Anchoring - Tips and Warnings for Small Boats
Interestingly, since my Shetland 570 day
and moving to a larger South 26 monohull, anchoring and up-anchoring got
much easier, it was the additional engine power. Now I have moved to the
BWSeaCat, with the anchor running from my port bow, I have found recovering
my anchor by hand very easy. I put that down to bow roller position and
helm position.
Anchoring is one of
the most important skills required by a boat angling skipper. At best it is
hazardous, at other times it is down right dangerous. I recon if that when
you are fishing and you are anxious about recovering
your anchor then you are spoiling your day. You could be fishing too
deep, in too much tide, too much sea, or with a dodgy motor. Therefore I would
recommend that all boat
fishing/skippering should start inshore, ‘safer’ and close, and then work
out. Most charter
skippers will tell you of their boating history, many were
dinghy owning sea-anglers in their time before becoming professional
boatmen.
Anchor types
There are many anchors
available and derivatives there of. Ploughs or
CQR’s are OK for sand and shingle type bottoms. Bruce Anchors are very good
as
are the newer Deltas
also
for sand, mud or shingle. I personally go for a cheapo Danforth (Cruising
Type)
as
it proves to be a good option in the Solent Area and I can store it well.
The Fisherman's Anchor is very popular too. 
They all stick on
rocky areas but one to play with is a grapnel type that can be bent out if
need be, of course a moderate sea could also do this. To understand the
different types of anchor available in Car Boot sales, Chandlers and on-line
try this link
http://www.jimmygreen.co.uk these people have always specialised in this
sort of thing.
Simple Anchoring
Rules for Small Boats
 | Check that you are
not anchoring in a busy shipping lane, on a yachting race marker (in their
turning point) or too close to a charter boat as you will be looking for
trouble to start with. |
 | DO NOT take up an
anchor mark that is within 400M of the Stern of another Angling Boat. This
is one of those unwritten laws, (etiquette even) as you will occupy the
area that is being fished, baited-up and attracting fish by and to the
anglers on the other boat. You will catch fish but you may also catch a
lot of abuse and threats until you move….be warned. Basically the sea is a
huge area and if you can’t find your own marks then you have a problem.
Never do the ‘well if he is fishing there it must be good’ as in many
cases the other boat may know less than you. |
 | Know the depth and
maximum tide strength. I would advise that you best start in 25’-30’ of
water with not more than 1knot of tide. Note that tide strength can be
checked by looking at buoys, pot markers or other anchored boats. |
 | Ensure the anchor
warp is not caught or twisted and that the trip is correctly tied. |
 | Set the boat just
off from beam on to the tide run, always being aware of what the wind will
do to your boat in the position that you choose to take up. If you are not
sure just stop and see what happens first. |
 | Another trick when
checking the amount of tide is to note how the tide is moving past
yachting or navigation buoys. Ideally you will be drifting back down the
tide up from the mark you want to fish over. |
 | Lower the anchor
and chain and control the rope, you should be ideally paying the rope out
up tide. If you chuck it over the side it could turn over on itself and
may need to be lifted again. |
 | If the wind is
stronger than the tide then reverse back across the tide. You may end up
beam on to the sea until the tide is stronger than the wind. There is no
precise science here as the tide and weather will be changing all day,
unless you are very lucky. |
 | Ideally though, you
should be settled back over your mark with the tide running away from the
stern. Now it is time to start fishing. |
 | Note if and when
you drop to the bottom you observe your weight moving up-tide you are
dragging your anchor. You may still have what appears to be some tide
running away from the stern, but if you wait until you ‘dig in’ then you
may be surprised at how much tide you have chosen to anchor up in. |
 | In the Solent
we often fish 3knts of tide with braid or wire main line and use 1.5lb –
2lb of lead to hold bottom. |
Pulling Anchor
This can be hard work
unless you move marks when the tide goes slack or you always chose to fish
in small tides and shallow water. For deep water and big tides you need a
winch or if very experienced use an Alderney Ring and net buoy. Changing
Marks during a tide is a necessity for me. I like to move around and try
other places using other methods using different tactics and trying to catch
different species. I also like to fish with ‘tide’ and on small boats we
just don’t fit winches, so what do we do? If you are with another Adult they
can haul in the anchor while the skipper moves the boat up the tide. As you
move over the anchor it should break free, and becomes light and then the
boat can be allowed to drift while the anchor is pulled in. This cannot be
done on your own or if fishing with others not capable of pulling the anchor
in.
