[PUP] Anchoring experience, building confidence!

[Paul M. Konnersman]

I would think that it is a bit more complex. Doesn't it call for 
consideration of each boat's swinging circle? For example, if I had 250 
ft. of rode out and someone were to drop 50 ft. ahead of me and 50 ft. 
to starboard and also deploy 250 ft. rode, they would likely fetch up 
about 70 ft. off my starboard quarter. Should this be a cause for 
concern? Our swinging circles overlap, but we should stay clear of each 
other unless we swing quite differently, as indeed we may if the boats 
have substantially different underbodies, wind profiles or rode 
composition. My point is that it's more complex than simply the length 
of rode, but ordinarily doesn't require separation as great as the rode 
length, much less more.

The technique I have used for years with my 34 ft. sailboat, and will 
begin using this summer in my newly acquired trawler, makes use of the 
alarm settings in my navigation software. I put an alarm circle on the 
chart centered on my intended drop point with a radius equal to the sum 
of my intended rode length plus boat length (This sometimes requires one 
or two iterations of  rode length to match the charted depth where the 
center of the circle is indicated.). While attending to the indicated 
swinging circle, I move the charted circle as far into a cove as I would 
consider prudent for the conditions.

When I reach the anchorage and find other vessels already anchored or 
moored there I steam around in my charted circle noting the positions of 
the other vessels within the circle as I pass them. I then adjust the 
location of my charted circle, proceed to it's center and drop (again, 
after making any adjustments in circle radius required by depth at the 
new center).

I have tried unsuccessfully to get the maker of my navigation software 
to provide  such a circle without the distracting alarm. I don't know of 
any who do provide such a capability. I would also wish that it could be 
specified by radius in feet, rather than diameter in nautical miles. I 
have made up an anchoring table that makes the conversions for me in 
conjunction with the rode length calculation based on charted depth.

Paul Konnersman
Marblehead, MA


Ken Williams wrote:
> "... I solved that by buying a handheld range finder. I have the Bushnell
> Range Finder...."
>
> I always use the radar for this type of measuring. It's a bit of a pain
> converting fractional nautical miles to feet .. but, calculators are good at
> this kind of stuff. Normally I'm doing it to measure the distance to other
> boats at anchor... 
>
> I'd be curious what distance others consider the "minimum" to another boat
> when dropping anchor. Specifically, if staying overnight, with 250 feet of
> rode out -- what is the closest you'd consider acceptable to another boat?
> My personal minimum in this situation is around 300 feet, but I've noticed
> that others seem to think much smaller distances are acceptable. 
>
> I like the idea of a range finder though...
>
> -Ken Williams
> Sans Souci, nordhavn68.com
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