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Nearly as good as taking a packed lunch to the launching ramp


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I am amazed at the anchoring techniques of many Aucklanders. Or is it just launch owners? At least two yachts (dual control and circuit breaker) came in to the bay we are in today and anchored really well. Top marks to the Male and Female team on both boats. As for the idiot Fishing Launch/Gin palace from Monganui, well that dude needs some lessons in how to park a boat. Unless parking on either the bricks or unintentionally rafting up with a Ferro was what he intended. And as for the anchor he had. I am not sure it a big enough for his inflatable, let alone the size of machine he owned.

But what is it with so many that come in forwards, drop the anchor and continue to motor forward, let the anchor grab. Sometimes they reverse back over the path they came in, which only serves to drag the chain back over itself, haul the set anchor out of the bottom and hopefully re set it again.
But the thing i have found really gobsmacking is how close everyone wants to cosy up. I had fully expected to have several bounce off me in the night. They being the ones that would bounce.... Me not so much.
Oh and the quite funny one was the guy motoring in between us all with half the oceans weed wrapped around the anchor. He couldn't see it, but it sure looked funny.

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We had some great entertainment toward the evening last night. It went on for several hrs. First launch came in and had multiple attempts in multiple places, to anchor. Simply he just had to big a boat for the gaps he was trying to fit in. We are talking 50 odd ft of Boat. Finally he managed to squeeze right up at the beach head. About an hr later, a 65ft comes in, threads it's way in between us and tries to raft up to the first boat. Many of us on the Boats around and calling out that this is going to be great fun to watch. Well they spent half an hr tying lines and swirling around in the wind gusts and eventually the 65ft'r decides he has had enough and parts company. He then spent nearly an hr trying all the gaps the previous boat did. In the end, he parked over by the shoreline and I kid you not, spent close over an hr trying to set his anchor and then stern line back to the beach. Everyone was now out on their decks watching this. I said to Dawn, it will be interesting when the tide drops. He was giving his Bow Thruster a major work out, although we weren't quite sure why. After half an hr, of sitting there, he must have decided that wasn't the best position and let go the stern line and up anchored and came back through us all to the first Boat and told them he was leaving the bay. He then motored back through us all and the look of everyone on board was obviously telling a story.
In the mean time, the Fishing launch mentioned above had decided to find another bay with greener grass and had left. Well he arrived back and tried all over again to find a spot. Maybe the grass wasn't greener else where or maybe he had forgot he had tried this bay already.
Oh well, now I have a lesson to take. How to get my anchor up with a heap of boats I suspect maybe have their anchors lying over mine. :roll:
 

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Always entertaining Wheels. Often seems the bigger and flasher the boat, the more incompetence displayed... Except for the superyachts, which are normally well managed (pro skippers of course), and often so large and deep draughted that they use more open anchorages than us anyway.

Never ceases to amaze me the ground tackle some think is OK.

Auckland boaties anchor closer than most others - and often think that all the boats will always swing the same way....

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We were sitting in Hobbs bay, Tiri on boxing day evening at high tide having a night cap. Saw a flash looking launch steaming towards us from tiri wharf. Straight towards the inner reef ( which was fully covered). 

Like this is going to really distressing, interesting and entertaining all at the same time. 

What do I do, jump up and down at them or just watch? It was dusk and they were doing around 8 knots so it was all going to be over pretty quick. I ended up watching thinking I'd leap in the dinghy and see if they needed a hand if/when they hit. 

 

At the last minute you could see the panic as he threw her into reverse and stopped about 2 metres from the reef. the launch the very slowly backed out and went right around the whole reef and anchored 2000m  down the coast. 

One of the closest things I've seen for a while. 

