Anchoring and Mooring

A well-set anchor lets you stop in a quiet bay, sit out a foul tide, or sleep far from any marina — trusting your ground tackle while you do. Coming alongside rewards the same virtues: understand the forces, prepare, and never hurry.

Ground tackle is the anchor plus everything connecting it to the boat — the rode: all chain, or chain joined to nylon warp. Match the anchor itself to the seabed; the table shows where each type shines.

Windlass

The winch at the bow, manual or electric, that hauls the anchor and chain back aboard.

Snubber

A short stretchy nylon line from the chain to a cleat — it absorbs shocks and takes the load off the windlass.

Scope

The ratio of rode paid out to the maximum depth of water.

Tripping line

A light line from the anchor's crown to a small buoy, used to pull a fouled anchor out backwards.

A good anchorage is chosen from the chart before it is admired from the cockpit. The seabed abbreviations tell you the holding — S sand and M mud are what you want, and an anchor symbol marks a recognised anchorage, while a foul-ground or cable symbol says never drop here. Then work down the list, remembering that the wind that matters is the forecast wind, not the one blowing now.

• Shelter — protection from present and forecast wind and swell; beware a shore that will be downwind of you later.
• Holding — sand or mud from the chart abbreviations; avoid weed, rock and charted cables or foul ground.
• Depth — enough water at low tide to stay afloat, not so much at high tide that scope becomes impractical.
• Swinging room — the boat will swing in a circle around the anchor as wind and tide change; allow for it clear of other boats and dangers, remembering they may swing differently.
• Traffic and regulations — clear of fairways, moorings and prohibited areas.
• Escape — a route out you could use at night if conditions turn.

The planning figures: at least 4 times the maximum depth for all-chain, at least 6 times for chain-and-warp. The critical word is maximum — the deepest water of your whole stay, which means the depth now plus the rise of tide still to come. In heavy weather, more scope is the cheapest insurance there is.

1. Approach slowly, head to wind or head to tide — copy the boats already anchored — and stop over your chosen spot.
2. Lower the anchor to the seabed. Do not hurl it.
3. Let the boat drift or motor gently astern, paying out the rode in a line along the bottom so it cannot pile on top of the anchor.
4. At full scope, make fast. Then dig the anchor in: a steady pull astern at low revs, watching a transit abeam — two fixed objects in line ashore. If the transit holds steady, the anchor has set.
5. Rig the snubber. Hoist the black anchor ball forward by day; show an all-round white light at night.

Later, how do you know you are not dragging? Note an anchor transit or bearings of fixed objects when you settle, and re-check them — especially after wind shifts and tide turns, when the boat swings and the anchor must re-bury in a new direction. An electronic anchor alarm is a back-up, not a substitute for looking.

1. To weigh anchor: motor slowly up towards it while the windlass takes in the slack.
2. When the rode is vertical — up and down — break the anchor out.
3. Wash the mud off before it reaches the locker.

Springs also get you off a berth smartly: motor gently ahead against the bow spring — fender right forward — and the stern pivots out; motor astern against the stern spring and the bow swings out instead. For departures and short stops, rig lines slipped — from the boat, around the pontoon cleat, and back to the boat — so crew release them from on deck. Alongside a harbour wall, allow for the tidal range: lines snug at high water can hang the boat as the tide drops, so leave generous length and check them.