Anchoring the Easy Way: A Three-Part Series
Read Part I—Preparation
Part II—Time Management
This is the second part in my three-part series on anchoring. If you missed the first, go back and read it, because it is truly a spectacular read (in my humble and unbiased opinion.) You’ll find it here and probably the Library of Congress under “Works of National Significance.” In all seriousness, the first part reviewed the four things to consider when finding an anchorage for the night: (1) depth, (2) shelter, (3) bottom, and (4) swing, in that order. This second part assumes you were able to find a suitable anchorage and are now approaching it—you can smell the weird earthy smell after days at sea and can’t wait to crash into your bunk.
Before we discuss the more straightforward topics of the mechanics of anchoring, let’s stop and discuss your mental state. No, you did not accidentally start reading a note from your psychiatrist. Your mental state, and the mental states of your crew, play a vital role in a successful anchoring dance. Even on short trips, you and your crew have become accustomed to being at sea. When you enter an anchorage, you are no longer at sea, and all of the things that you thought you had plenty of time to do (eat, drink, sleep) while at sea now face a very real end date. To make matters worse, at least one of your crew members will have one goal in mind—get ashore as soon as possible, no matter the difficulties caused for the rest of the crew. In addition, if you have any on-shore time constrained obligations, those too will frustrate things.
There is a solution to all this—leave yourself more time. How much is a judgement call, but start with an extra hour (yes, ONE HOUR), and you can adjust up or down as needed. This extra hour does two things: (1) you can stop at the entrance to the anchorage and allow people to eat, drink, hit the head, or even take a quick nap, before trying to anchor without worrying about sunlight/onshore schedules and (2) that one crew member who is anxious to get on land sooner will get to do so.
Let’s take a hypothetical sailing trip from Redwood City to San Francisco for the weekend as an example. You have reservations at 6 PM at Scoma’s, which is easily accessible from your planned anchorage in Aquatic Park. You leave Redwood City at 9 AM and cross under the Bay Bridge a little after 1 PM, making great time with a strong ebb. The wind has started to pick up so you close reach across the Bay, greatly enjoying life, tacking up toward
Aquatic Park. It’s now around 2 PM and you are about two miles from Aquatic Park. If you want to be sitting down at Scoma’s at 6 PM, when should you start heading to Aquatic Park to anchor? If you answered right now, you were correct. If not, you will learn the true meaning of “mutiny.”
I’ll explain. By making the right choice and heading for the anchorage at what seems like a ridiculously early hour, the following occurs. You come into the anchorage a little after 3 PM (it took a while to get the sails down in the afternoon breeze and chop) and are the first boat there with your choice of anchorage. You motor around a bit trying to find a spot away from the other boats at mooring and away from the swimmers. You choose a spot close to shore (but not in the way of the swimmers!) so you have a quick dinghy ride. Your first attempt to anchor fails and you can’t get the anchor set, so you have to pull it up and try again. This time it sets firmly. Wow, its already 4:30 PM! Where did the time go? No matter, you still have time for everyone to change, maybe even shower, get dressed, and pile into the dinghy for dinner. Uh oh, the dinghy engine won’t start. Not to worry, since you are anchored so close to shore, you can row in. Everyone’s on shore by 5:30 PM, relaxed and ready for some well-earned seafood. They have a wonderful meal, return to the dinghy, and enjoy a wonderful night on the boat playing cards. You even are able to sort out the dinghy outboard. (It was just flooded.) Everyone goes to sleep eager and excited for the next day.
Let’s visit our poor captain who elected to continue sailing in the afternoon breeze for an extra hour (or so). He doesn’t enter Aquatic Park until a little after 4 PM and finds a number of boats already anchored close to shore. He has to anchor further out where the swell is stronger. With the rolling, it takes three tries to finally get the anchor to hold and everyone is a bit frustrated because the rolling has caused more than a few bruises. Somehow it is now almost 6 PM so the crew is getting hungry. No one has time to get properly dressed for dinner and everyone scrambles into the dinghy to get to shore in time for the reservation. The captain calls Scoma’s to change the reservation as he’s quickly getting into the dinghy, slips, and falls into the water, losing his phone, sunglasses, and wallet. After teaching the crew some new words in surprising groupings, he climbs back on the boat and successfully makes it into the dinghy. But the engine won’t start. An eerie calm sets over the small dinghy and the captain valiantly begins to row his crew to shore. The chop ships water into the dinghy and everyone is now various levels of cold/wet/angry/sad/tired. They all scramble to shore and make for Scoma’s, only to find the reservation has been given away. Also, based on the captain and crew’s appearance, it is unlikely the hostess would have seated them anyways. The captain suggests going to Fisherman’s Wharf where they all enjoy some mediocre fish and chips along with the tourists. When they return to their dinghy, they find it is gone because in their hurry, no one remembered to lock it up. A crew member calls an Uber to get everyone home, leaving the captain on the beach alone.
From experience, the latter of these two stories is often the norm. Don’t let it happen to you! Give yourself plenty of time to anchor.
As for actual anchoring techniques, don’t worry, I’ll get into that in my final upcoming segment. I know you will be waiting for it with as much anticipation as you are waiting for the reunion episode of Tiger King!