Anchoring -- What I've Learned In My First Year.

When my dad bought our boat, a man told him “cruising is about finding exotic anchorages and fixing things.”  My dad said he didn’t really understand what that meant, but it was funny, so it stuck in his head.  After a year, he and I see it’s not so far from the truth.  We’ve had our share of things to fix.  And we've experienced some amazing anchorages.

My dad says boating is a "yin yang" thing and told me to look up what that means.  Wikipedia says it's “how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.”  I can see how our good experiences feel better after getting through bad ones, and how our bad experiences are overcome by the good ones.  And maybe, how our good experiences wouldn’t feel as good if it weren’t for the bad ones, like how Spring feels after Winter, or how sunshine feels better after a storm passes through.

The yin and yang symbol is from ancient Chinese Philosophy about 3,500 years old.  The yin is the black swirl - shadows.  The yang is the white swirl - light.

This post isn’t about “fixing things.”  It's about anchoring.  Which has its own yin and yang.  So far though, it's been mostly yang.

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First of all, there’s a difference between anchoring, mooring, and "picking up" a mooring ball.  Anchoring is when you use your own anchor.  Mooring is when you tie up to a dock.  And picking up a mooring ball is when you loop your lines through the eye of a cable, which is attached to a fixed weight already on the bottom.

We've done all three, and while all have their purposes, and while it sure feels good to step off the boat after a long day on the water, my favorite is anchoring. 

Here we are in Annapolis, MD.  This was the first time we picked up a mooring ball.  I'm glad there was little current or wind, which would have made it harder to hold the boat in position for me to lift up the loop on the floating ball and hook our lines through it.

I've loved anchoring from the very first time we tried it.  

We choose quiet, peaceful anchorages.  We then power down all systems on the boat — the engine, generator, and engine room blowers, the air conditioners, and the VHF radios.  And just like that, our boat goes from a mix of rumbling, whirring, splashing noises to quiet.  I find that so peaceful. 

These are pictures from our favorite anchorage, at sunset and at sunrise the very next morning.  It's a quiet, pretty, and safe place to anchor after a long day of travels. You can hear the silence. :)   

So where is it?   

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Another reason I prefer anchoring is the way our boat moves.  At a marina, it is tied to a dock.  That means it doesn't move much.  When there’s a storm, that feels great!  But when we anchor, the boat can move and swing with any wind or current.  At night, that gentle movement rocks me to sleep.  It's even better when there’s a slight breeze.  Since my room is closest to the bow, I can hear the chuckle of waves on the hull.

Here’s one more reason I prefer anchorages:  the view.  The ones we’ve chosen so far have been beautiful, away from almost all manmade sounds, with nature all around us.

Stuart, FL.  An anchorage that is protected from wind, offers very good "holding" (meaning the anchor stays where we place it), is not crowded, and has amazing sunsets. 

Another reason I like anchoring is the savings.  When we stay at a marina, the mooring cost and the cost of our electric hook-up are as much each night as staying in a hotel:  about $125 per night (sometimes more).  So when we stay for free at an anchorage the next night, it's like we cut the cost of that marina night in half.

Here's a little chart of how that works.

     Location                      Cost Per Night             Total We've Spent               Total/Days

Night 1:  Marina                     $125                              $125                               $125

Night 2:  Anchor                     $0                                  $125                               $62.50

Night 3:  Anchor                     $0                                  $125                               $41.66

Night 4:  Anchor                     $0                                  $125                               $31.11

Night 5:  Anchor                     $0                                  $125                               $25.00

Now, even though I show the anchor nights costing $0, there actually is a small cost.  We have to run our generator a few hours each day to recharge the batteries that power our fridges and other electric things.  But that generator cost is less than $8.00 daily, so it's not much.

There’s one last reason I prefer anchorages.  At anchor, we don’t see anyone.  That allows us to forget about Covid 19, which is really nice.  But when we moor at a marina, we are reminded of Covid the moment we approach the dock-house to check in (masks on).  

