Anchoring in Tidal Estuary With a Bridle

[SV Confianza]

We have struggled with this for years and have never found a solution. We use a mostly line rode to avoid not having the chain chafe, but that has its own problems, and we will be switching back to chain soon.

We have two length bridles and find that the different lengths give us better options in certain wind/tide conditions.

Most recently, we we're anchored across from Charleston yacht club, with two crossing currents and wind against. The boat started sailing and spinning all over the place. Near collision with a mono hull, and our SOG was showing almost 4kts while we circled around.

The circling also has cause our anchor to break loose and reset more than once. This seems less a problem for those with all chain rodes.

[team karst]

Having an anchor resetting itself 4X per day will be problematic. Good case for a Bahamian moore, although that adds more entanglement hazard with nylon rodes. ( boat spins onto the tight side rode due to wind)

[noelex 77]

If you have a decent anchor there should be no problems with holding. Often in these sort of conditions the anchor will not even change orientation. See photo below.

A Bahamian moor can be a good solution, but is not generally needed with modern anchoring gear.

I don’t normally use a swivel, but in this situation it can be a good idea as it easy to develop significant twists in the chain.

[thlamers]

Appreciate your frank comments and experiences in this situation and will experiment with these. Generally when we anchor the rudders, dagger boards and outboard are all retracted to minimize the chances of fouling the rode.

But recently we experimented with lowering the rudders locked fore and aft. In lighter winds this did keep the boat pointing into the tide through a complete cycle. Not a perfect solution but gives us some choice and control and kept us in better synch with the keel boats in the same anchorage.

Will definitely keep the bridle as short as possible.

Thank You!

[Seabeau]

As a denizen and cruiser of the Southeast US, with its high tidal range and resulting strong currents, I typically anchor, both bow and stern. I have a stern anchor roller, anchor locker, hawse pipe and all the trimmings for just this purpose.

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by thlamers

When we anchor our 26 foot cat in a tidal river we use a bridle but our cat switches between laying to the current or to the wind. In light airs it points to the current, a strong puff from aft or abeam can lay us across the current swinging wildly. With wind opposite current the bridle may point aft under the bridgedeck.

Suggestions?

Read my book: MARK JOHNSON
"Anchoring and Mooring the Cruising Multihull", for specific techniques.
Available from Amazon in paperback or as an E Book.
Also... Outrigmedia.com

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by SailingHarmonie

I guess the real question when the wind and tide push the boat around is: So what? Other than the esthetics of the situation, why is this a problem?

All the ideas about dropping a drag device do not do anything except change the wind and current strengths where the issue occurs at the cost of much more to go wrong. A Bahamian moor dose not prevent this happening at all either, although it can be a good idea for other reasons.

If you don’t have a fair lead for your bridle when this happens, fix that. Maybe shorten it a bit. But overall you can’t stop it from happening. You can sometimes make it better by tying the rudder off to one side, but that doesn’t always work either.

So what? You can wake up at 0200 on a moonless night in murky water with your anchor chain sawing on your hull and keels.
Then you imagine flakes of bottom paint and fiberglass drifting down-current, you’re afraid to put your engine in reverse because you don’t know if the prop will get involved with your chain, and you you can see the chain is pulling aft and you don’t know if it’s gone behind your keels.
Then the boat spins and you hear the chain slide along the bottom of your boat Is that good or bad? Then the cycle repeats.
Been there. I subsequently bought 2 sizes of small drogues to have aboard if this happens again. Don’t know if it’ll work, and don’t want to test them.

[Shrew]

If I were taking waves or swell in an odd direction, I might try to spring the anchor line with the spring going back to a stern or midship cleat. Otherwise, ignore it.

What problem are you actually experiencing here??

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by Shrew

If I were taking waves or swell in an odd direction, I might try to spring the anchor line with the spring going back to a stern or midship cleat. Otherwise, ignore it.

What problem are you actually experiencing here??

Not practical on a catamaran, and what would you do when the boat spins?

What problem? Read my post above.

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Not practical on a catamaran, and what would you do when the boat spins?

What problem? Read my post above.

Boats swing at anchor. tides reverse. Wind blows. Two boats almost impacting one another is a factor of anchoring inside of each other's swing radius.

[SV Coronado]

I'm on a 45' cat and mostly anchor out. SV Confianza is spot on; I worry more about my anchor constantly changing directions than the bridle. We were also recently anchored in Charleston (off of the USS Yorktown), where the current was 2 - 3 kts. Luckily, the holding is excellent most of the time, and our oversized anchor has no problem resetting.

The boat does what we call "the crazy eights." If you look at your track, it looks like a figure eight as the boat moves around with the current vs. wind. The key is to make sure you have plenty of room between you and your neighbors, which is not an easy task when you first arrive at an anchorage. I'm usually more concerned about the fool that wants to anchor right next to me and I have to argue with them why they're too close.

Admittedly I've never tried a Bahamian moor as I feel it would cause a bigger problem while trying to solve a small problem. It's hard enough dealing with the twist of a single chain as you move around, much less two anchor chains. I have seen double-ender monohulls deploy a stern anchor with success. This wouldn't work well for cats and beamy modern monohulls when the current starts coming from the aft.

At the end of the day, we just deal with the bridle and chain going under the boat. We haven't had any issues, but we haven't found a better alternative.