Anchoring to close - Please move

[Jim Seamans]

Interesting thing happened Saturday evening. Joan and I had pulled into a little bay name Canoe Neck Creek that looks like the letter C. About a third of a mile across with 7-10ft of water over much of it. Anchor down, time to enjoy the fruits of the day.Along comes another sailboat, comes over to our side, drops anchor and starts letting out lots of rope rode. Joan of course started losing it. They are now close enough that can just holler over. "How much rode are you putting down?" Ans - "Seventy feet"."Your to close for that!" Ans - "How much do you have out" - "Forty feet of chain" Ans "Ok I'll just put out 50ft"Now what? Joan is starting to make noise like go pull up our anchor and we will move. Oh no were not - they will move. And they will move when I start showering on the transom naked. After about 15-20 minutes, they start hauling in their anchor and move a little further off. See Joan they got the hint. Then they dropped 70ft again.By morning, I check to see where they were and lo and behold only about 80ft away. Still to close.How do you nicely tell someone that they are to close and to move???I known that first boat in usually sets the anchor pattern and others should ask and be polite and all that. But believe it or not this is the first time for me and I was trying to be nice..JimS/V Java

 

[J.B. Dyer]

Idiots

You can find them anywhere!Morning Jim:There is no nice way to tell someone something like that. If they had any sense, courtesy, or knew what they were doing, they woundn't have crowded in on you in the first place. If the anchorage is too small and you got there first, their problem, not yours. Just go ahead and get nasty right off the bat, if they don't know better, they should. The last time I was crowded, I didn't tell the guy to move, I just asked him who his insurance was with. He wanted to know why and I told him that I wanted to know who to file my claim with if he swung into me. He Moved!

 

[Don s/v Tellico]

Welcome to the Ches....

can't believe you haven't been there before. I sure have. Seems like here on the bay the rule is anchor close. Apparently I always find the best anchoring spot in the entire area because every other boat will invariably anchor on top of me.....seems to be a bay tradition. I think it comes from the way we drive, bumper to bumper at 80 mph?!?To answer your question, my first approach is to stand on deck, arms crossed, staring them down if they seem to be hovering too close. Usually they will move off some, but sometimes they're gonna put it there come hell or high water. You can't be too nice, just stare at them. Start complaining/questioning before they start dropping the anchor.Now, if they've got a real nice boat, my second approach is to le them anchor, dinghy over and ask them who their insurance carrier is!But I've never thought of showering naked on the back. That's a thought. I could probably drive them off if I did that!Or turn the stereo up really loud.

 

[Paul McGhee]

What kills me....

... is when the anchorage is nearly deserted and they slide right up beside you. I've tried everything. Asking people to move, moving myself, just letting it go. I am fortunate that my wife has no opinion on the subject, she doesn't know the difference. Maybe if your wife is especially concerned she should handle the negotiations herself.Maybe you could make up a nice sign and hang it on your stern pulpit: "Damaged by someone anchoring too close? Get cash quick! Call me! Your marine liability legal specialist 222 555-1234"I bet that wouldn't work either.

 

[Warren M.]

Anchoring too close...

Jim:I haven't had the "anchoring too close" problem you mentioned in quite a while (thankfully), but some time ago I made up an ersatz anchor buoy using and old plastic bottle on a piece of light line. I put some reflective tape on the bottle. I would then clip the line of this buoy to my anchor and drop it along with my anchor and rode. The buoy would of course indicate exactly where my anchor was. This seemed to warn others not to get too close since they could actually see where my anchor was too. BTW, while I believe you, as the first one into an anchorage, should be given a wide berth by others that come in later, it is sometimes wise to pick up and move if another boat is really too close and they seem oblivious to, or don't care about, the danger. Re-anchoring is lot easier than repairing chipped gelcoat or a splintered toe rail -- particularly when it occurs at 3 AM....

 

[Franklin]

Warren

You've given me an idea....or shall I say...I have an idea on how to expand on your idea.A floating marker is great but the string has to be very close to the right length to work. Don't want it too tight so that it's pulling up and don't want it too loose so that it's floating away. Lets say I'm anchoring in 10'. I can drop the anchor with the floating marker with a string 19' long with a weight on the end and it going through a loop on the marker. The weight would be wrapped around the other end of the line so that it would not drift. This would allow your marker to float at the exact place without pulling up on the anchor and also not drifting away from it and you can use the same setup for any anchorage from 10' to 19'.

 

[RichH]

Put on some really loud BAD music on the CD

A CD of Wagnerian opera, some crude 'gansta-rap' or a competion bagpipe band at maximum volume with the speakers directed their way oughta do it.

 

[Peggie Hall HeadMistress]

Chesapeake anchoring story...

