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Thread: Anchoring and Its Discontents

  1. #1
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    Default Anchoring and Its Discontents

    Looking ahead to the March Cruise-Out for the Singlehanded Transpacific Yacht Race boats (wow, that's a mouthful!) I'm wondering what you all plan to do about anchoring in Hanalei Bay? Because you WILL have to anchor in Hanalei Bay, since there is no marina there, no usable pier, and very few mooring balls, most taken by local boats.

    When we have the cruise-out in March you will have the opportunity to participate in a little race out into the bay using your emergency rudder. That was fun to watch last time, to almost everyone's chagrin.

    Sailors will also be encouraged to practice anchoring. Joe Balderrama might be asked to exhibit his Hail Mary anchoring technique just for entertainment purposes, but is that really the way you want to end a beautiful Pacific experience? Chances are good that you will have assistance with anchoring and sail take-down when you arrive in Kauai, but just in case you arrive at 3 am and only Brian arrives on a surfboard, maybe you want to think about details of anchoring ahead of time.

    Bow roller? What's a bow roller? Racers tend not to have bow rollers. Danforth? Spade? Delta? Huh? Now is the time for you to make friends with a cruising sailor on your dock.
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    Last edited by Philpott; 01-08-2018 at 11:36 PM.

  2. #2
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    How about a 35-lb (?) Bruce on a windlass with 250' of chain? Plus a lighter fluke on 300' of rode as a backup? I think I got this one covered...

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gamayun View Post
    How about a 35-lb (?) Bruce on a windlass with 250' of chain? Plus a lighter fluke on 300' of rode as a backup? I think I got this one covered...
    Yes, Kynntana has a beautiful set up. Doesn't that mean that you could comfortably anchor in a depth of 34'? With the touch of a switch? hahaha. DM doesn't even have a bow roller. Yet. I'm hoping for photographs and suggestions.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by Philpott View Post
    . . . I'm hoping for photographs and suggestions.
    I'm not familiar with the Cal 2-27, so I'm not sure if this will help, but here goes:

    My previous boat was a 28’ racer/cruiser made by S-2 Yachts (Model 8.6; a little bigger and cruisier than AlanH’s 7.9), and I gave her a bow roller sort of like this:

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    I could use two existing bolts on the bow plate on the starboard side of the stem piece on the boat, and the two bolt holes at the aft end of the bow roller. But I had to drill one new hole in the bow roller and one new hole in the bow plate to have three bolts holding the roller in place. In the next picture, the dimple in the bow plate, outboard of the second Phillips-head bolt, was my first attempt to drill the plate with a regular 3/8” drill and half a dozen drill bits:

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    I was able to finish drilling the bow plate with a much bigger drill from a buddy’s machine shop, tungsten drill bits, and cutting oil. I put a backing plate under the new bolt, matching the existing two. I was happy with the result, and it held steady in many anchoring adventures, some in high-stress conditions.

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    Well worth the effort if you intend to anchor out more than once every few years.

    What the bow roller did not accomplish, however, was any dampening of the swinging on the wind the boat would do at anchor. That problem was caused by the boat's inherent windage: wind on the nose would blow the bow off to one side or the other, and the boat would saw back and forth all night. Not fun, not safe, and bad in a crowded anchorage where you want all boats swinging together as the wind shifts. Adding an anchor-riding sail was the 100% cure for that problem. The harder the wind would blow, the more arrow-straight the boat would hold nose to wind.

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    Many boats behave well at anchor without a riding sail, but if you find yours does not, the riding sail is well worth the cost and effort.

    Good luck. Being able to get some sleep while anchored out is one of the great joys of cruising.
    Last edited by AZ Sailor; 01-09-2018 at 10:44 AM.
    Lee
    s/v Morning Star
    Valiant 32

  5. #5
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    Wow, thanks, Lee! Those are really helpful photos. I stayed up late last night, and decided that the Lewmar Medium Fairlead anchor roller (the one you used) seems to be the best for Dura Mater. At 11" x 2 1/8" it will just fit between her nav light and that doohickey thing that holds her roller furler. The difference is that your boat had all that metal at the bow. I will surely need a strong backing plate down below.

    One last issue: Do you think my anchor will work with this roller? It is an A80 given to me by John Foster (thank you, John. I know you are up there having an opinion about this as I type).
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  6. #6
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    This will probably be of no help to anyone but.... my sailmaker, when I ordered my assym., insisted that the efficiency of the sail increased significantly the further forward of the forestay that the tack was located. So I looked at my bow situation and realized I had a dirty great Rochna sticking significantly forward of the bow roller. With very little trouble at all I figured out how I could secure the anchor in place with a couple of dyneema strops and then, using a soft shackle and a block on the Rochna semicircular bar I had a great lead for the assym. downhaul which was well forward. It was easier to do than to describe here and the beauty of it was that when cruising coastwise if there was an emergency and I needed the anchor toot sweet I could just cut the strops and the anchor was ready to go. I also split a hose to cover the bar on the Rochna so the soft shackle wouldn't chafe. Plus the Rochna is one of the best anchors available today which doesn't hurt.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by peter00 View Post
    I figured out how I could secure the anchor in place with a couple of dyneema strops and then, using a soft shackle and a block on the Rochna semicircular bar I had a great lead for the assym. downhaul which was well forward.
    Let me get this straight: You tied down your big fat anchor and used it as the tack for your assymetric spinnaker? Was this on Carlotta? Didn't she already have a significant bowsprit? That would be something to see. Very inventive. Brave, too.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Philpott View Post
    I will surely need a strong backing plate down below.
    Indeed. The roller is going to take some heavy loads from time to time. You might want to have someone knowledgeable look at the situation to see if other reinforcement is also in order.

    I can't tell is that anchor fits that roller. I bought anchor and roller at the same time, so I could test fit in the store.
    Lee
    s/v Morning Star
    Valiant 32

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Philpott View Post
    Let me get this straight: You tied down your big fat anchor and used it as the tack for your assymetric spinnaker? Was this on Carlotta? Didn't she already have a significant bowsprit? That would be something to see. Very inventive. Brave, too.
    This was on Scaramouche with a truly massive assym. I never used it in heavy winds because I couldn't manage it in heavy winds by myself But the loads would be radically scaled down in any of the boats pictured above. For those that don't know, Scaramouche was a 50' alum. IOR boat with a massive fore triangle. I would guess that my system was stronger than the bowsprits typically put together for this application.

  10. #10
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    I upped my chain from 15 feet to 50 feet before the race. I am glad I did. The anchor and rode were stored in the aft cabin for the trip over. Once I was offshore I transferred the anchor rode to my drogue and vice versa as I approached Hawaii. I actually deployed the drogue during a 40 Kt session with the dregs of Celia about 350 miles from Kauai. The seaway was getting pretty scary. Anyway, it was a waste of time, within 6 hours the sun was out and and had the best day and night of sailing of the entire trip.

    Upon arrival in Kauai David Garman came aboard and helped me get anchored. I do a lot of anchoring but David is a perfectionist. Jacqueline didn't drag at all the entire week I was anchored out. I think that extra chain really helped, although it weights a frikking ton.

    My vote is if he doesn't sail this year, we fly David to Kauai and appoint him the Lord High Diode of Anchoring.

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