Bahamas Chatter: Stern anchors
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Bahamas Chatter: Stern anchors
Stern anchors
Posted: 26 Mar 2018 06:03 PM PDT
I am sailing a 40ft cat daft 1.35.
I would like to know how often stern anchors are deployed cruising in the Bahamas.
If they are used at all what setup? How much chain, rode, scope, and what techniques are used for deployment?
Comments from Cruisers (4)
Cruised the Bahamas for 10 years on a Morgan 43 sailboat…never used a stern anchor once. Never had the need for it. Single Delta 44 with all chain rode was all we ever used and NEVER dragged once. Only place we ever heard them using stern anchors was in Pipe Creek, Exumas. Couldn’t get in there with our 6′ draft somit didnt matter. We visited nearly every other island in the Bahamas from the top of the Abacos to the Raggeds in the Exuma Cays.
We have cruised the Bahamas a number of times over many thousands of miles and have never used or had reason to use a stern anchor. We have rarely used the so-called Bahamian Moor where two anchors are deployed off the bow at 180 degrees and the boat will lie first to one and then the other as the strong tidal currents reverse. This will offer you a tighter swing circle and with both anchors well set, will not rely on just one anchor continually resetting as the current reverse. Usually, in our experience, this is an unnecessary complication.
Using an anchor deployed off the stern (in addition to the typical bow anchor) can keep you from swinging in tight quarters but can be risky. If the wind (or current) is strong from abeam, it will put tremendous strain on the ground tackle. If you wind up getting seas from astern, your transom, which on most boats is not designed to smoothly break waves, will take the brunt. Certain boats may also get water pumped backwards through the exhaust and risk flooding the engine.
There could be times when in protected conditions a stern anchor might come in handy. We have just never found it needed.
It’s rare and only in tight areas where you need to really limit your swing. Can’t think of a place where you’d need that. Never needed one during 11 seasons in the Bahamas.
sometimes…