The Herding Instinct

[Hud3]

Someone described the experience of coming into a new anchorage as joining a meercat community.

Heads pop up out of companionways. Heads swivel around. Eyeballs stare. Heads pop back down, then back up. Nothing said, just Watching.

[Christian Van H]

I'm the one on the left...

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by sarafina

Cause they know we will do it better ; -)

LOL... nice one...

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Hud3

Someone described the experience of coming into a new anchorage as joining a meercat community.

Heads pop up out of companionways. Heads swivel around. Eyeballs stare. Heads pop back down, then back up. Nothing said, just Watching.

I'm the one watching the boat coming in.... lmao

VanH... who's left..ours or theirs....??

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Bash

Given that I'm about to go anchor out for another weekend, I suppose this would be a good time to thank everyone for the spirited discussion.

I've been thinking a lot about Mark's suggestion to go below when others are anchoring nearby, but gosh, that would deprive me of my major form of weekend entertainment.

Funny how you can tell so much about cruisers by the way they drop the hook.

G'Day Bash,

Way back when we sailed weekends on SF Bay our best entertainment was what we called" the Angel Island Mooring Follies". Watching folks try to pick up first a bow and then a stern bouy in Hospital cove with a big ebb running was always good for a laugh or two. Brings back some hilarious memories! Thanks for that...

Cheers,

Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II lying Lake Macquarie, NSW Oz

[hummingway]

Originally Posted by Christian Van H

Maybe mention that you've got all six feet of chain out and your 6 lb. plow too! Afterwards, while begging the beer, ask them if they've heard the word of the Lord lately... Bonus points for calling his wife "Kitty" and mentioning how hot his daughter is.

That's just evil

[Ex-Calif]

When the guy lets out his rode and his stern is 20 feet from your bow and you are sure he has overlapped your pick and you are sure he's got the drinks and after 5s all laid out around the cockpit and hopefully the wheel removed. Then it's time to fire up the donk, motor forward, ask him to move his boat forward so you can get your pick out from under it.

PITA but totally worth it.

If he says anything then you can dream up all kinds of smart-aleck answers.

- Too crowded around here
- His wife is too ugly to stare at all night
- Worried about mooring next to morons with insufficient ground tackle
- Heard a hurricane warning on the radio and hauling ass to the marina
- Need privacy when you take a dump off the pulpit in the morning
- I always make passage at night because I am alergic to the sun

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

- His wife is too ugly to stare at all night

Last time I spent the night this close to your wife....

[Jim Cate]

alternate strategy, suggested a looong time ago...
For an anchorage with plenty of room in protected waters... Scope it out, pick two places you're comfortable to spend the night in, widely separated. Anchor your inflatable dinghy at one, probably the one you secretly prefer, then anchor your big [glamorous] boat where you prefer the flock to settle. Either they'll space out (as sometimes happens), they'll cluster near your dink (in which case you retrieve it sometime next day), or near the big boat. 'Long about dusk, if they're too near the big boat, or you haven't made friends with them, simply up anchor, go near your dinghy, close enough astern to grab its stern line with your boat hook, pull it alongside, and anchor the big boat where you will.
[ This scheme is far too much work for me, psychologically, I'd rather just up anchor and get the room I want, further out, if possible. Admittedly this is simpler with an electric windlass.]
Ann Cate, s/v Insatiable II NSW, Oz

[senormechanico]

Jim,

That reminded me of a time we anchored in Los Gatos (Baja)

The rather open bay is exposed to the East, but there are two reasonable places to anchor when it gets snotty.

In the South end, there is a pretty good sized reef which breaks up wave action, and in the North part, you're protected by a hill.

When we came in and anchored in the South part, there were 2 or 3 boats.
Later in the day, a few others came in and anchored in various places.
The wind hadn't really come up much, but it was from the North. With the possibility of increasing North winds we up anchored and moved to the North area. Within an hour, everybody from the South did the same thing. Nobody had talked via VHF during this time, and it was before cellphones.
After about an hour, the winds subsided and the barometer dropped. After waiting about 2 hours, we decided to move back to the South side.

We were now the only boat in the South anchorage.

It wasn't long before we got a call on the VHF from some friends in the anchorage.

Very tactfully, they asked, "Did we say something wrong?"

We all had a good laugh about it.

[Curmudgeon]

So, what's the etiquette when you arrive at Cuttyhunk on a holiday weekend and there are 10,000 boats packed into the anchorage-- including the area outside of the harbor? Do you (a) offend someone, (b) sail to Menemsha or Block Island where there are 9,000 boats packed into the harbor and offend someone else, (c) take off for Bermuda, or (d) buy a Harley and give up sailing?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

So, what's the etiquette when you arrive at Cuttyhunk on a holiday weekend and there are 10,000 boats packed into the anchorage-- including the area outside of the harbor? Do you (a) offend someone, (b) sail to Menemsha or Block Island where there are 9,000 boats packed into the harbor and offend someone else, (c) take off for Bermuda, or (d) buy a Harley and give up sailing?

Cuttyhunk was the first overnight anchorage I did and only have been there once when I was getting my bareboat cert. So it was with instuctor on his boat. In my mind we were anchored in way too tight a pack and I figure it's almost always that way and haven't been back. So to me I guess the answer is C or D.

But then that was anchoring in a crowded spot so everyone is choosing to join in the collective risk. This is alot different from anchoring next to another boat where there was lots of space as good that one could have choosen.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by flashmutt007

reminds me that I haven't heard the knock of a single Jehovah’s Witness while out on the water.... And now back to our regularly scheduled program.

We got one of those just the other week! Came up in a skiff, knocked on our boat and handed out pamphlets.

Mark

[Bash]

Originally Posted by colemj

We got one of those just the other week! Came up in a skiff, knocked on our boat and handed out pamphlets.

Intolerable. That's the point when we load the cannon with nails to repel boarders.

[shadow]

Originally Posted by boatman61

If anyone drops the hook to close to me... and its not crewed by gorgeous women... its trance music on max, clothes off and I use the POOP DECK for its original purpose....lee side of course... lol
But then I couldn't care less what people think of me...lmao
Rather be considered a barbarian than have a bigger boat drag down on me because the moron who cant figure out swing circles/differences is also probably to stupid to know how to anchor securely.....
Jimmy Buffets "Your an *******" is a great track for this occassion

GREAT stuff.. Unfortunately, I enjoy trance music and watching people pooping over the side, is hilarious in my opinion.. LOL