---oh those over there (1 km away from us). At that point you realize that CL did not put the stern hook down to avoid blowing on the beach with a wind shift, but only b/c he saw that someone else on the other side of the anchorage had done it. With that, you row your stern anchor out too while you can so you can sleep through the night, and ask yourself how did those people ever find the bottom of the sea to begin with.
1) You're on a single hook and someone comes in and anchors too close to you when it's not necessary b/c of lots of available space. Assume for the sake of discussion that you're both with about the same amount of scope out and both on chain, or both on nylon, rode. If the wind stays up over the whole time (i.e., does not die completely), the two boats should swing in some kind of unison, the only problem being that if Mr. Clueless Latecomer parks too close, and as you swing toward each other in the natural oscillation, he gets too close for you to relax with your afternoon drink, etc.-- He's a jerk and should move--but most of the time he will not, b/c it's only part of the time the two boats ever get close.
2) You and CL are on different types of rode and therefore most likely on different scopes. If you're on chain, CL will swing more toward you than you will toward him. I think these guys don't care b/c they may sense (or even know, somehow?) that you probably will not swing into them. If you're on nylon and CL wants to put down chain, he may actually stand further off, just enough, perhaps. Here's where your "I might swing into you in the middle of the night" approach might work. The real problem here is that if the wind more or less dies off at night (as it usually does in CA), the boat on nylon drifts around on the slightest of zephyrs whereas the boat on chain may stay close to the vertical point of where its chain hits the bottom. SO, even if he's technically outside your swinging radius, you may not be out of his. When the wind dies, your boat (if on chain) will remain close to where it was when the stretched-out chain relaxed to the bottom, whereas he may drift completely around (180 deg) on the zephyrs and swing near you, or into you.
3) Is when you're on a single hook and CL parks his motor yacht close upwind of you, and close to a weather shore or obstacle, and drops a stern hook to boot. You think (b/c you are not clueless yourself) that Clueless Latecomer dropped the stern hook b/c he somehow knows that if the wind shifts, his motor yacht will blow to that shore and perhaps go aground on it. If true, then why, you ask yourself, doesn't he see it's the same issue for you (who does not have a stern hook down). When the wind shifts around, now I'm going to blow into him (but where I'm still far enough from the weather shore/obstacle) b/c he will not swing with me. When you explain to CL the issue, and ask him to move out of your radius, you get the incomprehensible reply that he put his stern anchor out b/c other boats in the anchorage have theirs out. Which ones?--none near us---oh those over there (1 km away from us). At that point you realize that CL did not put the stern hook down to avoid blowing on the beach with a wind shift, but only b/c he saw that someone else on the other side of the anchorage had done it. With that, you row your stern anchor out too while you can so you can sleep through the night, and ask yourself how did those people ever find the bottom of the sea to begin with.
