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Philip Heaton
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+x+x+x+x+x+xHmmm... Do you use a buoy every time you anchor Phil? I hate the things - especially in a crowded anchorage... When you launch it, how much scope do you put out - the right amount based on how deep you are - or just throw the whole lot over with the anchor? Ever got it tangled in the prop?? Your analysis is spot on though - waaay cheaper than this gizmo. BUT - it's a pretty cool gizmo! and it's always deployed and since with probably $3500 invested in the anchor and rode, a reasonable insurance premium... No we only use a trip line buoy when we know there is a risk of foul ground ... and now that we are avoiding rock ... BTW you can get the scope on the trip line to match the depth of water and adjust for tide by having the line from the anchor go through a block on the underside of the buoy and a small dive weight attached to the end of the line. I have gone back and forth with using, or not using, the trip line for a few years. Initially i loved it, mostly for knowing where my anchor was and a visual on my potential swing diameter, or for the quick reference to be sure not dragging when on shore looking out. Then i hated it for the added complexity during anchor retrieval and risk of it fouling the prop. My wife always hated it. Recently it really saved us when our Spade fouled on a giant mooring chain. But i must say, it's the little things in these forums that i love reading and the tip to put a block and weight on the trip line/buoy to get the scope right... love it. Thanks! I will be doing that whenever i use it next. Even when i use the same buoy to mark our lobster pot:) Regarding trip line use for fouled anchor, having now used it for the first time I think of it differently then before i used it. Perhaps i was just uninformed, but i thought the idea was to pull on the head of the anchor. In our case, it actually worked much better to lift the anchor with our windlass some, then snug the trip line but not pull, then release the anchor chain. We thus flipped the anchor vertically and dropped the mooring chain it was hooked on. Simply pulling on the trip line didn't seem to work and i worried it might snap. Only relevant if you can lift the anchor off the bottom a little. There is more to the story, but that would require a cockpit chat to do justice:) Hi Gavin, Thanks for the field report: always the best. Please see the following post for another option to a trip line and buoy. In the Med, doing as you described to free your anchor is quite common and there are gadgets that make this quite easy. This is because Med-mooring frequently gets chains crossed and one is often pulling someone else’s chain up with your anchor. I am surprised that pulling on the end of the trip line did not release the anchor. I suspect that lifting the chain as you described got the tripline clear so it could do its job. Your worry about breaking the trip line is one I share. Three strand nylon is actually very strong, but I have also considered that this might be an area where high modulus line might be the best choice: small diameter for ease of use and storing and very strong. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Hi all, The following describes an alternative to a tripline and anchor buoy. Alchemy anchor float I generally abhor anchor buoys/trip lines (unsafe and un-neighborly) and feel that getting one’s anchor trapped on the bottom is partly technique, but mostly bad luck. (Part of the technique element is to always initially use plenty of scope so the anchor sets with a minimum of dragging around the anchorage before getting a stick: dragging an anchor around hoping it finds a stick is a recipe for a fouled anchor). I use trip lines only when I know of reports of a foul bottom, and (hopefully) a night with steady wind direction and an uncrowded anchorage: rarely in other words. That said, I also wished for a plan for when the anchor does become stuck and there is no trip line. In friendly waters I usually dove on the anchor and realized that it was a regular occurrence that all I saw was chain: the anchor was buried. Recovery is dependent on getting to the end of the anchor, attaching a line and pulling the anchor out backwards. It is also possible the anchor is tangled in a stump or some discarded appliance and getting at the end of the anchor could be difficult or take time. In warmer waters, I would be doing this free diving and only had seconds to attach the trip line, so I wished to make the finding and attaching quick and easy. Even if I put on a tank, and dive gear (if quite deep) I would want it easy to attach the trip line. To get a line attached to the end of the anchor quickly, I attached a shackle on the end of my anchor to which I tied 6-8 feet of nylon 3 strand with an eye on the end and a brightly colored small commercial fishnet float (shaped like a small football: the US game). The float “floats” the eye high above the anchor and accessible and easy to find. In clear water, I can often see the float (bright orange) from on deck if not too deep. If the anchor is fouled, it is far more likely and easier just to dive to the float and attach a spring-loaded shackle/carabiner with a line taken back to the boat. Then from deck it is easy to pull the anchor up backwards. The 6-8 foot line serves a secondary purpose when stowing the anchor of always being there to tie the anchor off on the roller. