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Anchor Watch - what distance to set it at?


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I recently purchased a Vesper Marine 750 AIS (Receiver only).

It has an excellent anchor watch. Very low draw, and means I don't have to eff about with apps on a phone. 

Anyway - whats a good rule of thumb for the amount of distance to set the anchor watch at?

Thanks in advance for any tips.

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How far are you happy to drift before you are awoken? Pretty much as simple as that. The smaller the area, the greater the chance of false alarms.
It will differ depending on the Bay, what/who is around you, the amount of rode you have out, tide etc. Short rodes due to many boats around you, will be influenced by Tide range. Long rodes lengths, not so much.
 

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This is a really good example of where the statement ' how long is a piece of string' is totally appropriate.

 But the answer is  just outside the radius of your piece of string.

 

 We have some fantastic anchor watch art off our screen, used it to unhitch ourselves off bommies too.

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The only useful thing I can see with a anchor watch system is if your in a bay by your self,say hooks bay(waiheke)

drag and your on your way t??colville/firth but anchor in a popular surrounded by others they will soon let you know youve dragged etc

bay on your own would probably set for 100m

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Well..I was thinking if you set it when the boat is over the anchor, let out - say, 30m. add some on for the boat length dependent where your anchor watch to gps is set up, add 10m contingency for tide change, so you set it for 45-50m in this scenario. 

 

Just wanted to know if my thinking here would be on the right track. 

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I never used one in NZ but after a few months use over winter I wouldn't be without it now.

Pretty important when you're amongst the reefs or prefer to anchor in more interesting places.

The way mine works is you anchor and then set it. It has a ghost track so can see where you stopped or changed direction. You move the anchor to that point.

I suppose you could just set it at the same time you put the anchor down, I don't.

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When i am really scared, I watch it with my eyes, normally though its a very straight line on the chart slow drag like 2-10ft an hour in 40 odd knots etc... if you are slowly dragging.

 

 

Another tip is i set a way point as soon as I am hanging to anchor and then set chart plotter to go to that way point. it will say arrived straight away, say accept....   now it will read distance to go to the way point giving you a pretty good total drag reading that you can instantly access even when only half awake while doing a 30 min snooze alarm cycle, having to wake up fully to access how far you have moved is annoying.     Often the slow drag will solve itself after a few hours if you hit something solid

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I use an Android app called anchor alarm, have done for years. It has saved me a few times. The good things is I can keep an eye on it from my bunk it constantly updates and shows the distance from the mark. I usually use between 30 - 50 meters depending on where I am.

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that big storm last year that was forecast 35 but was 55-60 was a classic i was using the main light on matiatia wharf as a mark until the power went out, too a good few mins until the emergency power came on, i was sliding 10ft an hour that night

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that big storm last year that was forecast 35 but was 55-60 was a classic i was using the main light on matiatia wharf as a mark until the power went out, too a good few mins until the emergency power came on, i was sliding 10ft an hour that night

 

If it was the same one that my mate an eye sheltered from on the south side off chamberlains in the Tamika straights we both thought we where OK cos we had the same distance apart, until I released we where slowly moving and let a sh*t load more rope out.   

 

Phoned my mate told him what was happening figured that I would not get to Cleveland before day break and went to sleep.

 

Woke up in morn all good lucky.

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