First Anchoring

Since taking the snow shedding tarp off in late March we've been going on 'out & back' jaunts down the channel, until today that is!

First we dropped a crab trap on one side of the bay, did a recognizance pass while watching the sounder near the head of the bay, then headed into deeper water to collect our thoughts.

Kathy took us in for another pass into shallow water, turned into the wind that was coming into the bay, and stopped where I asked her to. I dropped the anchor by hand, so I would know when it hit the bottom, then got her to back off slowly while I paid out the rode.

All was going great in my world until Kathy called out, "30 feet! 15 feet!!" D'oh!

We gathered up the anchor and rode, motored out to about 100 feet, then dropped the anchor again, ending up pretty much where we dropped it the first time. Stupid rookies

After backing down and setting the hook, we were sitting in 60 feet of water...much better.

After a few n-n-n-nervous minutes of making sure the trees on shore I had picked for range markers weren't budging, we shut off the engine, and took the Livingston to shore for a beach walk.

Here's some photo's of the escapade;

What a beautiful place.
What do you think went wrong with the first ( one or two?) set? Lack of practice over winter? Sometimes it just happens.

BruceK said:

What a beautiful place.

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You bet

BruceK said:

What do you think went wrong with the first ( one or two?) set? Lack of practice over winter? Sometimes it just happens.

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First time anchoring (ever) and pretty much dropped it at the depth we wanted to end up, instead of in deeper water...oops...

Second stab at it went perfectly.

15 ft is deep here

motion30 said:

15 ft is deep here

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Our tides can be over 20', and it was falling...

I like anchoring at 15-to-20foot depths, but we have 5-to-7 foot tidal variations here.

motion30 said:

15 ft is deep here

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Where in the world is that?

Murray, thanks for not describing the anchor and rode you used!

markpierce said:

Murray, thanks for not describing the anchor and rode you used!

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I could, but then it would go on for dozens of posts instead of fading away naturally at about 10 or so

Sounds like scope, not tackle,was the issue. But if we knew the type of anchor and rode, we could discuss the merits of different anchors................
I just like the pictures. That snow melt water must be cold! I once got into a snow melt lake in NZ, not for long.

Where we boat 15feet is quite deep. Until you get up into the more open parts of Moreton Bay, our Marina at av 23 feet is the deepest water we encounter. Much of it you are lucky to have more than 6 feet under you. We get good at being comfy in skinny water, lets' say. I only have 40 metres of chain, and I've never had to have it all hang out. I can see why some of you like the combined chain + nylon mixed rode.

Stunning, where were you?

dhmeissner said:

Stunning, where were you?

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Not sure if you remark was in response to my post or not Dave. I suspect you were referring to the OP.
Certainly I wouldn't have thought of where we boat most as stunning if so, as I often wish it was a bit deeper, but we do love our bay, and the depth does make anchoring a bit easier in terms of rode length. I know when the sonar says 0.6m we are kissing the bottom. Anything more and we're good to go. I would find anchoring in 50+ feet a bit of a challenge.

However, if anyone is interested, Where we are is Moreton Bay in Queensland, Australia

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=moreton+bay+queensland+map&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

Peter, I was responding to the photos posted by the OP. But I have spent some time in Brissy (far too short). I'd say the part of the world where you live is stunning as well.

motion30 said:

15 ft is deep here

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I can't speak for motion30 but on the east coast of the US south of Norfolk VA, 15 ft is deep. I generally anchor in depths less than 10 feet and scope is carefully payed out paying attention to currents and wind shifts so as not to be blown into shallow water.

MurryM, you must be a youngster, there will come a day you will not manually haul up 100 feet of anchor and chain.

dhmeissner said:

Stunning, where were you?

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I live in Kitimat, BC, perched on the edge of Paradise

We anchored in an unnamed bay (no name on the chart; don't know the Haisla First Nations or local name yet) just south of Hilton Point and Jessie Falls on Douglas Channel's western shore.

Typical small bay around here in that it's basically a small outwash fan from a creek with a steep drop off to very deep water.

timjet said:

MurryM, you must be a youngster, there will come a day you will not manually haul up 100 feet of anchor and chain.

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I dropped it by hand, so I would definitely know when it hit bottom. There were too many variables running around in my head to have doubts on that one.

Just glad to have the bay all to ourselves to work out the kinks, and have a first attempt at communication between bow and helm.Thankfully that part went without raised voices and/or hurt feelings!

