New Anchoring Technique

[noelex 77]

Just when I think i have seen it all I saw something new yesterday.
The anchorage I am in is littered with large sharp rocks. A small cruising boat arrived with a new generation anchor, but very little chain.

His technique was quite simple he constantly, and do mean constantly, adjusted his scope to keep the rope off the bottom, but to provide adequate scope for the wind conditions.
In light wind he went down to a bit below 2:1. In 10-15k he lengthened out to 3:1. In 25k up to 4:1.

Most cruising boats should be fitted with all chain IMHO. If however, you lost all your main chain, techniques like this are worth considering.

I do occasional anchor at less than 2:1, with a view to letting out more scope later (mainly to anchor in prime spot when I know other boats will be leaving before the evening) and its perfectly adequate in light conditions, even in shallowish water (With someone on watch). I had, however, not considered this continual varying scope it as means to managing with only a small, amount of chain.

I have seen cruisers in the South Pacific buoy their rope rode to remove the potential for the rode to be cut, but this is only viable when there are very few other boats about. So this is another technique for boats with inadequate chain for the anchorage, whether by design, or accident.

[S/V Alchemy]

Interesting to be sure, but it seems time and energy-intensive to me.

If conditions allowed, I would in straight-line breezes simply drop a stern anchor and tension the catenaries fore and aft sufficiently to get the rope off the sharp rocks.

Of course, I would REALLY have to like the place to do the ground tackle equivalent of walking on broken glass in the first place!

[twistedtree]

How could he tell whether all the rope was off the bottom?

[Bash]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Most cruising boats should be fitted with all chain IMHO.

I second the notion, especially for cruisers who like to sleep at night.

[rebel heart]

Primary for us: 62lb manson supreme with 300' of chain. Knock on teak, never dragged with it yet.

I also do a 2:1 sometimes, often just so see where I "end up" before I dump everything else out and slide back. Hustling into an anchorage it can be hard for me to nail the perfect location on the first shot and it's a lot quicker to haul 50' of chain back in than 200'.

I usually futz with the scope to make sure there's tension on the snubber, I don't like the nylon on the bottom. But if I'm in 15' of water that might mean only 14' of snubber in the water so if the wind starts pumping I'll start paying more out.