Hello,
I'm a new boat owner. I've seen my Catalina 250 (water ballast version) doing this funny dance, swinging from side to side like pendulum for the past few hours - see the video below. The camera is facing west, the wind is light 2-3 knots coming south-west... the tide is rising, so I think the current should be flooding towards the camera, so should be matching the wind... The centerboard is up (to be prepared for low tide) and the rudder is taken off (incidentally I've been doing some maintenance on it). There's one keel sailboat and one small power boat moored nearby and they stay still.
I saw some threads about boats swinging/sailing at anchor. The advice is often to add an anchor sail at stern. I just wanted to confirm if this situation looks "normal" to you, more experienced sailors and boat owners, and whether this standard advice still applies. Also, do you think having the centerboard up or the rudder out may have affected it? Are there any negative effects of such swinging? I imagine some shockwaves must be going through the whole boat every time it pulls on the mooring line? Maybe this is why my steering system broke a few weeks ago?
Is there anything else, other than adding an anchor sail, I should be doing to prevent it?
PS. Sorry about the fenders, I've been worried about driftwood hitting my boat
I'm a new boat owner. I've seen my Catalina 250 (water ballast version) doing this funny dance, swinging from side to side like pendulum for the past few hours - see the video below. The camera is facing west, the wind is light 2-3 knots coming south-west... the tide is rising, so I think the current should be flooding towards the camera, so should be matching the wind... The centerboard is up (to be prepared for low tide) and the rudder is taken off (incidentally I've been doing some maintenance on it). There's one keel sailboat and one small power boat moored nearby and they stay still.
I saw some threads about boats swinging/sailing at anchor. The advice is often to add an anchor sail at stern. I just wanted to confirm if this situation looks "normal" to you, more experienced sailors and boat owners, and whether this standard advice still applies. Also, do you think having the centerboard up or the rudder out may have affected it? Are there any negative effects of such swinging? I imagine some shockwaves must be going through the whole boat every time it pulls on the mooring line? Maybe this is why my steering system broke a few weeks ago?
Is there anything else, other than adding an anchor sail, I should be doing to prevent it?
PS. Sorry about the fenders, I've been worried about driftwood hitting my boat