A storm is coming and you are in a safe harbor, but how safe is it if you don’t know how to properly setup your anchors? In this video, I will show you how to anchor safely with one, two, and three anchors! I also show you how to set up Bahamian Moorings and Star Moorings to really hold you steady no matter the conditions that await you!
Preparing to go
We have been in our current marina for 3 months. It’s time to move on!
When I only lived aboard, I dreamed of living on the hook. Swinging around at anchor without a single solid surface in range of our hull. No neighbors, no dock lines, no shore power, just the boat as it’s self contained world. When we set off to go cruising, the beginning was this very dream come true! Every night we anchored in a calm and protected spot. This then continued on as we voyaged internationally. The Bahamas had a bit less of the protection but much more beautiful waters to swim in. Bermuda was beautiful and well protected. Then came the Azores.
The anchorages are very deep, about 50 feet or more of depth and a rock bottom. Not really ideal! By contrast, the marinas are really inexpensive. As you can imagine, we chose to tie up in a marina where 10 months cost us €2100. We then left the comfort of the Azores and reached mainland Portugal where we once again tied up for another 3 months. The cost was a bit higher at €270 per month, but still really reasonable given how the anchorages in this area are similar to the Azores. 13 months and €2910 later, we are finally leaving the marina life and heading back into the hook!
We plan on leaving tomorrow and sailing about 400 nautical miles to the south coast of Portugal where we will once again live on the hook!
We plan to anchor from now until December, when we will be finding a marina to leave the boat in and fly back to the United States to visit with family over Christmas. Tomorrow we begin a three month stretch at anchor!
Living on the Hook
After living aboard in a marina for 5 years, dreaming about living on the hook, going cruising (and subsequently living on the hook) felt like a dream come true.
Living aboard was fun, but it was still just a “floating apartment”. I didn’t really feel the freedom of living aboard until we left our daily lives behind to go cruising. Suddenly, we were as free in our lives as the boat was in relation to the anchor.
Everyday starts when we feel ready for it to begin, and everyday ends when we want it to. One of the best reminders of this freedom comes when we would dinghy back to our boat at sunset. To see it floating all alone, independent of any structure around it made us feel equally free.
We didn’t have to worry about things like anchor dragging or debris floating into us because we chose our anchorages carefully. We would always pick an out of the way spot with good holding to drop the hook. We also have oversized ground tackle, so we could sleep easy knowing it would be hard to make us budge.
Secondly, with unlimited time, you can find the best place to hang out and relax there as you explore. Then brainstorm where you want to go next and pop over to that port. All the dreams I had about living on the hook were realized when we went cruising, and all the worries of daily life vanished at the very same time!
Raising Anchor in Bad Weather
When waves are high and winds are powerful, raising your anchor to escape the conditions can be a real challenge. In a situation like this, a manual or an electric windlass will still struggle.
The force of the wind and waves is pushing you back with such fury that the chain will be bar tight! How will you get your anchor up in this? You can try to motor up to it, but any slack in the chain will cause the bow to fall off the wind and pull the chain tightly from an angle, making the entire endeavor futile.
The best solution is to negate the engine entirely and simply use the power of the waves in your favor.
When the bow raises up the face of a wave, the chain will go bar tight. As the boat crashes down the back of the wave, the chain will go slack for just a moment. This is when you bring the chain in.
It is a slow and tedious practice but it will bring in around a foot with each wave, which can be as often as every 4 seconds if the period is close.
When you reach the anchor, the waves will help break the anchor free from the bottom and allow you to reel it in as it skips over the bottom with too short of scope to reset. Now you are free to sail away and seek a safer harbor.
Easy Bahamian Mooring
Bahamian mooring is aptly named, as it is a necessary anchoring technique when cruising in the Bahamas. Currents will whip through your anchorage with furry, and cause your anchor to raise up and reset every 6 hours.
To combat this resetting fiasco, all you need to do is set two anchors, one forward and one backward of the yacht. Now, an easy way to do this is to set your bow anchor like you normally would, and then hop into your dinghy with the second anchor. The current will take you away in a straight line from the bow anchor. When you get to the end of your rode, all you need to do is drop the hook and return to the yacht. Now, when the current reverses, the yacht will swing around and begin pulling on the other anchor. This process will repeat itself 4 times a day until you move on to the next beautiful destination.
The strong currents in the Bahamas help you in placing the second anchor. All you need to do is drift along and the current will do all the work for you!
Once the stern anchor is set, the stern rode can be tied off to the main anchor rode and a little more scope let out on the main rode. This will put the junction well below the level of the keel so that as you swing around, you will not foul your keel.
