Sailing on anchor

[Bill Roosa]

I was reading "Storm Tactics" and got the wild idea that I could stop Bardi Sea from sailing on her anchor by using a bridal similar to the bridal used for a sea anchor.
I'm going to test it out this weekend
For the record I've tried riding sails, stern anchors, moving where the rode comes on board.... lots of stuff. None of it has worked very well

Has anyone used a bridal on their anchor rode and how did it work/how did you rig it?

See you on the waters.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

If the bridle you try is anything similar to the two-line mooring (one for each bow cleat), it made no difference in our case -the boat still roamed around as much as a single mooring line. Maybe different if you include both mid-ship cleats which I never tried or a longer bridle???

 

[kloudie1]

Bill, I am surprised that the “riding sail” didn’t help. Usually, sailing at anchor happens because the “sail area” in front of the keel center of lateral resistance is much greater than the area behind the keel CLR.. The wind exposed area of the topsides, hull freeboard, rigging, and most of the mainsail, when stacked, forward of the CLR is what I am talking about. The CLR is probably about 4-6 feet aft of the mast base?? A riding sail placed low, far aft and of good size should stop the annoyance.. ?? Put up the Bimini, put down some side curtains ?? I dunno.. but increase the “sail area” aft, and put it as far back as possible.. like off the backstay. Ohh Ohh.. your boat doesn’t have a backstay, ?? then rig something off the topping lift maybe? Like a small jib hanked onto the topping lift so most of the area is aft. Going to take a pretty good sized sail.. Should help .. Good luck with it. I don’t think a bridle will help much, but I am definitely interested since my 34 sails a lot at anchor too.

 

[Steve Kamp]

Bill, we have tried a bridal when using a mooring, running a 35 foot dockline from a bow cleat through the mooring painter and tying it off to the other bow cleat. Boat still sails to port and starboard of mooring and the dockline chaffes on the bow. We also experience quite a bit of sail at anchor in windy conditions. We plan on a "riding sail which will be hauled up on the topping lift, but have not yet made a selection.
Steve

 

[Rick Sylvester]

Hey Bill

The traditional attachment points of an anchor bridle (bow cleats) aren't far enough apart to restrict sailing at anchor due to high windage forward.

If you're referring to the strategy of bringing the attachment point of one side of the bridle way back on the rail, like maybe midship, it would allow enough leverage to 'cock' the boat to one side enough to prevent the bow from crossing through the eye of the wind. I bet it would be effective.

Let us know how it works out.

 

[Bill Roosa]

in no specific order

I tried all the bimini up/down, panels up/down/various...... to get the wind resistance aft to be greater than the wind resistance forward but to no avail. I suspect the roller jib is the factor that I can't remove.

I intend to run the anchor rode as normal and tie a line from the amidships cleat to the anchor rode so I get a good angle/purchase. My guess is that she will sail as normal on which ever tack i choose then stop because of the bridal leverage.

I'll let youall know how it works when I get back from this weekend's sail.

On another point I intend to practice heaving to and will let all know how that went also. Fin keel boats are more difficult to heave to than full keel. The "storm tactics" brought up a good point IMHO: How do you stop the boat for whatever reason? Right now I can't but it seems to be one of those things that you'd want to know how to do in a few cases. Rescue, storm.....etc

 

[Bill1565]

On little boats you back the main to stop. You can, if you are that kind of person, actually sail backward.

I second the further apart comment. last week 2 tri's anchored near me. With bridles to both ama's they stayed rock steady. I sailed thru 90 degrees.

Helps a lot in crowded anchorages. Buys me breathing room. I'm not looking to stop sailing at anchor!!!

 

[Dan Johnson]

Hey Bill...

I hope you didn't head out of Rock Creek today to do your bridal testing! It's a better day for storm tactics and parachute anchors!!!

 

[jdgrnt66]

bridal

I was reading "Storm Tactics" and got the wild idea that I could stop Bardi Sea from sailing on her anchor by using a bridal similar to the bridal used for a sea anchor.
I'm going to test it out this weekend
For the record I've tried riding sails, stern anchors, moving where the rode comes on board.... lots of stuff. None of it has worked very well

Has anyone used a bridal on their anchor rode and how did it work/how did you rig it?

See you on the waters.

Bill, I have tried everything imaginable. Our best answer was a single bridal to one bow cleat. Dont run it throught the anchor roller hardware that negates it. The one bridal keeps the bow just off center and with a breeze keeps the boat pretty much still. Used it last weekend in 15+ knots at anchor for 8 hours and rode much better. Now that being said, if there is no wind and your using line rode instead of all chain you will be a victim of the current fighting the wind.