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over 50 boats anchored in close to each other last night in chamberlain's bay, ponui island last night

 

https://www.google.co.nz/maps/place/Chamberlains+Bay,+1010/@-36.8350534,175.1888925,1234m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x6d72c0ca9709a099:0x2a00ef6166597800?hl=en-GB

 

the squirrely 25 - 35 knot south westerly had them hunting around a bit but it is pretty well protected + thick mud so they all seemed to swing around ok by morning

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Yep, mostly works ok. Problems happen in large wind shifts when some have more scope than others, or wind against tide, etc. not all boats move the same, but people usually get away with being too close for all conditions. There is no safety in numbers or close proximity!

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We had to make a dash for Kawau yesterday and then back to GBI again. We got in late, around 10PM. Dang that Man=o-war is a small passage in the dark. Anyway, we decided to go into Onarua (spell?) instead of in through the gap. What is it with idiots who want to put lights on that are not proper anchor lights. One yacht (which was disappointing) had blue lights down it;s mast. At the head of the bay, it all looked clear, which I thought odd that no one had taken it. But I just knew Boats had to be there, but couldn;t see them. So we anchored out a little from everything. When we awoke this morning, it was a good decision. The head of the bay was full of boats with no lights what so ever. The blue lights on the big yacht made it really hard to see anything as well.
Oh and then there are the several idiots that seem to think dressing their boats in flashing xmas lights is fun. Oh well, at least they can bee seen.
 

Never ceases to amaze me the ground tackle some think is OK.

 

Yes, the Monganui fishing boat had a small plough on that honestly would have suited a small trailer sailor. So small the chain probably had as much holding ability on it's own.

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To be fair we are pretty good at anchoring in general here in NZ.

In the busy anchorages in France the boats deploy fenders when they anchor as the expect to hit their neighbours at some point.

I think "anchor rage" would apply if someone tried that here.

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Last night we were victim to an unlit lauch trying to manouver through the bay and luckily i was on anchor watch and saw this launch heading straight for us and not slowing down, i jumped into the cockpit and yelled at them they were only 10meters away doing about 4 knots i heard the engines suddenly hit full reverse but was to late hit our port quarter luckily we have a solid aluminium toe rail so that took the impact and bent a stauchen.

 

They proceeded to yell back telling me to go back to bed and then buggered off. Never asked if we were ok didnt check if there was damage or anything, unfortunately didnt get the name of the launch but was pretty scary when you have an 8 month old baby onboard amd have crazy ppl like that on the water.

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Last night here was Kaos. I had been well anchored, had a good clear swing area. Whatched the weather and noted the wind was going swing jut a few degrees east in the night. The only concern I had was that the shoreline would be a little closer than I would have liked at low tide.
I was awoken with a start at ruffly 1AM with one hell of a bang. Holy Heck I thought, I have hit the shore. I lept out of bed and rushed to the cockpit and poked my head out expecting to se the shore behind us. But instead it was an Alloy Boat right on our stern and we had hit him and the guy yelling that we had dragged. I was utterly confused because nothing was where it should have been and how did he get there, we had other boats behind us and a clear area to drag if we did and so on. And the shore was not there...hang about, it's on the otherside????? Holy crap, we have sung 180deg??? surely not, how did that happen.
I raced to the bow and hauled in as much chain as I dared. I was terrified I was going to lift the anchor out, but I needed to clear him. After an an hr of watching him, adjusting me, watching the entire bay go through similar issues, lots of yelling, Tenders racing around, search lights zooming all over and blinding me and then having to get my night sight back and just general mayhem. There are a bunch of young Lads and Lasses across the bay that have been partying rather hard. We had one Lad come over yesterday and he had been drinking Rum since 8AM till 4PM and I was stunned the lad was able to stand. He left well after 6PM to go back to drinking and other things. I was worried for them as to how the heck they would sort out themselves with all the little boats rafted and so on. I think that was where a lot of the yelling came from.

As everyone got re positioned, things quietened down and peace returned. We ended up doing circles all night. I didn't sleep as I was worried about our now very short scope and would the anchor which was now doing all the work, hold without popping out. We made it through the night and the Alloy Boat left this morning, so we have a bit of room back now.