Anchoring during Covid 19 helps us not become a "Bug Boat.”

  

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We had no real experience with anchoring until about 18 months ago.  The only anchoring we’d done before was dropping a tiny one off our 15’ Whaler at the beach in Hessel, or a slightly bigger one off our 25' Chris-Craft to watch the July 4th fireworks.  

We didn’t know anything about anchoring an 85,000 lb, 47' boat with a tall bow, a 121 lb anchor, and 450 feet of chain in deeper water, with shoals, tides, currents, winds, and sometimes, nearby boats…  And then trying to sleep that night!  

We also knew nothing about getting the anchor up from the bottom and locking it down.

We didn't even know that boaters like us commonly call anchoring being "on the hook," and that they call their anchor and chain "ground tackle."  Now we use those words just like they do.

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So how do we anchor?

I've learned that the first step to anchoring is planning.  Before we head out on the water, we research and pick an anchorage as our final destination.  Which one?  A book called the "Waterway Guide" is a great place to start.  They describe and plot many anchorages.  Researching online is also helpful.  The "Active Captain" app gives reviews of most anchorages.  Word-of-mouth is another great resource.  It's better to ask someone who has been to good anchorages before, who may understand what we’d like.  In fact, the next anchorage we are headed to in early January was recommended to us by another Nordhavn owner we happened to meet in Charleston.

With planning, comes timing.  We’ve never experienced this before, but we’ve been told it’s pretty stressful picking your way into an anchorage you’ve never been to after dark.  There might already be other boats and their anchor chains to avoid.  There could be winds to deal with.  And the waters could be tricky, with current, depth, shoals, or rocks.  So we’ve made it a practice not to plan our arrival at an anchorage even close to dark.  That doesn't mean we are afraid.  It means we are extra cautious.

Planning also involves weather forecasting.  Some anchorages work fine in some conditions, but not all in all conditions, as we learned at Lookout Bight.  (More about that later.)  If there is no wind, an unprotected anchorage will work fine.  But if there is wind or wind is forecasted, one needs to choose an anchorage with protection from land.  Even if no wind is forecasted, it’s better to pick an anchorage with good protection.  Many experienced boaters will tell you stories of winds picking up or an unexpected storm coming in at night far worse than predicted.  That's stressful and maybe dangerous.  

If we’ve planned, timed, and forecasted well, the next step is to anchor properly.  That’s extremely important.

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There’s a lot more to that than just tossing the anchor off the boat.  The first step is to pick a spot in the anchorage we've chosen that is away from other boats, so we don't swing into them and they don't swing into us.  

The second step is to bring our boat to a complete stop, facing into any wind that is blowing.  

The third step is to “let go” the anchor.  That term is a funny one to me because our anchor isn’t just dropped off the boat.  It is slowly lowered into the water with something called a windlass.  A windlass is a winch drum powered by a strong electric motor.  The windlass allows us to control how much chain we let out and the speed of that, and allows us to pull up our chain and anchor when we are ready to leave. 

 

Our windlass is a Maxwell 2500.  It can pull in/up about 2,500 lbs and hold almost 5,000 lbs.

The length of chain we let out is called “rode.”  After the anchor has reached the bottom, we gently “back down” (reverse) from it while we lay out more and more chain.  Laying out chain and gently backing away from the anchor is a balancing act.  It took us a while to learn how to do it right.  Backing down too quickly would drag the anchor.  As a result, the boat wouldn’t end up in the location we’d picked.  Another risk from dragging the anchor is "fouling it" with things on the bottom, which could be lost anchors/chains, fishing nets, even sunken boats, and could require us to cut away our own chain and anchor to free ourselves, which would cost $ thousands.  Not backing down quickly enough could foul the anchor on parts of our boat, like our stabilizers, rudder, or prop, or the chain could becoming knotted.

Fortunately, this wasn’t us.  This boat would have needed a tow to shore and "hauled out" (lifted from the water).  Then, the chain would have to be unwound, or worse, cut.  After that, the prop would need repair.  This is a very expensive mistake!  I really feel sorry for the owner.