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Note: With effort, I have found that most anchor foulings get free with some creative boat maneuvering. First, I let out lots of scope while moving away from the anchor in the opposite direction from initial set and slowly attempt pull it free. Next, I might try a short scope, attach a stout snubber (here you do not want stretch, but you do not want to load up the windlass) and then power in various directions taking up slack as it occurs. Pay attention as it is not likely to make things worse, but certainly possible. Our experience matches Dick's about some careful and creative manoeuvring to free chain. Now that we are in the Mediterranean, my Christmas present to my wife, Norma, will be a Coastline Trip Hook. If the anchor has caught on another boat's anchor chain, the Trip Hook can be lowered to catch on the other's chain and held while the anchor is lowered and freed. The hook is then tripped and freed, with the other's chain dropping back to the seabed. Norma will be very pleased by my thoughtfulness and consideration, especially as I will splice on the necessary lines myself.
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Gavin.French
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 5,
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+x+x+x+x+x+x+xHmmm... Do you use a buoy every time you anchor Phil? I hate the things - especially in a crowded anchorage... When you launch it, how much scope do you put out - the right amount based on how deep you are - or just throw the whole lot over with the anchor? Ever got it tangled in the prop?? Your analysis is spot on though - waaay cheaper than this gizmo. BUT - it's a pretty cool gizmo! and it's always deployed and since with probably $3500 invested in the anchor and rode, a reasonable insurance premium... No we only use a trip line buoy when we know there is a risk of foul ground ... and now that we are avoiding rock ... BTW you can get the scope on the trip line to match the depth of water and adjust for tide by having the line from the anchor go through a block on the underside of the buoy and a small dive weight attached to the end of the line. I have gone back and forth with using, or not using, the trip line for a few years. Initially i loved it, mostly for knowing where my anchor was and a visual on my potential swing diameter, or for the quick reference to be sure not dragging when on shore looking out. Then i hated it for the added complexity during anchor retrieval and risk of it fouling the prop. My wife always hated it. Recently it really saved us when our Spade fouled on a giant mooring chain. But i must say, it's the little things in these forums that i love reading and the tip to put a block and weight on the trip line/buoy to get the scope right... love it. Thanks! I will be doing that whenever i use it next. Even when i use the same buoy to mark our lobster pot:) Regarding trip line use for fouled anchor, having now used it for the first time I think of it differently then before i used it. Perhaps i was just uninformed, but i thought the idea was to pull on the head of the anchor. In our case, it actually worked much better to lift the anchor with our windlass some, then snug the trip line but not pull, then release the anchor chain. We thus flipped the anchor vertically and dropped the mooring chain it was hooked on. Simply pulling on the trip line didn't seem to work and i worried it might snap. Only relevant if you can lift the anchor off the bottom a little. There is more to the story, but that would require a cockpit chat to do justice:) Hi Gavin, Thanks for the field report: always the best. Please see the following post for another option to a trip line and buoy. In the Med, doing as you described to free your anchor is quite common and there are gadgets that make this quite easy. This is because Med-mooring frequently gets chains crossed and one is often pulling someone else’s chain up with your anchor. I am surprised that pulling on the end of the trip line did not release the anchor. I suspect that lifting the chain as you described got the tripline clear so it could do its job. Your worry about breaking the trip line is one I share. Three strand nylon is actually very strong, but I have also considered that this might be an area where high modulus line might be the best choice: small diameter for ease of use and storing and very strong. