Transient slip? Bah! Give me an anchorage!

[Erieau]

I've had up my sleeve for some time a cruise to Pelee Island from my home port of Erieau. It's a milk run for old timers, but an exciting destination to a daysailer and marina-camper like me.
Rather last minute, Labour Day Weekend came open to DO AS I PLEASE (very unusual at my house). It was Wednesday before the long weekend, and just for a laugh, I called up Scudder Marina to reserve a transient. I got the laugh, all right. The waiting list was longer than my to-do list on the boat.
I pulled out the Lake Erie chart and had a look for a cove on the west side of the island, as winds were forecast from the east (perfect for a leisurely run from Erieau). Mosquito Bay looked promising, so I googled it. Thoughtfully, an Ohio sailing club has posted reviews on every conceivable anchorage around the Lake, and Mosquito Bay got glowing reviews.
Long story short, I dropped the hook through glassy water into a firm sandy bottom by suppertime on Saturday evening, enjoyed Sunday by bicycling around the island, and was back in my slip by Monday evening. I had a marvelous time, saved a hundred bucks in slip fees, had the Bay to myself, enjoyed spectacular scenery and sunsets, and left only a few pounds of flesh in the bellies of the black flies.:cussing:
For future cruises, an anchorage will be my first resort, not the last. Awesome.

 

[Joe11688]

I'm with you on anchoring, Joe. We used sail over to Martha's Vineyard in the summer back in the 1990s and anchor inside the breakwater in a place called Vineyard Haven. The Harbormaster back then used to let us anchor near the beach on one condition, that we use two anchors Bahamian Moor style. He claimed that the wind changed quite a bit during the night and he didn't want our boat to slip the anchor and hit any boats on moorings. It sounded reasonable to me and we saved a lot of money doing that.

I still prefer to anchor wherever I go depending on the holding ground, but I got away from using two anchors through the years.

A few weeks ago though, I was anchored in shallow water in a very protected cove on and Island in Narragansett Bay and I knew that there was a storm coming up.
I only had one anchor out and it was in the morning and I just got back from a paddle over to shore with Penny in the kayak where we went beach combing. We were sitting in the cabin when the storm came up with driving rain, thunder and lightning and wind gusts up to 60 mph. All of a sudden the boat spun all the way around and slipped the anchor and was at the shore. My centerboard and rudder blade were up and my boat was in the reeds against my kayak, so nothing got damaged.
I put my swim suit on and got in the water after I got my anchor up. I was going to kedge the boat out with the anchor but it just seemed like too much work and time is always precious in a tidal area. So I pushed the stern out to deep water and lowered the outboard and got it started. Then I stood on the swim ladder and throttled it in reverse and got out of there.

Thinking back, that whole unfortunate episode could have been avoided if I had put out a second anchor. Even if I didn't put out an anchor, I could have sat in the cockpit with my rain gear on, ready to man the outboard.

That night we anchored in another cove on Mount Hope Bay which wasn't as protected and has many rocks and the same thing happened but the wind never changed and the boat held steady at her anchor. Only this time I was ready in the cockpit at my outboard. Like a dope though, I had my bathing suit on and almost froze my butt off. I was thinking to myself, "Why didn't you put your rain gear on, dummy?"
So I've learned through my mistakes through the years. With that said though, I still prefer to anchor than grab a slip or a mooring.

 

[justsomeguy]

Love Pelee Island. (The Southernmost populated bit of land in Canada, don'tcha know?) Spent many a holiday there at a friend's cottage on the North shore.

There was some prickly pear cactus growing along the SW spit!