After the right amount of rode is let out, we “set” the anchor.  Setting the anchor means getting it to dig into the bottom.  How we do that depends on several factors:  what the sea floor is made of (mud, sand, rock, weeds), the sea floor angle, what design our anchor is, how much it weighs, how much chain we let out, how quickly we back down, and what wind or current is pushing or pulling us.  

Setting the anchor requires more backing down, with the anchor and chain directly in front of us.  When the anchor and correct length of chain have been let go, my dad has me get far away from the bow while he gives more reverse throttle to set the anchor.  With enough rode, that pulling picks up whatever chain was on the bottom and uses the boat’s power to plough the anchor deeper.  The entire anchor should end up under the bottom surface, including part of the “shank” (the arm), not just the “bill,” (the tip).  

Why does my dad ask me to stand clear when he does this?  Because when he’s setting the anchor, he’s putting quite a load on our chain.  If that chain snaps, it could come flying back and seriously hurt (or kill) either of us.  It's not likely, but it is possible.

How quickly can that happen?  Here’s a clip of an anchor chain on an oil rig snapping.  https://youtu.be/nGyvZSnjVLc  It's a much bigger chain than ours, but it's the same risk to us from too much force.

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We almost always anchor in mud or sand.  Sand is more dense than mud, so nothing holds better than sand.  We also prefer sand because our anchor and chain come up pretty clean.  In mud, the anchor and chain come up incredibly smelly and caked, which is very messy to clean up. We have a wash-down hose on our bow to rinse off mud while the chain and anchor are coming back onto/into our boat, but because there's not much water pressure, we almost always have to do a better clean up when we reach the next marina.

 

This is the anchor we have.  It is a “plough” design.  What is the curved half-circle for?  It's called a "roll bar," and it helps the anchor roll over so it can dig into the bottom.

There are many different anchor designs for different purposes, but for a heavy boat like ours, a plough style makes the most sense, because when it sets, it has the most holding power in the most common situations.  

Because our anchor is so heavy, when we let go, its weight helps it dig down into the seabed as we back down. 

What also helps it set?  The length of chain we lay down.  The ratio of chain to depth (the "rode") is absolutely the most important lesson my dad and I have learned in anchoring this boat.

There are a few rules of thumb when it comes to "scope."  (Scope is the ratio of depth to chain length.)  Different experts recommend scope of 4:1, 5:1, 7:1, or more.  So which is best?

In our opinion it makes sense to follow the same approach as tying to a dock or putting our fenders.  Take a little time to put out extra:  you never regret the extra.

When we anchor, we put out at least 7:1 scope?  Why?  Because chain serves a few purposes.  

• A lot of chain allows the boat to pull sideways on the anchor, rather than up on it.  Pulling sideways makes it harder to drag anchor.  It can even plough it deeper into the bottom.  

• A lot of chain lying on the bottom adds weight (friction) to what is keeping the boat from dragging and perhaps hitting another anchored boat.  (It's sort of like having a bigger anchor.)

• A lot of chain on the bottom allows the boat to swing in the wind, perhaps even without moving the anchor from its initial set point.

Why else put out 7:1 scope?  

Our boat weighs 85,000 lbs.  There’s quite a difference when something that heavy starts yanking on its anchor in high winds vs something half our displacement (weight).  Our displacement means we should use lots of scope.

There's one more reason why we let out 7:1 or more.  When we anchor, it's for overnight.  Maybe several nights in the same spot.  If we want out boat to stay where we want it, and if we want to sleep without worrying, it's important to get the anchor set right.

Source:  Boat US

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So how do we calculate how much chain is 7:1 scope?  That’s a great question.  We thought we were pretty smart when we realized that depth needed to be calculated as the distance to the bottom, PLUS the distance from the water to the bow pulpit (the part of the boat that extends out from the bow).  That pulpit height is important in anchoring calculations because the boat will be pulling from that pulpit, not from the water’s edge.  Rode must be calculated from water level. 