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Hi all, The following describes an alternative to a tripline and anchor buoy. Alchemy anchor float I generally abhor anchor buoys/trip lines (unsafe and un-neighborly) and feel that getting one’s anchor trapped on the bottom is partly technique, but mostly bad luck. (Part of the technique element is to always initially use plenty of scope so the anchor sets with a minimum of dragging around the anchorage before getting a stick: dragging an anchor around hoping it finds a stick is a recipe for a fouled anchor). I use trip lines only when I know of reports of a foul bottom, and (hopefully) a night with steady wind direction and an uncrowded anchorage: rarely in other words. That said, I also wished for a plan for when the anchor does become stuck and there is no trip line. In friendly waters I usually dove on the anchor and realized that it was a regular occurrence that all I saw was chain: the anchor was buried. Recovery is dependent on getting to the end of the anchor, attaching a line and pulling the anchor out backwards. It is also possible the anchor is tangled in a stump or some discarded appliance and getting at the end of the anchor could be difficult or take time. In warmer waters, I would be doing this free diving and only had seconds to attach the trip line, so I wished to make the finding and attaching quick and easy. Even if I put on a tank, and dive gear (if quite deep) I would want it easy to attach the trip line. To get a line attached to the end of the anchor quickly, I attached a shackle on the end of my anchor to which I tied 6-8 feet of nylon 3 strand with an eye on the end and a brightly colored small commercial fishnet float (shaped like a small football: the US game). The float “floats” the eye high above the anchor and accessible and easy to find. In clear water, I can often see the float (bright orange) from on deck if not too deep. If the anchor is fouled, it is far more likely and easier just to dive to the float and attach a spring-loaded shackle/carabiner with a line taken back to the boat. Then from deck it is easy to pull the anchor up backwards. The 6-8 foot line serves a secondary purpose when stowing the anchor of always being there to tie the anchor off on the roller. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Note: With effort, I have found that most anchor foulings get free with some creative boat maneuvering. First, I let out lots of scope while moving away from the anchor in the opposite direction from initial set and slowly attempt pull it free. Next, I might try a short scope, attach a stout snubber (here you do not want stretch, but you do not want to load up the windlass) and then power in various directions taking up slack as it occurs. Pay attention as it is not likely to make things worse, but certainly possible. Our experience matches Dick's about some careful and creative manoeuvring to free chain. Now that we are in the Mediterranean, my Christmas present to my wife, Norma, will be a Coastline Trip Hook. If the anchor has caught on another boat's anchor chain, the Trip Hook can be lowered to catch on the other's chain and held while the anchor is lowered and freed. The hook is then tripped and freed, with the other's chain dropping back to the seabed. Norma will be very pleased by my thoughtfulness and consideration, especially as I will splice on the necessary lines myself. My first foray into a forum. Just found all this in my junkmail:) Interesting reading. Not sure how well my comments or experience fit into these discussions? I have seen those coastline trip hooks and the video demonstration of their use at a boat show. In fact, we tried something similar at first when fouled on the giant (8 inch diameter) mooring chain recently. Some of the "more to the story" to which I alluded, is that a 150 steel fishing boat appeared in the harbour at 0800 and made it known that it moored itself in the entirety of the middle of the harbour using four chains, one to each quarter, and one of which our anchor had hooked:) They spoke only Spanish and us only English/French:) They actually used a crane and hook from their bow to do as the coastline hook video demonstrates. But with a light wind pushing us sideways, our anchor just slid along their mooring chain as they lifted and before I could drop our anchor free (as would have happened in the boat show video had the bow of the boat shifted sideways). And their hook slid along their mooring chain also making the lifting point elsewhere than ideal. I find myself picturing all sorts of variations on water clarity and depth and wind in comparison with the demo video. Indeed, my mind occupies itself for hours with the potential ways a scenario can play out other then the one which I have planned:) Their