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last time,north harbour ponui,had a launch yell at me that i was dragging,scratched my head and finally answered never seen a vessel drag to windward,i suggest you have the problem. he never dragged when tide went out. anchored left hand corner.

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Elly - That is how we got away with minimal damage as i was flashing a torch at the boat then they must have seen us and hit full reverse but was going to fast and still managed to to hit us but was lucky it was only a bent staunchion.

 

Thing that got me was they didnt check for damage or ask if we were ok they just buggered off

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We watched about a 9m bridge cat swingng about on its anchor in the cove at GMI New Years Eve. The skipper of the neighbouring cat was concerned it was going to drag and hit him, so came across to Pulse to get some help to sort the problem.

 

Mr DT (previously Two2Tango) accompanied him to the offending vessel, where they weighed the small plough anchor on the end of just over 1m of chain, and attempted to re-anchor. The thing wouldn't steer into the wind (over 30kts), so they ended up tying her up to one of the house boats.

 

Thing is, they had left their boat unattended, rudders down (they were not able to be raised) helm not tied back, in winds forcast to be knarly, on 1.8m of chain and an undersized anchor.

 

Really have to wonder about the intelligence of some people sometimes.

I know we all make mistakes, and when I first joined here, I did so in order to learn what I did not know. And when in doubt, one asks questions to ensure they keep themselves and others safe.

 

TBH, I was gobsmacked. 

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Anchoring in a blow!is it best to anchor out in the true wind so there is constant pull on anchor ?(which I prefer)or seek shelter and with every gust feel the load been taken up on warp? 15lb plow with double the boat lenght of chain and then i let out 3 x depth,so i have a shallow pull. Am I correct? had a issue on monday night under Whanganui Island,constant pull but swing arc was a bit more than others as I tried to explain to other party I was here first or has that gone out the window?

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Depends. ;-)
And there within lies a rather open ended answer, because there are just too many variables to consider, so you have to base it on your own judgement at the time.
     Normal rule of thumb is 3x the water depth for all chain and 5 x the depth for a rope rode, with a minimum of 1.5x the boat length in chain. But it is a rule of thumb, which means it depends.
For an all chain rode, for every doubling of length, you increase the holding power by a factor of 4.
    The issue of sailing at anchor, possible change in wind direction, Tide change, etc, means that every boat needs room and too many are not considering that these days. If you feel uncomfortable that someone is too close, educate them, or at the least, have a boat that allows you not to care if you swing into them,because they will be the ones that come of second place and they get educated that way :roll:
   You will not stop sailing at anchor. Once again, there are so many reasons why it happens and you just have to live with it and other boats need to be aware that it is going to happen to both boats and eventually both boats are going to swing toward each other.
As for where to anchor, you pick where you feel most comfortable.
     By the way and this is a general out there comment to all. One golden rule of where to anchor. If you know a bit of a blow is coming or has arrived..... NEVER anchor at the bottom of a Gully. It's a place that often has the lovely little beach, tends to be pretty, often has good water depth and good holding and thus is very enticing. But Gullies are where the wind blows out of the hardest and is often very gusty. So if you are in for a good stiff blow in the night,(I wonder if KM can read that and keep a straight face) stay clear of gullies.

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thanks "wheels" i just hate having to get up in the middle of the night for the clown next door. I prefer to here a strain on warp in a blow at night,when it goes quite that's when i am on deck hoping that wind had dropped. :roll:

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Talk about entertainment today I anchored in the usual way in wind against tide at Opua. My boat decided it wanted to visit the neighbouring boats,close enough for me to have visions of no sleep tonight. Rather than re anchor I wrapped up the spare anchor chain, put it in a holed bucket with its own line and using hose as anti chafe sent it down the anchor rope to hold it on the bottom. That did the trick. The boat swings a normal amount and has stopped visiting the neighbours thankfully. Whew

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