This leads us to do
what many anglers do, particularly when fishing solo, and that is use a
method which some refer to as the Alderney Ring. This makes up-anchoring
quicker and more efficient but takes plenty of practice. Basically you drag
up the anchor with a buoy that slides down the rope, goes over the chain and
slides down to the bottom of the Anchor where the chain then (being heavier
than the anchor) stops the anchor sliding back down to the bottom. The
anchor is floated by the buoy and the anchor warp can be easily pulled in.
This allows us to change positions between 5 and 10 times a day, quickly and
without too much effort.
Pulling Anchor
- ‘Alderney’ Ring
In deep water and big
tides you are potentially starting the most dangerous manoeuvre of you
boating day out, so be warned, this is potentially very, very hazardous.
Always start and practice in small tides and shallow depths say 20’.
It is usual for the
skipper (person controlling the boat not the owner!!) to do all the Anchor
retrieval in this way, as he has full control of boat, anchor warp and
anchor for the whole time. A crew could pull it up once the Buoy is on the
anchor but like all these things good communications and call for a bit of
teamwork is required.
Dory type cathedral
Hulls have always suffered using this method of anchor retrieval due to the
Buoy getting stuck in the Bow. Cathedral Hulled boats require another bow
roller or an anchor eye, off set to the side where you intend to pull up the
anchor and observe the progress. Usually on the same side as the helm, so
the skipper can see what is happening. A lazy line tied to the ‘ring’ is
another option. I used this method successfully with my ‘dory’ (Wilson
Flyer), mind you when I was practicing I made a lazy line too long and with
of polypropylene rope managed to get it round the prop and that put me
‘Stern into the tide’, LUCKILY FOR ME IN COMPARATIVELY SHALLOW WATER AND A
SMALL TIDE.
Note exact details of how to do this is
not shown here. It is not a skill that can be transferred from a web page to
the helm of a boat. I recommend that this is taught and practiced with an
experienced skipper!
A Stuck fast anchor
Anchors can be ‘stuck
in’ for many reasons. It could be wedged under a cable (difficult to break
free from) or stuck on a line of pots. It could be stuck in a rocky reef, or
pulled very deep into a silt/muddy/clay bottom. When towing an anchor out
in shallow water with a muddy bottom you tend to pull the anchor in deeper!!
A ‘controlled drift’
which is a term often given to a boat dragging anchor, will normally result in a ‘stuck fast’ anchor as you drag into a
cable, rocky ledge or heap of rubbish. The reasons for dragging are normally
one of, or a combination of; too little rope, too light on the anchor or not
enough chain. If the Anchor setup is known to be correct, it is often a
stone stuck in the anchor flukes, preventing it from opening. Another reason
could be that the anchor is caught upside down in the chain, caused by not
lowering correctly.
A couple of tips when
trying to break a stuck anchor, but only if the sea and tide conditions
allow for it:
1. drive the boat
around the anchor.
2. Tighten up on the
anchor rope until the sea (waves) breaks the anchor out. I have snapped the
tines off a Danforth using this method, but I did recover the anchor. Note
when these Danforth anchors get damaged in this way they do not work
reliably enough to be your main anchor.
