Anchoring Considerations

 

• Is the anchorage sheltered from the current winds and seas, and do you expect it to be so throughout the night?

• Is it well out of any channels or likely traffic lanes? Fishermen are out there early.

• What is the holding ground like? Some areas are too rocky and silty to hold an anchor reliably.  For a peaceful night, seek thick, gray, dense, sucking, putrid-smelling mud. It's what sailors dream about. 

• What will the tide do throughout the night. The tide will affect both your scope ratio and the current will affect what direction you hang on your anchor.

• Is there room to swing in all directions? Remember that the scope you let out on the rode is the radius of the boats circle. A deep anchorage requires more room to swing than a shallower one. Consider two anchors if space is tight.

• Are there houses on the nearest shoreline? Are you so close that people jumping into cold water at dawn will disturb them? How about other anchored or moored boats?

Read more about Anchoring Methods.

 

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