Motoring against the wind at anchor in a storm

[powsmias]

Originally Posted by kas_1611

Not strictly the same but during the recent Medicane Zorba we were anchoring in the large bay on the western side of Lefkas (name escapes me but it's huge) when we ended up dragging despite a well set and tested 33kg Vulcan (proving even big new generation anchors will drag).

Our 40ft Bavaria dances around on the anchor swinging a good 160degrees and the frequent squalls always seemed to hit us broadside. With the wind veering through over 100 degrees eventually the sideward pull broke us free. Thankfully we didn't hit anyone and managed to get the hook back up quickly.

Trying to motor into the 40+kts was tough going, especially turning through the wind. Now this is in a sheltered anchorage with very little wave action going on. Motoring downwind was quite literally a breeze and a chance to catch the breath. Once we'd located a decent space to redrop, with no need to check the anchor was set as she stopped on a 6pence (dime to Americans).

However the swing was vicious. In an attempt to reduce it I spent the rest of the morning helming into the wind as we swung back and forth. With a bit of practice I was able to drastically reduce the swing and keep the bows much more head into wind. Purely from the water flowing over the rudder without the engine (which was standing by just in case).

It might not have reduced the strain on the 50m of 8mm G70 I had out (4:1) but it did reduce the strain on me as we stopped broadsiding and heeling sharply.

All this gets scary from what i've seen of some you tube videos out there of boats swinging around during a storm.. I posted this few years back and got some good feedback.. http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...is-154976.html

[ALLAN WARD]

I am reading this thread with interest as we used the same method with a twist while anchored in what we found out later was a notoriously dicey anchorage in Brazil where local Brazilian boats didn't even attempt to drop the pick. The bay is prone to strong katabatic winds which in our case ended up gusting to 50kns plus.

Of course these situations often happen at night but fortunately using lights ashore l became aware that we were slowly dragging anchor towards a lee shore. We were fine until the wind exceeded 40kns and then we started to drag. At the same time with plenty of scope out our monohull starting sailing back and forth on her anchor increasing the load on our ground tackle.

I started the engine and engaged forward drive and using the land lights ashore as a reference increased the engine revs slowly until we stopped dragging. All was fine except we were still veering back and forth on the anchor.
Our boat has a huge transom hung skeg mounted rudder and now that we had reasonable propwash over the rudder blade l was able to counter the veering action by turning the helm to starboard when the bow was swinging to port and visa versa on the opposite tack. After a bit of fine tuning by anticipating the tack l was able to hold the bow pretty much head to wind which decreased the load on our ground tackle considerably. My wife and l still joke about the night l helmed for six hours with gaining an inch in ground. Since then we have never experienced the same situation again as our trusty Spade always performs very reliably but l have always wondered if engaging the autopilot on the appropriate heading would negate the need to hand steer ?

By the way, we were the only boat at anchor lying off the yacht club's mooring field but at first light the next day with 25kns of wind still blowing we discovered that three small keelboats had broken their moorings and were lying on their sides on the beach and a motor boat had sunk on it's mooring. The other casualty from that evening was our dinghy which was still attached by it's painter to our stern. After being hit by a particularly hard gust it took off into the air and flipped upside down submerging our faithful little Honda beneath the service where it stayed until the following morning.

There is no doubt in my mind that this method works well although it might not be the same with different boat designs.

[Siberian Sea]

I have a commercial fishing vessel in Alaska and was anchored once in very foul weather. I decided to use my engine to lessen the extreme strain on the anchor gear but the result was a bent anchor stock.
Lesson learned...... always buy an oversized anchor and as the wind increases so should you increase anchor scope if possible, don’t use your engine.

[Ken Z]

YES, I run the engine while at anchor when in a squall but I don t gain on my rode, I may at times increase my anchor line length to improve my holding power. Just reduce the strain don t advance to get slack in your line, a idle usually works, and I use 3strand nylon for stretch, and thats another thread......and I use 2 anchors.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Sharpww.

[charliehows]

only time ive seen this done was in a neighbouring boat - about 60'er - who spent most of the night on engine to avoid a large ferro ketch that had been anchored on top of them and was threatening to start pounding into them in the storm. Single woman aboard the 60'er, no-one on the ketch. It taught me to take anchoring a bit more seriously, even in supposedly 'safe' anchorages.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Yeah, I tried it one night in the Sea of Cortez when the Santa Ana came up hard right into the bay. I thought the pumping bow was going to pull the cleats right out of the boat, finally pulled anchor and headed out into the Sea all night long. Ughh.. But a lot better than in the washing machine anchorage. It was that harbor where the ghost town is... Baja side, forget the name.. we were the only boat there.

Isla Carmen, East side. Bay faces South.

We visited there before it was illegal to go ashore.
The school classrooms still had writing on the blackboards, but every single light bulb and switch had been removed. Ditto with anything of value, but the church looked like it was ready for Sunday services.
There were still a lot of pesos in the collection box. The only thing seemingly missing was the fact that the candles hadn't been lit.