Several years ago I was spending the weekend aboard a friend's boat...we and another trawler rafted together in a big cove near the mouth of the South River. Just about dusk we were sitting in foreward cockpit enjoying our after dinner coffee when a boat came in and dropped anchor dead ahead of us...well forward of us--about 100 yds--so no danger of them swinging into us...but when I say "dropped" anchor, that's literally all they did--tied it off when it hit the bottom...NO scope at all. Then they disappeared into the cabin for the night.There was light breeze coming directly over our bow, so we all knew what was gonna happen...we just didn't know long it would take, especially if the wind picked up. So we took turns every hour all night getting up to see where they were...and at about 05:00 there they were, about 2' from hitting us. They'd have done so very gently, but even gently can scrape off some gelcoat...so we did the only sensible thing: got out fenders, boathooks and line...reeled 'em in and rafted 'em to us. And finally got a couple of hours of decent sleep! About 09:00, we were again sitting in the cockpit enjoying our after breakfast coffee when the first sign of life from our "guest" appeared...VERY sleepily out of the cabin into the cockpit. "Good morning!" my friend called out. "Want some coffee?" That's when he first looked in our direction...and the look on his face when he realized where he was cannot be described. No reply...just a few seconds of total dumbfounded paralysis, then he dove back down into his cabin faster than Pawnxitawny Phil on a sunny Groundhog Day--and STAYED there till we were below doing dishes. When we came out again, they were gone...our lines left dangling over the side of our boat in the water.Yep...you find all kinds on the Bay.

 

[p323ms]

Did you anchor in the middle???

If you are in a small bay and anchor in the middle you cut the options of the next person who trys to anchor. With so many boats it is rare for us to be able to anchor alone during the summer. There are also idiots and party people who like company. We were lucky the last night out in that the only large creatures around our boat were alligators. But historically almost every anchorage that I've been to people try to space themselves out to be as far apart as possible. So if you are in the prime anchorage don't anchor in the center. If you anchor to one side almost always the next sailer will anchor on the other side. Also consider that the second guy in is probably very disappointed when he sees your boat already anchored where he was planning to anchor. First come first served doesn't feel too good when you are number two tired and their isn't another anchorage nearby. I use a strong line on my anchor attached to a float. This marks the anchor's location and also allows me to pull it up if it gets fouled on something.Tom

 

[David W]

Anchor markers/floats

How do you control the length of the marker/float line so that the float remains reasonably close to where the anchor actually is on the bottom?I am thinking that you set the float line length for the water depth in your spot at high tide regardless of the tide level when you drop anchor?

 

[p323ms]

Small tidal range

Here on the gulf of mexico the tidal range is usually less than 2'. I have about 15' of line on my marker float and usually anchor in 10-12' of water or less. the float stays in a prety small circle above the anchor. My float isn't large enough to lift the anchor off of the bottom. If/when!!! we cruise to other areas we may have to make changes. A simple solution might be two floats one smaller that gets submerged and keeps tension on the larger float.Tom

 

[Franklin]

p323ms

Don't like my idea below? It adjusts itself. Maybe there is a flaw with it that I can't see?

 

[Dennis Thomas]

Franklin has the right idea

I've been using his setup for several years and it's worked well. I use a 1/8th line fixed to the back of my danforth so that it can be used for some help in freeing a stuck anchor. The line runs free through the eye of one of those volley ball sized round fenders. The weight on the other end is four or five links of chain. I've added reflective tape and it's easy to spot. As the wind dies and shifts I can see when I'm drifting over the anchor and can watch for it to wrap around my rudder, etc.

 

[Mel Elliott]

Anchor Marker

Franklin, I think your idea is beautiful, I'm going to make one out of a water jug tomorrow. Thanx

 

[patrick]

Why not just use

some bungee cord in the middle of the line? I like to use a small round orange fender instead of a plastic bottle.

 

[Franklin]

I guess it's not my idea

Dennis beat me to it.

 

[Karl]

Markers!

It will work until a crazy in a power boat storms over the line, snags it and pulls your anchor loose. I've had that happen to me, so I stopped marking the anchor.

 

[Franklin]

Don't stop

Just use a smaller line and breakaway knot that will give when it gets snagged. If you loose it, it's no loss (if you use a cheap marker like a water jug).

 

[Monty Miller]

Not me...

I want a heavy line to break free stuck anchors. I've given up two anchors with chain so far. Use a round bright colored fender, not a milk jug, because power boaters need all the help they can get.

 

[Franklin]

Monty

I guess I don't understand. How can a line on the anchor help pull it up any better then the rode pulling straight up from the bow with a windless? Is it where the second line is attached that makes the difference because both pull straight up?