Anchoring Meatballs

neutron · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:32 am

Time amd time againg while sitting in our favorite cove in the bay here in RI we see plenty of boaters come in and drop anchor. Now watching they always only let out just enough line to touch bottem and maybe 6 to ten feet more line. Then the fun comes while seeing them drag their anchor line bouncing along as the drift into another boat. most will do this over and over again six to ten times before they give up and leave because of the foolish unsuccessfull attempts. I just want to yell out: " let more line out you bonehead, do you know how an anchor even works? Its not a big weight it needs to dig in."
Now most of this happens with small bowriders overpacked with passengers.
But you wouldnt expect a group of overnighters with 34 to 42 foot sedanbridges to make the same mistake'
So saturday we pull in for the night and there is this raft of 5 large 30 to 42 foot boats and 2 smaller 25 footers with only 3 anchor lines out and what looks to be only 30 feet of line each from the angle of line that I could see and the dept in the area they were in. and to make matters worse they had 2 stern lines out to keep their backs to the sunset.
so night rolls on and they have their big barnfire on shore and then around 12:30 am (Just around High tide and the winds shift and picked up to 30mph) most make it back to theirs boats,then we are woken up to screams from the boats to the shore(because a few captains were still drinking around the fire) that the raft broke free! and was heading toward a moored sailboat. G,I dont know how that could have happened) luckily enough they worked at it till 2:30 and got it under control. and tied off sideways to 2 moorings. in the morning they delt with their lines that were all over the place.

Now I know I am not perfect but i do know the concept of anchoring, tide factors and the lenght of line that should be used to ensure a good bite and anchoring with an uphill slope

Mark T · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:05 am

I qualified as one of those meatballs !!! One of my first times out, we anchored 50' offshore on Lake Michigan in front of our neighbors cottage. 1-2' waves, so no big deal, or so I thought. We headed up the stairs to suprise them. Where chatting a bit about boating do's and don'ts with my neighbor when he chuckled and said he'd give me an anchoring lesson. We looked down at the beach and our boat had washed up by shore.

Took 4 of us to pull it off the the beach into deep enough water so I could start the boat and re-anchor. We don't have the tides like the coastal boaters, but now I let out LOTS OF ROPE....

neutron · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:14 am

thats just a beginers goof, which you learned a lot from,
you would think someone that we see time and time again who is far from a beginer with a 40someting footer would know better

Cap'n Morgan · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:49 am

neutron wrote:

you would think someone that we see time and time again who is far from a beginer with a 40someting footer would know better

Having a 40 something boat does not mean the captain is any smarter than a first time boater. ANYONE can buy a boat, and many people buy big boats just because they can. Regardless of their experience or lack of it. It should be a matter of common sense how to anchor, but unfortunately, common sense is not common to everyone. Rookie mistakes are understandable, but learning from those mistakes, seperates boaters from boat owners.

Paul I. · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:24 pm

Coming from New England, I understand what Neutron is saying. The water up here gets to rough for them.

neutron · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 5:42 pm

Paul I. wrote:

Coming from New England, I understand what Neutron is saying. The water up here gets to rough for them.

yup it was calm and peacefull all night just a slight north westery wind. then whammo 12:15am it was a stready southern 25mph wind with gusts way higher

ric · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 7:39 pm

Anchoring meatball? Here in FL we call them mooring buoys...

Pedropup · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 10:51 am **Posts:** 104

I hate anchoring. Only a 21 footer....anchor for the afternoon for some swimming, but now the chatter of an over night on the lake is beginning, and I know I will sleep like crap that night, worrying that my anchor loses its hold. However, I must somewhat know what I am doing, cause whenever it is time to go, it always takes me quite a while to get the anchor loose!

neutron · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:38 pm

I have a Fortress FX11 anchor and it does a great job for my boat and after a few nights it can be a pain to get up but I always let the weight of the boat push it over and up it comes

Paul I. · **Posted:** Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:40 pm

neutron wrote:

I have a Fortress FX11 anchor and it does a great job for my boat and after a few nights it can be a pain to get up but I always let the weight of the boat push it over and up it comes

I have the same one, works great!

TX H210SS · **Joined:** Thu May 27, 2010 9:10 am **Posts:** 1488

I got an anchor rated for the next size bigger boat and it works well....that and about 5' to 6' feet of chain and 50' of rope....I normally anchor in 10' or less of water and would only be anchoring in 20' if there was a problem. Our usual lake is only 25' or so at the very deepest point.

On few occasions we go to a deep water lake where it wouldn't matter becuase the water depth is well over 150'.....if i had enough line for anchoring in that there would be no room for anyone on the boat.

neutron · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:36 am

I think an anchor should always be rated for the next size boat range to be safe, my anchor says rated for a much bigger boat that I have, and when I got it, it didnt have the mud palms and it was set up with the wrong setting for the fluke angle. I found it almost impossible to get it set in our muddy ocean bottem around here, so after a call to Fortress they sent me the missing parts for cheap money and told me to change the setting for the fluke angle and whammo it sets like a champ every time

Pedropup · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 10:51 am **Posts:** 104

This is probably a stupid question, but heck, when it comes to boating, stupid I still am...getting wiser, but still far from it.

Without dropping an anchor from the bow and the stern, is there a way to anchor and limit the amount of movement the boat makes with the wind and currents? When we do anchor, I would never want to be anchored near other boats, as it just seems to move all over the place.

I only boat in lakes, and have finally gotten much better at planning where I want to ultimately be anchored, as dropping it in the water at the right spot based on where I think the boat will end up.

neutron · **Posted:** Tue Sep 25, 2012 12:27 pm

one boat on anchor or a mooring moves a lot even with a slight wind. and not much you can do except throw out a stern line. or get a few buddies and raft up together and you will move much less.

My wife hates being on anchor, she cant stand the constant swing each way but we almost 90% of the time back into a beach in the cove and I use my anchor out front a ways and use a stern line attached to the beach with a "T" jammed into the dirt. So we dont move much at all. and I adjust back and forth as the tide moves to keep us floating in a few feet of water at the stern. Its great cause we have 2 dogs with us and it allows us to take them for walks without having to use our raft.

Pedropup · **Joined:** Sat Jun 30, 2012 10:51 am **Posts:** 104

Thanks.

If we decide to do an over night snooze, I will just go buy a second anchor. We anchor for swimming, so the swing is not that big a deal....especially since we boat on weekdays, so we rarely are dealing with many other boats.

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Anchoring Meatballs

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