Anchoring - Guidelines & Etiquette

Guidelines

Anchors are designed for specific bottom characteristics. Make sure that you buy an anchor designed for the type of bottom primarily encountered in your boating area. Even with a small boat, five or six feet of coated chain is desirable.

Shackle the chain to the anchor. Put a thimble on the end of the anchor line and shackle that to the other end of the chain. Choose your anchor line carefully. A line that is too heavy will actually cause problems because you'll loose the "elasticity" that absorbs the shock and keeps the anchor well set.

Pick your anchorage carefully. If there are other boats nearby, you will need to "guess" at their potential swing. A shallow draft boat will be more affected, usually, by the wind whereas a deep draft boat will be more affected by the current.

Put your bow into the wind or current (whichever is having the greatest affect on your boat, power up slowly to or just beyond where you want your anchor to lie and check your forward motion with your reverse gear. Double check to ensure that the bitter end of your anchor line is attached to something sturdy on the boat. Most experienced boaters have watched at least one anchor with a few hundred feet on line disappear over the bow because they forgot to secure the end.

Don't throw the anchor, as it will probably get tangled. Release it by holding on to the chain or line, making sure that the chain and line are free, and dropping the anchor off the bow. If your anchor line was properly coiled, it will "pay-out" smoothly.

Once you see slack in the line, feed out the proper amount of scope as the boat drifts back. Hopefully, you've got your anchor line marked at 25’ increments. Average "recommended" scope is somewhere around 5 to 1 or 7 to 1, That means that if you are in 20 ft of water you will want to pay-out between 100 and 140 ft of line. You also want to take into consideration the distance between the water line and the bow cleat and also any depth increase because of tides. If the tide may come in another 4 ft and your bow cleat is 3 ft above the water, you are, effectively, in 27 ft of water and would need to pay out around 170 ft of line.

Once the scope is out, secure the line (cleat and chock) and "back down" on the anchor, keeping your bow into the wind/current. Idle speed is usually sufficient to make the anchor "bite" into the bottom and "set."

Put the engine in neutral and get your "bearings." Find two points on each beam that form a natural "range" or line and a third either ahead or astern from which you may be able to judge distance. They can be other anchored boats, rocks, buoys or points on land. Sit there for a few minutes to make sure that none of the angles or distances to these points change. Any change would indicate that you are dragging and need to reset your anchor or pay out more scope, or both.

If you find your anchor doesn't want to dig in, you may have to restart the entire process. If you continue to experience problems, consider anchoring in a different spot. You may also to want to raise the anchor completely out of the water to verify that it hasn't been fouled with debris from the bottom (e.g. an old piece of wood stuck between the flukes of a Danforth).

It's a good idea to take a fix on a few objects on shore so you will be able to verify that you are not dragging your anchor. You may want to repeat this exercise if the wind shifts and your boat assumes a new position within its swing circle.

Sooner or later you have to break out the anchor. If you haul up your anchor while the boat is moving, be sure the force of your boat's bow wave doesn't cause it to bang against the hull. Dunking the anchor and chain in and out of the water will help to wash off any mud.

Etiquette

Anchoring etiquette dictates that the use of an anchorage is on a first come, first serve basis. Boats coming later have to respect the space and swing circles of those already anchored.

It is always a good idea to slowly motor around an unfamiliar anchorage before dropping the hook. If you have a depth sounder, this will be a good time to use it. The same practice is applicable for crowded anchorages. There's always a chance you'll discover space for one more boat when taking a slow tour around the anchorage.

You should be aware when anchoring, that almost everyone else in the anchorage will be observing you (as discreetly as possible, of course). It's just the way it is. You'll do it too. Just remember that it's not the anchoring, or the need to re-anchor, which separates the beginners from the experts - it's the amount of yelling and chaos that breaks out between the person handling the anchor, and the person maneuvering the boat (develop a set of hand signals to communicate with one another).