crane/hook lift did work to show how our trip line had also become fouled around the chain explaining why it had not worked, and then allowing us to clear it such that it did work as described. I guess it depends on the windlass, but ours would, I think, lift a neighbor's anchor chain to the surface without difficulty such that a quick use of the Coastline trip hook might actually work. However, we might dislodge their anchor and cause another whole level of interesting consequences:) I have "med moored" many times but as yet never with company and so I foresee much further learning in my future as we work south from A Coruna and consider turning left at the bottom of Portugal. So far, our cruising grounds have left us with virtually no company in anchorages. And in spite of rigging up a wide assortment of mostly successful anchoring scenarios using my two bow anchors and various shore lines, I still strongly favour my big primary anchor (without trip line) dug in well with 360 degrees to swing. Right or wrong, I sleep better that way and enjoyed watching the s/v Panope videos of resetting. PS: I am enjoying S/V Alchemy notes on Spanish Rias courtesy of our mutual friends Jonathon and Nina of Blue Hour:) Gavin
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Dick
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 966,
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+x+x+x+x+x+x+x+xHmmm... Do you use a buoy every time you anchor Phil? I hate the things - especially in a crowded anchorage... When you launch it, how much scope do you put out - the right amount based on how deep you are - or just throw the whole lot over with the anchor? Ever got it tangled in the prop?? Your analysis is spot on though - waaay cheaper than this gizmo. BUT - it's a pretty cool gizmo! and it's always deployed and since with probably $3500 invested in the anchor and rode, a reasonable insurance premium... No we only use a trip line buoy when we know there is a risk of foul ground ... and now that we are avoiding rock ... BTW you can get the scope on the trip line to match the depth of water and adjust for tide by having the line from the anchor go through a block on the underside of the buoy and a small dive weight attached to the end of the line. I have gone back and forth with using, or not using, the trip line for a few years. Initially i loved it, mostly for knowing where my anchor was and a visual on my potential swing diameter, or for the quick reference to be sure not dragging when on shore looking out. Then i hated it for the added complexity during anchor retrieval and risk of it fouling the prop. My wife always hated it. Recently it really saved us when our Spade fouled on a giant mooring chain. But i must say, it's the little things in these forums that i love reading and the tip to put a block and weight on the trip line/buoy to get the scope right... love it. Thanks! I will be doing that whenever i use it next. Even when i use the same buoy to mark our lobster pot:) Regarding trip line use for fouled anchor, having now used it for the first time I think of it differently then before i used it. Perhaps i was just uninformed, but i thought the idea was to pull on the head of the anchor. In our case, it actually worked much better to lift the anchor with our windlass some, then snug the trip line but not pull, then release the anchor chain. We thus flipped the anchor vertically and dropped the mooring chain it was hooked on. Simply pulling on the trip line didn't seem to work and i worried it might snap. Only relevant if you can lift the anchor off the bottom a little. There is more to the story, but that would require a cockpit chat to do justice:) Hi Gavin, Thanks for the field report: always the best. Please see the following post for another option to a trip line and buoy. In the Med, doing as you described to free your anchor is quite common and there are gadgets that make this quite easy. This is because Med-mooring frequently gets chains crossed and one is often pulling someone else’s chain up with your anchor. I am surprised that pulling on the end of the trip line did not release the anchor. I suspect that lifting the chain as you described got the tripline clear so it could do its job. Your worry about breaking the trip line is one I share. Three strand nylon is actually very strong, but I have also considered that this might be an area where high modulus line might be the best choice: small diameter for ease of use and storing and very strong. