Solo bow and stern anchoring

[grakker]

Anyone have a suggestion on the best way to go about anchoring bow and stern without a dinghy? I've always had a dinghy and someone with me in the past. Set the main anchor into the wind, back down on it a bit, paddle out a ways with the dinghy and drop the stern anchor. Not too complicated.

I'm thinking of heading out to the Channel Islands in California solo in a couple weeks and I'm in between dinghies right now. Does anyone have any advice for this inexperienced anchorer?

I guess the solo part doesn't really matter, it's the lack of dinghy. If I must, I'll wait until I get the new dinghy.

[SeaStory]

Set the bow, backing down and all, let out lots of scope and drop the stern anchor, then pull in the bow rode while playing out the stern. Power forward to set the stern anchor. Reverse the procedure to recover the anchor.

[alctel]

I've done it, it's a pain in the arse and lots of running back and forth

What I did was anchor first, set the anchor by backing down on it, then go into neutral, run up the front and let out another 50ish foot of line, and then reverse/get blown back to the end of it, let go the stern anchor and a bunch of line and then pull in the bow line by hand/windless/winch until you are at the right spot, and then pull in the stern anchor rode till you are at the right place and set using a winch

If you are 100% certain you won't foul your prop you can drop the stern anchor first and then motor up to the primary anchor spot and drop, but it's a lot risker even if it's less faffing around

Still easier than stern-tying solo though so there is that

[grakker]

Thanks you guys. This is basically how I had it in my mind. Didn't seem crazy but I figured I very well could be missing something obvious.

[SeaStory]

Originally Posted by grakker

Thanks you guys. This is basically how I had it in my mind. Didn't seem crazy but I figured I very well could be missing something obvious.

Make no mistake: I don't envy you doing it solo. Someone installed a windlass control in the cockpit on our boat, but there isn't much drop, so you have to push the chain out of the way very few feet. As above, it would be a lot of faffing about. I had just assumed faffing had a ph in it somewhere, but now I can use it in writing...

[DefinitelyMe]

Yup, the above explanations cover it. So just to be a bit alternative I'll describe another option. I like to take a 'proactively lazy' approach to most things. I'm happy to spend 20 minutes faffing around if it means I don't have to pull on anything.

So you anchor by the bow, as normal, letting out the appropriate scope. Then you saunter to the stern. You'll need your stern anchor, the stern anchor rode, a fender and another line that's nice and smooth and fairly skinny. Tie the skinny, slippery line onto the fender and then onto the anchor with a slipknot. Dump it overboard and pay out lots of slack. It'll float down wind (or down current). Don't let it spin around though. When it's far enough away (usually further than one thinks) give the skinny line a good tug. In theory, the anchor will be released, the fender recovered, you won't have had to use a dinghy, get wet, or haul anything heavy (like a boat). I've used this method with success twice, but also without success twice. :-)

[Jdege]

Do you have enough rode to simply let out more for the main anchor, drop the stem anchor, and then bring in the excess rode in the main?

[dougweibel]

Originally Posted by Jdege

Do you have enough rode to simply let out more for the main anchor, drop the stem anchor, and then bring in the excess rode in the main?

I believe the OP confirmed that he did.

If you don't have enough rode for the main anchor to let out till you are where you intend to drop the stern anchor then it follows you don't have enough to let out to get the boat over the stern anchor when it is time to bring it up. It is one thing to drop an anchor from a dingy. It can be significantly harder to bring an anchor up from a dingy if it is well set. I put myself in that situation once and don't care to repeat it.

[thinwater]

Obviously. Also, as many have figured out, you'll need to move the boat to raise the second anchor, since doing that from a dinghy requires an anchor float (bad practice) and that the anchor is not well set (or it will be too hard to break out).



It does not have to be bow stern (which is often a mistake) but can also be a V or Bahamian moor. Just lead the second rode to the bow.



This can also be a method for setting an anchor when you don't have a working engine.



And this is all dead simple to do singlehanded.

[tenchiki]

The Channel Islands tend to have deep anchorages, and you need to anchor bow & stern to fit more than one boat in...
What I have done when not enough rode is to (securely!) tie the bitter ends together, drop and set one anchor, let out most of the double length, drop and set the other anchor, then move back to the middle.

Easier done in the small boat I had at the time than in a larger cruiser... (I could just hand-over-hand the rodes). Also easier with mixed rodes than all-chain on the bow.