Anchoring too close to other boats?

[Mike OReilly]

I really don’t get the ‘you’re swinging over my anchor’ stress some people seem to have (and I’m a North American ). I’ve yet to be in a situation where it wasn’t easily solvable with a little effort and basic good will.

I much prefer to be in empty anchorages, but when I’ve had to be in busy places, I tend to assume the other boater knows what they’re doing — until it becomes clear they don’t.

So, of someone anchors such that they swing a bit closer than I’d like, I watch their gear and technique. If they pass muster, I try not to stress about it.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by bobnlesley

'Too close' is also often a matter of perception too, I'm sure that we've all estimated that the next boat in the anchorage is 'only' about 30m/100' away, but when you see it from the dinghy as you head ashore you realise that it's perhaps twice as far.

And a boat always seems to be anchored much further offshore than it was if you are swimming or rowing out to it.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by StuM

And a boat always seems to be anchored much further offshore than it was if you are swimming or rowing out to it.

Ain't THAT the truth!

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

One of the few times I have dragged down onto another vessel was when an inadequately anchored multi hull dragged over my single anchor, unset it and carried us both down onto other anchored boats, a second anchor would probably have held us both and prevented the ensuing collisions.

If you are concerned about other boats dragging and tangling with your ground tackle (and this is a very valid concern), deploying two anchors is the worst thing you can do.

If you deploy a single anchor, boats that are dragging will be moving parallel to your anchor rode. The chance of the anchor of the dragging boat catching your chain is low, and if it does happen, chances are they would have hit your boat anyway.

Setting two anchors (other than a tandem arrangement) means that you have the equivalent of a fish net nicely set up to catch any anchor that may be dragging anywhere between the two anchors. The rodes will no longer be parallel to the direction the dragging boat’s anchor is moving so the chance of another boat catching on your chain is greatly increased.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Montanan

More than slightly if they are on excessively 10:1 length of scope. Their very little benefit from extending one's scope that far, but far greater likelihood to swinging around with shifts of wind and current onto other boats set with more appropriate, shorter lengths of rode.

It is simple math to determine that going long doesn't aid much in holding power as the angle of the rode is only modestly lessened. Deploy a larger anchor and utilize less rode so as to not become a hog at the anchorage.

Here, here

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

If you are concerned about other boats dragging and tangling with your ground tackle (and this is a very valid concern), deploying two anchors is the worst thing you can do.

If you deploy a single anchor, boats that are dragging will be moving parallel to your anchor rode. The chance of the anchor of the dragging boat catching your chain is low, and if it does happen, chances are they would have hit your boat anyway.

Setting two anchors (other than a tandem arrangement) means that you have the equivalent of a fish net nicely set up to catch any anchor that may be dragging anywhere between the two anchors. The rodes will no longer be parallel to the direction the dragging boat’s anchor is moving so the chance of another boat catching on your chain is greatly increased.

Hopefully one is on their boat when it's rode gets entangled by a upwind boat dragging anchor and yourself begin dragging anchor. That's when it becomes necessary to play out your rode and cut the line at the end or your rode that is attached to your boat in your rode locker so as to be cast free and hopefully you attach floats with quick hitches or slip knots to your rode while it is being played out so as to ease its recovery after conditions settle. Someone I know had the end of their chain rode hard connected to their boat which made it impossible without a hefty bolt cutter to be able to sever the rode from the boat, I suggested he place line and keep a knife or box cutter in a dry storage in the chain locker for emergency break away.

[Cadence]

Yada, yada ,yada. Twenty feet as the OP stated seemed to close since he had adequate scope and could resolve it by bringing in a no. of feet of chain, as I recall. The speculative about swinging at anchor has to many variables, yours and theirs. Hull shape, draft, air draft of the masts. Your chain and his three strand nylon maybe .And I'm sure many. more.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

If you are concerned about other boats dragging and tangling with your ground tackle (and this is a very valid concern), deploying two anchors is the worst thing you can do.

If you deploy a single anchor, boats that are dragging will be moving parallel to your anchor rode. The chance of the anchor of the dragging boat catching your chain is low, and if it does happen, chances are they would have hit your boat anyway.

Setting two anchors (other than a tandem arrangement) means that you have the equivalent of a fish net nicely set up to catch any anchor that may be dragging anywhere between the two anchors. The rodes will no longer be parallel to the direction the dragging boat’s anchor is moving so the chance of another boat catching on your chain is greatly increased.

The anchorage where that incident, Curlew Island, is constituted by an island which lies across the prevailing wind with a parallel sand bar running along the entire downwind coast. Tides in the area are up ro about 7 metres (23'-24') and consequently there is a strong current running along the anchorage at right angles to the wind. In addition strong, gusting bullets gust over the island.

The multihull did not deploy enough chain and, at near high tide, dragged along and away from the beach fouled my chain, then swung around astern of me, then when my single anchor would not hold both boats, dragged us both down onto the other boats.

The bang of his forward beam on my boarding ladder woke me and initially I thought I had dragged down onto the group of boats further along the beach.

I started my engine and when attempting to motor ahead found that his chain interfered with my prop when I tried to adjust my course to starboard. At full power I dragged both the other boat and my anchor forward about 200 m. and then turned bow to bow whereupon he motored forward over my chain and unhooked his anchor.

Whilst it is not an anchorage where I would generally perceive a need to set two anchors, had I had two anchors properly set in a V configuration I am fairly certain that when he fouled my up-current anchor line he would have swung around to lie astern of me and the two anchors prevented us from dragging down onto the other boats.

