Anchoring your dinghy when ashore

[Elysium]

Hi all,
I am looking for some wisdom on how to best anchor my RIB while walking around on shore. I live in the Pacific Northwest and most of the popular anchorages do not have a beach. Typically it is sharp rocks, barnacles and oysters, or even if you do find a cobble shore it is often quite slippery and is dangerous for our little kids to walk through.
In poking around on the Net, I found this article but I feel like the bag technique would just get snagged up in the rocks when you went to retrieve it, thus forcing you into a swim. Apart from that, on smooth bottoms, it does seem like a good approach...

How to Anchor a Boat's Tender or Dinghy | YachtPals.com

Lower down on the page someone also suggests an "endless line" approach, but recommends 500 metres of line...so essentially a 250 metre usable length....but to me (completely inexperienced here) that seems insane!

Any help from other Northwest cruisers or people with similar shorelines would be GREATLY appreciated.

Cheers
Mike

[Paul Lefebvre]

The Anchor Buddy, invented in your area, should do the trick for you.

http://www.danbullard.com/dan/anchor_buddy.html

[Hudson Force]

My answer may not be suitable for two reasons: I'm on the US East Coast with tides usually less than 6 feet and my anchring substrate is loose gravel, sand or mud. I don't find that I have a use for this method when I'm among big rock as my technique requires that I can force my dinghy anchor to drag by hand. I use a ten pound folding grapnel that stows quickly in a small bag. I have this anchor on a 40' light nylon rode on a padeye at my dinghy transom. No special trick for me, - I simple step off the dinghy with anchor and painter. I secure the painter and shove the dinghy out. When the dinghy is well off, I sling the grapnel to it most extended reach. I usually pull back lightly on the painter to check the set. At my locations I'm always able to overcome the hold of the dinghy anchor and muscle it to me when I want to depart.

[cfarrar]

We have a continuous line of small diameter nylon on a pulley (the pulley shackles to the anchor chain). I don't think it's more than 300 feet total, and it works fine, even with 10-12 foot tides. I admit it's a hassle when all that nylon gets snarled up on itself.

[foolishsailor]

This is a great question that i have also wondered about. We have two little un's as well and the model i used to have of anchoring slightly away and swimming in is a less tham desirable option now.

[Kettlewell]

I don't understand quite what you are dealing with. In areas with a steeply shelving approach to shore I usually drop a bow anchor and bring a stern line ashore to tie to something if there is an offshore breeze. If the wind is blowing onshore I try to drop the hook so that I can just reach the stern of the dinghy without getting my shorts wet--it works, sometimes! Or, I just go right in to the beach or rocks, hop out, and pull the boat up above the waves. Maybe yours is too heavy to do that with. With a lot of tide I try to consult and remember the tide tables before I go ashore so that I don't end up either with the dinghy at anchor 100 feet from dry land, or the dinghy at anchor 100 feet from the water. Doesn't always work out just right, which is one reason it is good to have a dinghy that you can lift/drag, and a reason to wear a bathing suit that looks like shorts when you go ashore, or underwear that looks like a bathing suit.

[aclmck]

Hi Elysium,

i use a system similar to some of the above, i use a anchor with 3-5 ft chain this is connected to a buoy via a small warp about 20-30 ft (the buoy is one that has a loop at the top to pass a rope through)

after setting the anchor i use another long rope that is tied to the bow and passes through the buoy then to the stern of the boat ( or use different colour ropes for each)

i then slowly motor to shore when ashore i then pull the dinghy back out to the buoy bow first (even in small surf) to beyond the breakers you can see the buoy so you can stop when your far enough out then use a spike or a tree or whatever to tie up the bow end of the rope.

To retrieve simply pull in stern first and if in surf hold the bow line lightly to keep the nose pointed into the surf.

We use this method with light lines and keep our dinghy safe beyond harms way as we often have to deal with 20 ft tides.

the entire system is kept in a bag because we dont use it often we only take it when required

[Cheechako]

dingy wheels, big ones... The problem in the PNW is the tides and water temperature for sure. Add to that the type of beach you mention and it's tough. You not only have to anchor the dingy far enough out, but you have to tie the retrieval end on shore way up the beach! An aluminum dingy comes to mind.... Dingy wheels and a long painter may be the best answer for beaches.

[Andrew Troup]

On rocky bottoms, best to use floating line if rigging an endless hauloff system