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Hi all, The following describes an alternative to a tripline and anchor buoy. Alchemy anchor float I generally abhor anchor buoys/trip lines (unsafe and un-neighborly) and feel that getting one’s anchor trapped on the bottom is partly technique, but mostly bad luck. (Part of the technique element is to always initially use plenty of scope so the anchor sets with a minimum of dragging around the anchorage before getting a stick: dragging an anchor around hoping it finds a stick is a recipe for a fouled anchor). I use trip lines only when I know of reports of a foul bottom, and (hopefully) a night with steady wind direction and an uncrowded anchorage: rarely in other words. That said, I also wished for a plan for when the anchor does become stuck and there is no trip line. In friendly waters I usually dove on the anchor and realized that it was a regular occurrence that all I saw was chain: the anchor was buried. Recovery is dependent on getting to the end of the anchor, attaching a line and pulling the anchor out backwards. It is also possible the anchor is tangled in a stump or some discarded appliance and getting at the end of the anchor could be difficult or take time. In warmer waters, I would be doing this free diving and only had seconds to attach the trip line, so I wished to make the finding and attaching quick and easy. Even if I put on a tank, and dive gear (if quite deep) I would want it easy to attach the trip line. To get a line attached to the end of the anchor quickly, I attached a shackle on the end of my anchor to which I tied 6-8 feet of nylon 3 strand with an eye on the end and a brightly colored small commercial fishnet float (shaped like a small football: the US game). The float “floats” the eye high above the anchor and accessible and easy to find. In clear water, I can often see the float (bright orange) from on deck if not too deep. If the anchor is fouled, it is far more likely and easier just to dive to the float and attach a spring-loaded shackle/carabiner with a line taken back to the boat. Then from deck it is easy to pull the anchor up backwards. The 6-8 foot line serves a secondary purpose when stowing the anchor of always being there to tie the anchor off on the roller. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy Note: With effort, I have found that most anchor foulings get free with some creative boat maneuvering. First, I let out lots of scope while moving away from the anchor in the opposite direction from initial set and slowly attempt pull it free. Next, I might try a short scope, attach a stout snubber (here you do not want stretch, but you do not want to load up the windlass) and then power in various directions taking up slack as it occurs. Pay attention as it is not likely to make things worse, but certainly possible. Our experience matches Dick's about some careful and creative manoeuvring to free chain. Now that we are in the Mediterranean, my Christmas present to my wife, Norma, will be a Coastline Trip Hook. If the anchor has caught on another boat's anchor chain, the Trip Hook can be lowered to catch on the other's chain and held while the anchor is lowered and freed. The hook is then tripped and freed, with the other's chain dropping back to the seabed. Norma will be very pleased by my thoughtfulness and consideration, especially as I will splice on the necessary lines myself. My first foray into a forum. Just found all this in my junkmail:) Interesting reading. Not sure how well my comments or experience fit into these discussions? I have seen those coastline trip hooks and the video demonstration of their use at a boat show. In fact, we tried something similar at first when fouled on the giant (8 inch diameter) mooring chain recently. Some of the "more to the story" to which I alluded, is that a 150 steel fishing boat appeared in the harbour at 0800 and made it known that it moored itself in the entirety of the middle of the harbour using four chains, one to each quarter, and one of which our anchor had hooked:) They spoke only Spanish and us only English/French:) They actually used a crane and hook from their bow to do as the coastline hook video demonstrates. But with a light wind pushing us sideways, our anchor just slid along their mooring chain as they lifted and before I could drop our anchor free (as would have happened in the boat show video had the bow of the boat shifted sideways). And their hook slid along their mooring chain also making the lifting point elsewhere than ideal. I find myself picturing all sorts of variations on water clarity and depth and wind in comparison with the demo video. Indeed, my mind occupies itself for hours with the potential ways a scenario can play out other then the one which I have planned:) Their crane/hook lift did work to show how our trip line had also become fouled around the chain explaining why it had not worked, and then allowing us to clear it such that it did work as described. I guess it depends on the windlass, but ours would, I think, lift a neighbor's anchor chain to the surface without difficulty such that a quick use of the Coastline trip hook might actually work. However, we might dislodge their anchor and cause another whole level of interesting consequences:) I have "med moored" many