Good luck!
Jeff

 

[abe]

I have been to all the channel islands off Ventura/Santa Barbara coast where at anchor you can face 20 to nearly 40 knotts. My best solution to sailing at anchor is a combination of the riding sail and two bow anchors 60 degrees to each other...this is assuming that the winds will continue from relatively the same direction. Other possibility is to double anchor stern/bow and the riding sail. In either case you can always do some adjustment to one of the two bow anchors or if using the bow/stern you can adjust the stern if there is a slight wind shift. However, if the wind dies down completely or shifts completely you go round and round in the two bow anchors making a big tangled mess..don't ask how I know. Having all chain also helps...every little thing helps.
My boat is terrible at 15-30knotts at anchor..it sails back and forth and you can feel the strain on the anchor. It slowly roles in one direction followed by the other direction. Two bow anchors with the riding sail...takes alot of swinging and dancing out. I have found most everything else useless.
IMHO
abe

 

[charris]

Bill, I am surprised that the “riding sail” didn’t help. Usually, sailing at anchor happens because the “sail area” in front of the keel center of lateral resistance is much greater than the area behind the keel CLR.. The wind exposed area of the topsides, hull freeboard, rigging, and most of the mainsail, when stacked, forward of the CLR is what I am talking about. The CLR is probably about 4-6 feet aft of the mast base?? A riding sail placed low, far aft and of good size should stop the annoyance.. ?? Put up the Bimini, put down some side curtains ?? I dunno.. but increase the “sail area” aft, and put it as far back as possible.. like off the backstay. Ohh Ohh.. your boat doesn’t have a backstay, ?? then rig something off the topping lift maybe? Like a small jib hanked onto the topping lift so most of the area is aft. Going to take a pretty good sized sail.. Should help .. Good luck with it. I don’t think a bridle will help much, but I am definitely interested since my 34 sails a lot at anchor too.

Actually Claude, the 40.5 does have a backstay. Single from masthead, splits above cockpit to secure at transom port and stbd

 

[Mulf]

FWIW - Just back from a 10 day BVI charter and...

Bill, we have tried a bridal when using a mooring, running a 35 foot dockline from a bow cleat through the mooring painter and tying it off to the other bow cleat. Boat still sails to port and starboard of mooring and the dockline chaffes on the bow. We also experience quite a bit of sail at anchor in windy conditions. We plan on a "riding sail which will be hauled up on the topping lift, but have not yet made a selection.
Steve

one instruction our Moorings check out instructor told us was to use a dock line from each bow cleat through the mooring penant eye and back to the same cleat. This prevents the eye from sliding from side to side. Kept it taught enough that the eye road at water level a couple of feet in front of the bow edge. We had a 43 Benetau instead of our 410 Hunter, but in the two different evening squalls that blew through during our trip the boat did not seem to hunt as wildy as our Hunter.

 

[Ron McCoy]

I've found a way that works, but is somewhat dependent on setting it up right with the tide and wind and adjusting it when conditions change. This system requires lots of chain, a rope 3/4 the length of the boat with a chain hook on one end. Anchor as usual, attach the chain hook to the anchor chain and let out another 10' of chain or so. Take the rope (with hook on the other end attached to the anchor chain) and secure it to the mid-cleat taking in anchor chain as to cock the aft section of the boat to windward. The idea is to off-set the direct pull off the bow and force the anchor to hold the boat at two points rather than one. This moves the CLR aft and stops the swing. It's only good until the wind or tide changes in which case you'll need to reset the lines again.

 

[Hunter voyager]

Like Ron, I attach the rope to the chain but further down the chain so that the knot or chain hook is about a boats length from the bow and I the lead the rope to the aft cleat. Then take in on the rope so that the boat sets at about 30 deg to the wind.

 

[Ron McCoy]

Hunter voyager. You've got it. I think the "boat length from the bow" is about right. Really depends on the strength of the wind and tide as to how much I let out. This will work everytime, until the wind & tide changes of course.

 

[Bill Roosa]

What we found

Hi all
Sorry about taking so long to reply back, I forgot about the post.

We tried the bridal, rode attached as usual with an additional line run from mid-ship cleat to the rode about a boat length from the anchor spirit. The boat did stop sailing but drug anchor and it would not reset. Drug about 1/10 of a mile with no indication the anchor was trying to dig in. Don't really understand this as the anchor does not "see" the bridal. We had 5+ : 1 scope out in 15' of water and we've never had any trouble with the anchor not resetting on wind/tide shifts before. Very weird.

 

[Ron McCoy]

I think your problem is with the anchor not setting, rather than the arrangement at the cleat. The rode only has a one way pull applied by the boat on the anchor. I suspect the anchor was fouled or not properly set prior to setting up the lines on deck. Just curious, but why did you let the anchor drag so far. Next time, ensure the anchor is properly set (I mean dug in even if you have to back the boat on it), then make the line tie up arrangements mentioned above. I think you'll be satisfied. BTW what type of anchor are you using?

 

[quadrille38]

Finally got a chance to use the Banner Bay Fin Delta anchor sail I got for Christmas. It worked great and slowed the anchor sailing on our 2008 38 dramatically. Prior to using it, whiplash almost occured, after boat was calm.