Anchorage choice when a blow is coming
I wrote this for hurricane anchorage choice, but I believe it might be of interest to those who head to areas well away from their home cruising grounds. We have regularly, not often, but often enough, received an ominous warning a few days out that a blow was coming our way: perhaps lasting a few days. Marinas are often not close by and may not be the best choice as transient dockage is often more exposed to the winds and to the waves that develop. I am much more inclined to head for a good safe anchorage. Transient moorings are an exercise in luck as one has little or no idea of the mooring’s design or maintenance
I wrote this in response to a question on another venue where the question was what to do if out cruising, well away from your home cruising grounds, and a hurricane takes aim at you:
There is a natural tendency to head for a nice small well protected anchorage. My take is that they can be quite popular and often we have needed to travel a day or two to get to a “safe” spot and I would hate to get somewhere only to find there is no-room-at-the-inn. And, I would hate to get all settled and have some late-comers shoe-horn their way in in ways likely dangerous to already anchored vessels. Small anchorages, with their proximity to the shoreline, often make for gusty conditions where wind directions ca shift dramatically. And, finally, if things do go pear shaped, large anchorages allow time and room for responding and remedying the situation. I look for large anchorages where you are likely to be on your own or with just a few boats and which allow for lots of scope. Once your ground tackle is decided, scope is THE most important factor in keeping your boat firmly attached to the seabed.
Anchoring near one shore line, but not too near, is usually preferable depending on the forecast and a second anchor might be considered, especially if you are leaving the boat on its own and/or your bower not up to being on its own. (I espouse one’s everyday anchor be one’s storm anchor, so it alone might be the best choice: dual anchors have their down sides). (As to leaving the boat, my wife said to me: We have 3 children and the boat is insured: we are ALL going to a motel. Of the 2 other boats in the anchorage (see below), both owners stayed on board and one was in critical condition the next morning and needed evacuation to a hospital.)
If leaving the boat, it might help to be thinking that you are making a mooring rather than anchoring the boat. Friends who have stayed aboard had an extra anchor ready to go by just cutting a few restraining lines. In addition, he wore a wet suit for its flotation and for the warmth and for the padding it provided, especially for his head. When out of the cabin he wore a snorkel and mask.
We weathered a major hurricane in Onset in a very large anchoring field of medium shallow depths and mud. There were 3 of us anchored and in the corner, a large mooring field and a large marina. We “divvied” up the anchorage and all boats could use pretty much as much rode as they wished. All anchored boats did fine while the mooring field and marina were destroyed.
Another time, a hurricane taking aim, we traveled a couple of days to what looked like a nice large anchorage in Newfoundland. It was perfect for anchoring, but there were brand new high-sided wharfs just built for the fishing fleet where we could tie up between them and were exquisitely safe for what turned out to be a lot of wind, but not a hurricane.
I can’t think of any mooring I would pick up that was not my own unless absolutely no other option existed. One’s on-board ground tackle options should always be far more effective at keeping you attached to the seabed than the vast majority of moorings.
I would try to find a spot with plenty of beaches around. The above-mentioned mooring field was destroyed, but the vast majority of the boats looked to only have suffered cosmetic damage as the bounced their way onto the sand with the surge.
Get local knowledge where possible: we were in St. Johns, NFL, when a hurricane started moving our way. We considered staying put on the wall, but this was advised against and perhaps the harbor authority would have asked us to leave. Apparently, the harbor can generate a really violent boat movement in smaller vessels from the swell coming into the entrance that can and does do a great deal of damage.
Random thoughts, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
Ps. If I could indulge a rant: when last I was in Long Island Sound (25+ years ago) some of these large shallow anchorages were littered with private day moorings. These were to ensure that a boat out for an afternoon did not have to anchor and that they would have a “place” to park their boat for swimming and recreation. These moorings were completely unregulated and often just a float (labeled with “Private and the boat’s name) attached to a cinder block. Since unregulated and worth nothing, they were often just abandoned. The result was a ruined anchoring field full of hidden and not so hidden dangers to an anchoring boat.