times but as yet never with company and so I foresee much further learning in my future as we work south from A Coruna and consider turning left at the bottom of Portugal. So far, our cruising grounds have left us with virtually no company in anchorages. And in spite of rigging up a wide assortment of mostly successful anchoring scenarios using my two bow anchors and various shore lines, I still strongly favour my big primary anchor (without trip line) dug in well with 360 degrees to swing. Right or wrong, I sleep better that way and enjoyed watching the s/v Panope videos of resetting. PS: I am enjoying S/V Alchemy notes on Spanish Rias courtesy of our mutual friends Jonathon and Nina of Blue Hour:) Gavin Hi Gavin, Firstly, welcome to the Forum. Secondly, I would no worry overly about whether your comments or experience fits: just go for it. Next, glad you are benefitting from my harbor notes. I have been lucky enough to have been to many harbors and often have notes, so feel free to flag your cruising area and if I do have notes, you are welcome to them. Meeting cruisers such as you find on Blue Hour were a wonderful surprise we found out cruising. Lastly: Trip hooks of a homemade variety were kicking around the med when we were there. In our 5-6 years there I never “needed” one but once or twice would have liked to have one, but figured out work-arounds. Moving S is the right direction to go along that coast, which offers some great cruising in the towns along the way. As you move along and take a left, you will find more company in your anchorages. The Panope videos of anchor sets and anchor re-sets after wind/tidal shifts are one of the few tests of anchors that I have ever found convincing, even compelling. Especially when linked with supportive field and anecdotal reports from all quarters. And agree, lying to one big anchor works best by far for me also. Much easier and safer to deal with in a midnight fire drill, the size allows for safe anchoring well into gale conditions and if you have to bail on an anchorage, retrieving and securing one anchor and high-tailing to open water is far easier/safer. I sleep better as well. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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Gavin.French
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Group: Forum Members
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Dick, Thanks. My email is frenchgavin@hotmail.com. Would love any of your further notes:) We are heading south along Portugal and then undecided. Considering Greece or Caribbean over next year or so but likely med as my uk passport may stop working for easy Shengen access in a year or so? Probably spend dec and jan in Algarve. Interesting timing on your reply, I arrived Douro marina to find it very lively with ocean swell and forecasted 7 meter waves a day later. We moved up the river and found a shallow spot outside the channel right by downtown Porto and the port warehouses. Currently have my aluminum 140 spade one direction, steel 160 spade the other, joined together with 100 feet of chain each (using captive pin shackled Kong chain grabbers) , then fifty more feet of my primary chain up to snubber on a big swivel shackle. This has been an evolution, but i use it more and more now that we find ourselves in tight spots and i have the means to deploy it all and retrieve simplified to almost as quick as just the one. In spite of the set/reset videos, i like setting the spade and knowing it won't have to flip when we have wind and a tidal river alternating current. My fire drill departure plan would be to ditch it all with a big fender on the primary chain and come back for it, but so far has been ok. Gusting 30 but very docile compared with outer harbour where marina is. Not surprisingly, no company in this anchorage. Always leaves me wondering if we are just too cheap to pay a Marina, or foolish. But if we do pay at a marina, it's shelter i usually seek so paying to bounce around worse than an anchorage seems crazy. G
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Dick
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Group: Forum Members
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+xDick, Thanks. My email is frenchgavin@hotmail.com. Would love any of your further notes:) We are heading south along Portugal and then undecided. Considering Greece or Caribbean over next year or so but likely med as my uk passport may stop working for easy Shengen access in a year or so? Probably spend dec and jan in Algarve. Interesting timing on your reply, I arrived Douro marina to find it very lively with ocean swell and forecasted 7 meter waves a day later. We moved up the river and found a shallow spot outside the channel right by downtown Porto and the port warehouses. Currently have my aluminum 140 spade one direction, steel 160 spade the other, joined together with 100 feet of chain