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Smarter Anchoring
By Bob Adriance

Following a few simple rules will make it much less likely that you’ll go bump in the night.

In a small cove at Washington state’s James Island, in Puget Sound. Just before dark, another sailboat motored into the cove with a man and woman aboard yelling at each other. They dropped anchor. Dan thought their boat was a bit too close, but always the gentleman, he kept it to himself and went below to make dinner. The weather forecast that night had been for winds around 15 knots, but at about 0200, it began gusting 20, then nearly 30. Dan was on deck checking his anchor when he noticed the husband and wife on the deck of their boat. Their boat now was much closer to Dan’s. The man glanced back at Dan and yelled, “You’re dragging your anchor!” Dan calmly explained that boats don’t drag anchor upwind. One can only hope that the couple learned some valuable lessons that night: about making sure they have enough anchoring room next time, about making sure their anchor really digs when they set it, about making sure they get this all done before darkness falls ‘” and doing it even if the forecast is for calm winds.

In calm conditions, anchoring fore and aft can prevent your boat from swinging into an area that might not be suitable, like the shallows in front of this beach.

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