That's me, out on our pulpit.

So, if the water under our keel is 32 feet deep, and our pulpit is 8 feet above the water, what amount of chain should we let out in 7:1 scope?  That’s simple right?  From the bottom on up, it’s 32 feet + 8 feet  = 40 feet  x  7:1 = 280 feet of chain.

That’s what we thought until a month ago.  That’s when I figured out we’d been miscalculating all along.  [Dad here.   I’m incredibly proud of Salter for correcting something important to our safety, which I had totally overlooked.]

Look again at the math above.  See where I mentioned “water under our keel?”  That’s the number our depth gauge shows.  So whenever we see 10 feet on our depth gauge, that means we are actually in 16 feet of water, because our keel is 6 feet deep.  Do you see the mistake we had been making?  To calculate the 7:1 scope, for depth, we should have been measuring from the water surface, not just looking at our depth gauge (under our keel).  

How much does that matter?  A lot.  Here’s why.  Using those numbers above, from the bottom on up, it’s 32 feet under our keel + 6 feet of keel + 8 feet from water level to the pulpit = 46 feet x 7:1 = 322 feet.  That’s an extra 56 feet of chain more than our original calculation of 280 feet.  That difference of 56 feet means instead of the 7:1 scope we thought we had been letting out, we were actually letting out 5.75:1 scope.  That ratio could work ok when there’s no wind and no current.  But not when either/both of those build. 

The timing of this discovery couldn’t have mattered more.  (You'll see why at the end of this post.)

Peck Lake, FL.  Here, we learned another valuable anchoring lesson before it became a problem.   When we saw that the wind direction was going to change that night, and then looked at the charted depths in our anchorage, we realized our boat would swing itself overnight onto a nearby shoal.  We moved.  Whew!  

Rhode River, MD anchorage.  I've learned that each anchorage offers a different experience and memories.  When we entered this one, the air was incredibly sweet -- like billions of flowers were in bloom.  We let go the anchor in an area with no other boats, had a nice dinner, then watched a movie, with the breeze blowing through our screened doors.  But when the movie was over and we went to close the doors, we found that our screens were literally black with mosquitos.  It looked awful.  Thankfully, only a couple had found their way in, so we were ok.  We left our doors open that night and by morning all the bugs had gone.  The boat decks, however, were pretty messy.   

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So what do we DO when we are on the hook?  

That depends.  If it's at the end of a long day, we usually put on some music, eat dinner, watch a film, then go to sleep.  Because our boat does not have satellite internet, and because being on the hook means no marina wi-fi, the films we watch on the hook are ones from our own library.     

If we plan to stay one or more days, we do some of my schoolwork.  Why?  Well, when we move the boat 50, 70, or 90 miles, it's a long, tiring day, especially when the weather isn't great, or when we are on the Intracoastal Waterway, where we constantly have to watch our depth.  My dad/teacher is usually too tired to teach after days like that.  So am I.  So there might be a day or few without doing any schoolwork.  I make up for those whenever we don't move the boat, including days when we are at anchor. 

What else do we do when we are on the hook?  Something I love to do.  We use our crane to lower the "tender" (small auxiliary boat) into the water.  This lets us buzz around and explore the area, places where it might be too shallow for the big boat.  It also lets us go to shore to walk, bike, Hoverboard, eat, or shop for provisions.  (Some marinas have "dinghy docks," which let live-aboards moor their dinghies or tenders for a few hours.)  We also use our tender to "go for boat rides." (You can't really "go for a boat ride" in a slow boat like a Nordhavn, so it feels good to go 15, 20, or 30 mph in the tender.)  If we stay in an anchorage for days, we leave our tender in the water, well tied to our boat, and use it each day.

Tender is the name for a boat that serves a bigger boat.  "Tend her" -- get it?  How is a tender different from a dinghy? A dinghy tends to be smaller and lighter, with a small outboard.  Our tender is 11 feet long, has a fiberglass frame/bottom, and a 40 hp outboard.  By the way, why am I going so slowly in this picture?  I'm in a manatee zone. 