I have two anchors set in the anchorage I now inhabit and always set two because it is so notorious for lost vessels that insurers exclude it from their policies. The problem is a sticky clay bottom which adheres to an unset anchor and prevents it resetting. I also deploy two anchors at any rime I am perceive the possibility of wind against tide or anchoring on a calcareous bottom with a lee shore.

In general I anchor for the prevailing conditions rather than to any set of rules or anchoring myth or dogma.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

I have two anchors set in the anchorage I now inhabit and always set two because it is so notorious for lost vessels that insurers exclude it from their policies. The problem is a sticky clay bottom which adheres to an unset anchor and prevents it resetting. I also deploy two anchors at any rime I am perceive the possibility of wind against tide or anchoring on a calcareous bottom with a lee shore.

In general I anchor for the prevailing conditions rather than to any set of rules or anchoring myth or dogma.

Are those bow and stern or two off the bow?

[RaymondR]

Both from the bow, about 120 degrees spread.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

The multihull did not deploy enough chain and, at near high tide, dragged along and away from the beach fouled my chain, then swung around astern of me, then when my single anchor would not hold both boats, dragged us both down onto the other boats.

The bang of his forward beam on my boarding ladder woke me and initially I thought I had dragged down onto the group of boats further along the beach.

I started my engine and when attempting to motor ahead found that his chain interfered with my prop when I tried to adjust my course to starboard. At full power I dragged both the other boat and my anchor forward about 200 m. and then turned bow to bow whereupon he motored forward over my chain and unhooked his anchor.

That sounds like a nightmare situation. It certainly helps if your ground tackle has enough reserve holding power that it stands a good chance of holding both boats. If you can avoid dragging when holding the second boat, the mess can be sorted out reasonably easily. This is a good argument for fitting the best primary anchor in the largest size you can comfortably manage.

Setting two anchors at an angle of 120°, as you propose, means that if you have for example 60m of rode deployed, you have just set up a 100m wide trap in front of your boat. You are likely to catch any dragging anchor within this 100m wide zone. Once caught, the dragging boat’s anchor is likely to side along your chain towards the apex, where your boat is located.

Multiple anchors can be useful on occasions, but a significant drawback is that in crowded anchorages you are essentially “fishing” for dragging boats.

[wingless]

My boat was anchored a couple hundred feet from another boat, he was there first.

Everyone on my boat took the town launch to shore. While there a storm came in w/ a stiff wind and rain.

On the ride back there wasn't anymore room in the covered part of the launch, so I was holding the tips of my umbrella over my head. We were the furthest boat in the anchorage.

The buy before me identified his boat, then exclaimed: "why is that boat next to mine?"

When I peeked from under my umbrella, I discovered it was my boat adjacent to his.

We proceeded to give those in the anchorage a late-night rainy show. He was yelling at me the whole time about my fault for me failing to provide sufficient swing radius for his first-anchored boat. I couldn't figure out why we we unable to separate.

Finally I started to retrieve my all-chain rode when I discovered his anchor hooked midway on the length.

The problem was that his anchor let go and he was dragging along until his anchor snagged my rode. I grabbed his anchor off my rode and tossed it into the water near his boat, explaining the problem being his fault and that I saved his boat.

He still complained at me, then got out of Dodge.

My boat stayed put the rest of the weekend, not budging even after holding two boats during a strong blow.

[Smokeys Kitchen]

Another +1 to Chotu for posting this thread. There is much to be learned from it.

I do wish to ask though, was this really a "mistake" as others have said on the part of Chotu? He (believe it is a he) did make adjustments to his rode length in the end, but I don't feel that his previous actions constituted a "mistake". I think going to plan B or C, when the observations of the current situation show that plan A is not giving the results desired, show good judgement in the situation described. He has good experience in his own vessel as well as in this particular anchorage, so it was just doing what was warranted in the situation.

Not faulting the persons commenting here, as by far, most of the posters have more experience than me, but not everything is a mistake when posted up for discussion.

We have been out for about 2 months this summer anchoring in mostly benign conditions when compared to some. Anchoring most nights, there were 4 or 5 times I picked it back up due to not ending up where I thought I would. My biggest mistake is not getting close enough to the boat in front of me before I drop the anchor; thus ending up too far back and closer to another boat than I want to. Still a learning curve for me - but just correcting the actions as plan 'A' did not give the desired results.

Enjoying the learning on the forum here here

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Smokeys Kitchen

thus ending up too far back and closer to another boat than I want to.

You are not alone. Underestimating the distance from dropping the anchor to where the boat is going to finally finish is one of the most common mistakes made.

One of these laser rangefinders is a help. They are useful for beginners that are not practised in judging the distance from other boats, but even with a lot of experience they come in handy in tight anchorages when trying to position the boat so that swing radius will safely clear obstructions such as rocks.

From the bow, when just about to drop the anchor the laser rangefinder will measure the distance to within a metre so. If you add the length of rode plus distance to the stern the exact separation between your stern and the boat behind can measured before the anchor is dropped. (If you have one of the older generation anchors especially one of the convex plow anchors you also need to add in several metres for the setting distance, but other designs set so rapidly that the setting distance can be ignored unless the substrate is very soft).

Something similar to this, although much cheaper models are available and still work well:

[Sojourner]

^^^ Those rangefinders are great! Love ours....

Speaking of anchoring too close, last night here in Parga, Greece, there were boats swinging within a boatlength (20 m) from us in all 4 directions. Don't feel bad.