I like the photos Murry, It's just the ice cold feeling that comes over me when I look at them. I guess it's what you get used to. As to anchoring, at the offshore islands near me it falls off very steep quickly in most places so making sure your anchor is set is our most important thing too.

Question for the shallow water anchor boaters. What scope do you use for 15' depth? I can't imagine going over 5 to 1.

Re Murray's post the water depth is why I've tried to hammer home the importance of short scope performance. Trawlers are for cruising and while cruising one encounters different conditions as one goes.

Judging from the responses here and in the past anchoring on the SE and east coast must be like boating on spilled water on the kitchen table. I anchored in an unusual bay at 20' deep (low tide) and could have used 15-1 scope. Practically unlimited swinging room ... very unusual in SE Alaska. Used at least 10-1 just for fun. In the morning I used the boat to break the anchor out of the mud (I set it hard). I pulled up huge ball of the stinkeyest black mud I've ever encountered. The smell was on my hands for days. I'd go back into that bay but only if it was going to blow hard.

Murray that's just about exactly the way we do anchoring except we make multiple circles in the bay checking the shown rocks and shallows and looking for the unmarked ones. It's easy to wind up on top of some rock WAY up in the air at low tide. Seen sooo many pictures over the years of boats that were 10' in the air looking as if they were about ready to tip over.

I use about 15' of chain. Three feet of 3/8ths and 12' of 5/16ths. I only use anchors that perform well at short scope. The chain is to increase setting performance. I have pulled my anchors by hand up until about 2 years ago and now use a capstan. I pull the rode up until the chain comes over the bow roller and pull the rest by hand ... an easy task. Most of my anchors are 18 to 22lbs. I shoot for 3-1 scope at high tide and use 2-1 on a good weather forecast in a tight spot. There are many tight spots on the north coast.

MurrayM said:

we shut off the engine, and took the Livingston to shore for a beach walk.

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Murray - how/where do you carry the Livingston when underway? We are thinking of switching to a hard dinghy like the Livingston but haven't decided on how we would carry it. Our boats are similar sized and layout. Thanks.

Mark 15 is deep on the delta, once you're out of the shipping channel!!

It's 18' at my slip and will get 24'

Carolena,

You've got the boat I want.

On the NT I'd get a small crane and put it on the aft cabin top.

Anytime you get a chance put up pics of your NT32.

Carolena said:

Murray - how/where do you carry the Livingston when underway?

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Our boat came with Weaver Snap Davits made for swim grids. Here's their website, and a photo they probably don't mind if I use to illustrate;

Weaver Industries, Inc.: SNAP DAVIT W/REG. SWIMBOARD HOOKS

I never see boaters in long pants here.

dhmeissner said:

Stunning, where were you?

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Murray's doing the same thing I do. I've been up and down that coast a bazillian times in the floatplane. There is no more blue sky there than there is here. Those shots are all stock shots (Getty Images- 550743NZ254, 6398754NZ263, and 5935916NZ059) from the South Island in New Zealand. Murray's a professional photographer. Child's play to Photoshop your boat into them. Lord knows why he did it--- it just attracts more bozos to the area. Same reason I do, I guess. Makes for a better looking photo.

My avatar's the same deal only I don't have much knowledge of Photoshop. So I had one of our graphics guys at work put our boat into a New Zealand shot I snagged off the web.

Capthead said:

I never see boaters in long pants here.

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We normally wear snowsuits.

Marin's right. You should all stay away from BC. It's horrible here.

Plus I don't ever want to feel the need to lock up my dinghy.

Northern Spy said:

Marin's right. You should all stay away from BC. It's horrible here.

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Yeah, the half-dozen times I've visited Victoria, BC, the weather has been sunny and bright.

Northern Spy said:

You should all stay away from BC. It's horrible here.

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It's true that it sucks here and that it's an awful, brutish place. You'd best all stay on the well trod Inside Passage than venture up any of these long, annoyingly windy channels on BC's north coast what with there being no safe anchorages and all. Just sayin......

Murray - thanks. Davits is probably the way we would need to go, only problem is we JUST fit in our slip now and with the dink on the back would probably extend past the end pilings (prohibited at our marina).

Eric - thanks for the compliment. We also love the Willard. The upper deck on the NT would seem to make sense, but we have a bimini that covers it making a crane impractical. Here on the Chessy, shade in the summer is paramount. I'll try to get some pictures of Carolena II to post (we've only had her since early winter, so not many photo ops yet).