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"Weighing anchor" (the expression for pulling it back in) is more than just lifting it up, because it can be many feet down and hundreds of feet away from the boat.  We can't be lazy and use the windlass to pull the boat toward the anchor -- it's not powerful enough.  My dad has to slowly move the boat toward the anchor, while reeling in chain with our windlass.  When there's wind and/or current, it can be hard to see which direction to move the boat and when to run or pause the windlass.  We've developed our own way to handle this.  I stand on the bow and direct my dad using hand signals.  Once our bow is right overtop the anchor, we free it from the bottom by prying the plough back against itself (the exact opposite of setting it).  

When the anchor has been weighed, the last thing we have to do is put a mechanical brake on the windlass and then walk out on the pulpit to lock the anchor with metal pins.  I do the brake.  My dad does the pins.  It's very important to get this right, because when the seas get rough, an unsecured anchor can yank on the windlass and damage it or can bang around and damage the boat.  

 

Here's a little trick I thought up.  When the anchor comes up covered in mud, leave it at water level and slowly drag it through the water.  This cleans off the mud before we raise it the rest of the way.  It worked great!  But we've since been warned this can damage the boat if the anchor swings back and hits our bow.  We can see how that could happen, so we will only do it again if conditions are this perfect.

 

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I hope you found this post interesting.  I guess there really is a lot to anchoring.  But it doesn't really seem this complicated to be now because we've had some practice.  I realize how much I've actually learned about anchoring, and why doing things right is so important to getting a good night's sleep and avoiding scary situations in the night. 

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An Important Lesson Learned

Here's an example of why it's so important to set an anchor well, with lots of rode.  We decided to anchor in the beautiful Cape Lookout Bight, North Carolina, to wait for better weather.  (A "bight" is a bend or curve in a coastline.)  When we arrived there, we had plenty of space to pick our spot in the anchorage.  We calculated our rode, laid out the right amount of chain, and set the anchor.  It was a beautiful sunset.  That night, however, the wind picked up more than we were expecting.  Though Lookout Bight is a protected anchorage, it's a pretty big one, so wind and waves have the opportunity to build up.  Sustained winds were over 20 knots that night with gusts to 26 knots (a knot is 1.15 mph).  That kept my dad up until around 3:00 am and got him up several times after that to check our position.  Even though we had set two "geofence" alarms on our computer and my dad's iPhone (these monitor our position and will alarm if we go outside whatever circle we program), my dad said he still needed to be awake enough to watch things himself.  Our anchor held that night and we had a beautiful next day.  However, that next night, the weather picked up again and got even worse.  My dad saw 33 knot gusts on our wind gauge with sustained winds of 25 knots, and our boat was in 2 foot waves most of the night.  He was pretty scared because that was asking a lot of our ground tackle.  Yes, we had 7:1 scope out.  But was that enough for conditions that bad?  He was worried we might drag anchor and end up beached.  Even if we didn't beach he was really hoping we would not need to power up the boat, weigh anchor, and then re-set it in total darkness, high winds and waves.  Thankfully, the anchor held.  We are both pretty sure the reason is because this was the first time I figured out the correct scope calculation.  What was very stressful could have been so much more so.

So, other than getting scope right, what else did we learn at Lookout Bight?  We learned to pay closer attention to the weather.  Even when we are in a protected anchorage, it's smart to pick the most protected spot within that anchorage for the weather ahead.  There was plenty of room to anchor within Lookout Bight.  If we had picked a spot closer to the leeward shore (the shore where the wind was coming from), we would have had more protection from the high winds and much more protection from the waves.

Cape Lookout Bight

Our Geofence in Cape Lookout Bight

The sounds in my room in the middle of the night, while on the hook in 30 knot winds.  Kind of cool.  And insulated from what was blowing just outside.  But the creaking is creepy!

Morning in Lookout Bight, after a couple nights with little sleep.  Worth it!