In the town's government office, the file cabinets were still full of official papers.

[belizesailor]

Yes, this can be done successfully, but its much easier with twin engines.

There is an older thread here already on the subject. Will see if I can find it.

Update, here it is:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-125293-3.html

[philiosophy]

In those type of conditions there frequently is veering wind and poor visability. Sure have the engine running and crew on standby. You cannot replace good anchor gear with manuvering. Setting two anchors is going to bite you in the ass some day. I never understand why some advocate it.

[Paul Howard]

Originally Posted by philiosophy

In those type of conditions there frequently is veering wind and poor visability. Sure have the engine running and crew on standby. You cannot replace good anchor gear with manuvering. Setting two anchors is going to bite you in the ass some day. I never understand why some advocate it.

I only set more than one anchor when the wind is very strong and I know it will change directions. As per my previous entry, we were anchored in a hurricane. The wind was going to change as the eye (about 50miles away when it came ashore) passed us. Thus my strongest and largest anchor set to the first and longest time duration direction, second anchor to the direction of the wind as the eye passed and the wind would be less as the storm moved away. Third anchor was set 90degrees from shore. All came to a bridle, three strand 1/2" nylon with the attachment point about 30feet forward of the bows (with lots of anti-chafe gear), very easy to set on a catamaran.

I did not want to trust to one anchor as it could foul as the wind changed, as it did by about 180degrees when the eye passed. The gusts were in the 90pluss knot range, not your usual 40knot or so gale when one anchor will do.

[Luther]

Many years ago in Vanuatu I motored all night in a hurricane.
36' heavy double ender and 40hp diesel.
Windspeed was above 60 knots. The boat stayed straight with the anchor chain, no veering and I left the tiller free. I believe the engine made a real difference.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Luther

Many years ago in Vanuatu I motored all night in a hurricane.

36' heavy double ender and 40hp diesel.

Windspeed was above 60 knots. The boat stayed straight with the anchor chain, no veering and I left the tiller free. I believe the engine made a real difference.

I’m heading to Vanuatu soon in my 42 foot heavy double ender. Hopefully I won’t have to try what you had to do but glad to know it worked.

Maybe our old heavy boats are more directionally stable at anchor in these sorts of conditions?

[Bean Counter]

Happened to us twice. Chartered a Lagoon 380 in Croatia anchored in a harbour with 270 degree protection. The Anchor was a Danforth. A mini storm came rolling down the side of a mountain straight through the harbor entrance at mid night. We had horizontal sleet, lightning and shrieking wind, it lasted 20 minutes. The Anchor was dragging - back towards the rocks, in the lighting bursts I could see several monohulls motoring around in circles, one ended up on the rocks and foundered, I used the engines to hold the boat in line with the chain, used both engines to steer so we stayed nose to the wind - at times the engines were flat out, but we were ok, not so quite a number of others.


The second time was on a mooring ball in Bahamas - 50 - 70 knots westerly, we dragged the new concrete mooring block backwards through the moored fleet until we were going to hit someone, I used both engines at full throttle and motored into the wind and dragged the mooring block behind us, clear of the fleet and the dropped our 40Kg Rocna which held fast and fortunately did not tangle with the mooring tackle. We were dead set lucky not to have a prop foul the mooring chain as it pulled between the two hulls, fortunately this was in day time.

[W2GL]

The biggest problem is swinging at anchor during the wind event. Some boats don't swing around much, like a Concordia yawl. My boat has the mast forward, and it naturally likes to tack like crazy at anchor, even in moderate winds. The solution in my case would be to install a mizzen mast, or to put up a riding sail on the topping lift. A mizzen on my boat is out of the question though. The riding sail hanks onto the topping lift like a jib in reverse, with the leech facing forward. Two lines steady the "clew", each trimmed to the midship cleats to really flatten the sail. The "tack" is shackled to the aft end of the boom, and the boom is kept from swinging by triangulating lines to the aft cleats.

Even in much nicer conditions the sail adds comfort. The cocktail napkins, potato chips, and the bosses toupee won't fly away at the first swing.

[fguptill]

I did this once. I was at anchor in the Abacos. Just as the sun went below the horizon, the wind speed went from zero to 50 knots in about 30 seconds. I don’t know the actual wind speed because my anemometer pegs at 50. The sea state went from glassy calm to a 3’ chop in no time at all. I was solo at the time. We started to drag immediately towards a lee shore. There was not enough time to raise and reset the anchor before we hit the beach, so I started the engine and put it in gear. It was pitch black dark, with no ambient lights, so I couldn’t see the beach. There was no time to go below to turn on instruments, so I powered blind into the wind at about 3/4 throttle for 2 hours. There was no time to dress either, so I was naked and shivering violently in the torrential rain and wind. I had to use instinct and gut feel to play the throttle and the helm, as I wanted to station keep - not to make way - but I had no way to know for sure where I was or whether I was making way over the seabed. It worked out okay, and my recorded track shows that I made only slight headway during the blow, while also gaining some offing. Not a fun experience, but we would have most certainly beached without the engine.