Anchoring Bow to Swells

[sail2wind]

I read an article in Sail or CW about anchoring and then turning the boat to the swell with astern line going to the anchor line. Anyone tried this? If this works it could help some rockin and rollin nights.

[Lowcountry]

Yes, it works very well in certain situations. You can do it with a line from your stern cleat or from a midships cleat, depending on how far you need to move your bow.

[svtadpole]

When anchored or on a mooring a boat will usually point to windward ... some places have tidal or river currents which override the windward bit ... normally swell & waves are wind driven but some places ( & I think this is what you are talking about ) often get wave action contrary to wind direction ... this does indeed make for uncomfortable rolling ...

The answer is to rig a line onto your anchor rode a few feet off the bow & make the other end fast astern ( I take it to a sheet winch at the cockpit so I can adjust it easily ) ... this will bring your bow into the waves whilst the wind holds the boat .....

I believe this is called a "bridle rig" but somebody may correct me on that ...

[Vasco]

It works after a fashion but I've found it's not worth the effort. It's not perfect and if the wind shifts a bit you might get the swells close to the beam again. I find it's easier to just put up with the rolling.... or move to another anchorage if possible.

[Lowcountry]

Instead of bringing in the bridle line on a winch, you can achieve the same effect by letting out more chain until your bow is into the swell. That's how I've always done it, anyway.

[Sailbad]

Gidday. Its called pointing ship and was originally used to enable guns to bear on shore targets. This was in the days when guns were mounted along the ships side, with limited traverse. It could be used in Florida?

[zeehag]

found gulf coast to be comfortable even in rolly anchorages in a performance cruiser----where are you anchoring that ye need a pointing assist???

[CSY Man]

where are you anchoring that ye need a pointing assist???
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Fairly common in the Bahamas.

Done the line from aft winch to anchor chain several times, makes for day/night difference as the pitching can barely be felt, but the rolling is quit annoying for same wind/wave combo.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Depending on how much swing, sometimes you can just put the rudder over...

[Mark Johnson]

We always use a 35' bridle on our trimaran, which can have one leg shortened by pulling in 6- 8' and cleating it there. This will change the attitude to the wind from the normal straight on, to about 10 degrees off.

We don't often need to do this, but "sometimes" a current has us flopping around in a diagonal wave pattern, even though facing the wind. This bridle adjustment moves our bow to face the wave pattern, which is MUCH more comfortable.

On a monohull, I would think that tying a spare line with a rolling hitch, from about 30' down the anchor rode to a stern cleat, would serve the same purpose. It might also be useful to stop the sawing around?

M.

[Jim Cate]

In many of the open roadstead anchorages on the East coast of Oz one finds that the wind holds one beam on to the refracted waves coming around the protecting headland. Places like Byron Bay, Double Island point and Smokey Cape come to mind. In such places some means of getting the bow or stern pointed into the waves is a great help, and the "line from stern to the rode" method works well... as long as the wind continues to blow. Often it dies down somewhat at night and the rolling commences just as you thought you were going to sleep!

Makes us monohullers almost wish for training wheels!

Flopper stoppers of various designs also help, but they are a PITA to rig and can be pretty noisy as well.

Cheers,

[zeehag]

when i have wind in opposition to current and vice versa, i wait it out and make sure i dont drag, which is a possibility , always.....an d more chain is let out--i usually have about 130 ft in 25 ft water.....longer if isnt good mud....drags slower that way..LOL... so far....

[osirissail]

I have used the bridle technique - line from anchor rode to stern quite often. But as another has said a wind shift will cause the boat to point in another direction and you will be rolling again.
- - In situations with shifting winds, I deploy a stern anchor and pull the stern around until the bow is into the waves/swells. This keeps the boat definitely in position but there is the hassle of retrieving two anchors when it is time to move on.

[sail2wind]

We are in the Virgin Islands and the swells can sneak up on you, especially in a mono

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by sail2wind

I read an article in Sail or CW about anchoring and then turning the boat to the swell with astern line going to the anchor line. Anyone tried this? If this works it could help some rockin and rollin nights.

One of the most stupid things I have ever hear, and keep hearing about.
I know some people ddo it. One boat here is and he's abeam to every squall that comes through (we are getting loads!) Obviously he can't anchor in a flat part of the bay as he restricts properly anchored boats swinging room. So its defeating his purpose imho.
Also if you can't take the roll move or buy a Cat or a house and kitten.

As for tying ashore, that means your boat is right on the beach or rocks with a short piece of string on it? What happens is a decent wave comes in and you drag? Value of boat? Zip!

People in the Med do it but they have a reel of 1 inch webbing tape on their sterns that must be hunders of meters long. That seems fine. Theres no tide there etc etc.

Can you imagine you boat tied to a tree at 90 degrees to the wind, 30 meters from rocks, and you are invited to the bar? You can't go. Can you?