each (using captive pin shackled Kong chain grabbers) , then fifty more feet of my primary chain up to snubber on a big swivel shackle. This has been an evolution, but i use it more and more now that we find ourselves in tight spots and i have the means to deploy it all and retrieve simplified to almost as quick as just the one. In spite of the set/reset videos, i like setting the spade and knowing it won't have to flip when we have wind and a tidal river alternating current. My fire drill departure plan would be to ditch it all with a big fender on the primary chain and come back for it, but so far has been ok. Gusting 30 but very docile compared with outer harbour where marina is. Not surprisingly, no company in this anchorage. Always leaves me wondering if we are just too cheap to pay a Marina, or foolish. But if we do pay at a marina, it's shelter i usually seek so paying to bounce around worse than an anchorage seems crazy. G Hi Gavin, We spent 5 yrs or so in the Med and loved our time there. More harbor notes by personal comm. And we had to deal w/ Schengen which was a pain but doable. Anchoring always presents amply opportunities for creativity and the one you describe sounds titillating in that respect. That coast is pretty amazing as to its capacity to generate waves/swell and to make harbor entrances “interesting”. As to anchoring vs marina: I am usually more comfortable, feel safer and sleep better at anchor (probably not so much the anchorage you are describing). When we go to marinas, as we have a lot where we have cruised, it is because there is either no anchorage (often the case in Northern Europe), or because we want easy access to the town and anyone who walks the wharfs/pontoons etc. as our interests are to meet people and get to know the towns/culture etc. My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
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Philip Heaton
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Group: Moderators
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Hi Dick and Gavin
We share your strong preference for anchoring and this year, our first in the Mediterranean in our own boat, we have been very pleased that the doomsters ("too expensive as there is nowhere to anchor") are wrong. We anchored extensively in the Balearics, Corsica and Italy as we headed south to Sicily. We left our boat for a month in July on the River Arno near Pisa at Euro 20 a night - it was a boat yard (Arnovecchio) with wooden jetties in the river and lazy-lines. It was a bit underwhelming in terms of facilities to say the least, but less than a quarter of the price of the marina at the entrance to R Arno, and a good bus service into Pisa and its rail connections and airport, and to the local town. After that we did not enter a marina until right in the south and that was only because we needed good wifi for an OCC General Committee meeting.
Prior to that we spent part of last year in the Algarve (we cannot comment on the western part of the Algarve as we arrived from Morocco and Spain) and there are good anchorages at Alvor, Ferragudo near Portimao and at Culatra. You can also anchor in the Rio Guadiana albeit that we did not.
We overwintered our boat 2018-19 in Albufeira at a very competitive rate (less than half of the cost in Lagos), and extremely safe and well protected. The downside is that the town is very much geared to tourists from Northern Europe and especially Brits so there is little that is "authentic" Portuguese. The liveaboard community is smaller than Lagos and much less active (this can be a good thing depending on what one is looking for).
You may already have downloaded the app Navily, but if not we have found it to be invaluable and as it gets bang up-to-date posts and is much more useful for finding anchorages than many of the printed cruising guides.
Minnie B, our boat, is overwintering in Licata, Sicily and so far this seems a good place - well sheltered (there were >50kts wind this week), great marina staff, good facilities, a supermarket on site, a very nice town and lovely, welcoming local people ... and not at all overwhelmed by Northern European tourists.
Our plans for 2020 are to cruise the Adriatic as we might get caught by Schengen, and we can always use Montenegro and Albania. As of now we are planning to return to Licata for next winter as it is neatly located mid-Mediterranean and there are lost of options, including Tunisia. We do not have up-to-date info on the eastern Med as we were last there 20 years ago on chartered yachts.
Gavin, do keep in touch and maybe next year we can meet up somewhere - there are two other OCC boats in Licata ....
(details of our trip are at www.sailblogs.com/member/philandnorma)
Dick, I too would be interested in any Mediterranean anchorages you can recommend, thank you.
Sorry about the thread drift ...
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