Anchoring

Catalina Direct Discussion Topics / Catalina 22 Discussion Area / Anchoring / beaching and dual anchors
 
 
Author beaching and dual anchors
jamie wheal
Mt. Airy, MD

Boat Name: Peggy-O

Model/Year: 1990

Hull No.

Hailing Port: Annapolis
06/30/2004 5:02 PM Pacific Time

Just got back from a week cruising in our new boat on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake--had a wonderful time, but came up against two questions for more experienced sailors--

First--we were spending a lot of time on the Naticoke river which gets super shallow at low tide--down below 2 feet even a hundred yards off shore. How critical is keeping the boat/keel out of contact with the bottom? I have heard of other trailer sailers that are beachable, but since the swing keel doesn't retract fully into the hull, I figured it might really stress the whole setup to take partial hull weight like that. I did my best to keep her free floating at all times, but got caught once or twice really having to heave her out to deeper waters. Checked in the wells for any extra water, found none, on the next sail--but also want to make sure there wasn't any undue stress on pivot bolt etc, andif so, how to tell without dropping the whole thing?

Also, wondering about a bomber two anchor set up to deal with clocking winds. If you do a stern/bow combo then how do you set and tension both anchors properly? And if you do two off the bow, then what should the angle between be? In rock/ice climbing, anchors have max strength on a vector somewhere between 20-35 deg, but then I've seen in these posts the "bahamian" mooring where they're off 180 from each other--

That's more than enough for now, sorry for the length, and thanks for any thoughts on beaching the boat, and anchoring her safely.

Chip Lee
Utica, NY

Boat Name: Martha Pearl

Model/Year: 1980 C-22

Hull No. #9742

Hailing Port: Black River Bay, NY
08/27/2004 10:23 AM Pacific Time

Jamie, I can't tell you how to do the two bow anchors, but I can tell you 2 ways I've done fore-and-aft anchoring:

1) On my C22, I carry 150' of 1/4" line "just because". When I anchor, I dig in my main anchor off the bow first first, attach the 1/4" line to the end of the rode and continue motoring or drifting aft until I near the end of the 1/4" line. The I drop the lunch hook off the stern, motor forward slowly while bringing the 1/4" line back aboard and paying out the stern anchor rode. When I have both anchor rodes aboard, I stop and then cleat them both, adjusting tension sometimes to minimize the boat's swinging at anchor.

2) On boats in the past, I have dug in the larger anchor upwind, attached a float like a fender to the end of the rode, then threw the float over the side when the rode was all paid out. Then I would drift or back downwind to a little less than what I thought was the length of the second anchor rode, drop the second anchor and motor back upwind to pick up the float and tie off. Obviously, I missjudged this fairly often, or drifted to an angle not dead downwind after setting the first hook. Hence the #1 system evolved.

Oops, I just remembered that I have, if I know that calm is predicted and the bottom is good, set the bow hook and just threw the stern hook as far as I could off the stern. Not recommended if you seriously think you may need a stern anchor during the night, but it works for calm weather...

Chip Lee
 
 
Anchoring
Catalina Direct Discussion Topics / Catalina 22 Discussion Area / Anchoring / beaching and dual anchors