Here's a couple of bad early
experiences
My first small boat
was a 13’ Mayland with a Seagull OB on the back and at 17 years old could
only think about catching the fish rather than the safety aspect. My friend
Nick Sutcliffe and I got stuck on a cable in a big tide at East Lepe Buoy,
with the weather just about to ‘blow’. We were sat in that horrible oily
‘calm before the storm’ where the weather front was actually above us and we
could see a maelstrom on the sea down tide (we knew there were Cod around
too). We soon panicked after discovering that we could not pull the anchor
in by hand. I did not want to loose my new Bruce anchor so we tried our best
to recover it. We had no life jackets and just a cup of petrol in the tank.
Nick had the anchor half way up and the ‘lost’ cable was hanging from that!
I motored up the tide to assist the recovery but made the mistake of going
to help him after cutting the engine. He could not hold the increased weight
which meant the rope slipped through his hands, which started to burn, so he
let go and he temporarily got trapped against the cabin by the rope as it
went tight, then we swung round 180 degrees on the tide to rest back in our
starting position! We were bloody lucky not to turn over. I then started the
engine (10th pull), cut the rope and headed for home. It was
blowing hard as we ran up the beach!
Another story was from
one of my early ventures round the Needles Light. I was anchored up with my
brother, Brian, 6 miles South in my Wilson Flyer on a hot sunny ‘flat calm’.
The tide was going well and we were settled down and waiting for bites.
Suddenly ‘the tide’ appeared to increase by 3 or 4 times the strength and
all four lines were moving away very fast as we were fishing with all 4
reels on ‘ratchet’. We both thought ‘submarine’ but after looking up-tide we
could see a trawler heading for France. The trawler had either dragged up
our anchor or was trawling over our rope. Not willing to find out what would
happen next, I quickly cut the rope. This is when I learnt that a spare
anchor would have been useful! The trawler just carried on. I still believe
the skipper was asleep. We spent the next 3 hours drifting for Bass before
going in very early.
In both cases a sharp
knife (normal ‘to have’ for most fisherman/anglers) was very useful.
Connecting Rope
to Chain
The trick when using
the Alderney Ring method is to have the stainless ring slide to the bottom
of the anchor, as it will then be floated by the buoy. If it does not the
anchor may slide back down again. Therefore we need a small tidy way of
connecting chain to rope. The best way is to make an eye splice in the rope
and then use a small shackle to connect. This is also useful if you choose
to use a more sacrificial type anchor on a bit of really rough ground.

Prepare
end of rope as per Fig 2.

Fig. 4 shows the three colour coded
strands laid out with the gold strand under the blue and off to the bottom
and the white strand moved off to the top.
Fig. 5a.
shows the West Fid inserted into the lay of the rope (a screw driver will
do). The fid is hollow so that a strand can be led into it and fed through
the rope. When the fid is removed the strand should be snugly in place. it
is important not to pull the strand through each tuck, but to lead and feed
it through. This enables the twist of the fibres to remain as they should
and not disturbed as they would if each strand were pulled through during
the tucking operation. Fig. 5a shows the fid inserted into and under a blue
strand, opening up the strand to allow the blue strand to be led under and
tucked. Remove the fid and tighten up this strand by twisting the blue
strand as you gently pull it tight. Fig. 5b shows the gold strand being led
under the gold standing strand. We have discontinued showing the fid in use
to clarify how and where the strands are led through. Again, after removing
the fid, snug up the gold strand by twisting it In the direction of the lay
and gently pulling at the same time. We now have two of the three strands
tucked Into the standing part of the rope.
The most
difficult strand to work on the first set of tucks is the third, white
strand. Up to now, this whole exercise has been simple... it's even as
simple to complete if you just pay close attention to tucking in this third
strand properly. Fig. 5c shows the white strand ~ mg tucked under the white
standing strand after the loop has been turned over. Note that the unlayed
white strand is led under the standing part from right to left... this Is
Important'. If there is confusion now and you previous tucks, with the
third, do not look like the drawings, remove all of the strands and begin
again. Drawing 5:1 shows all three strands tucked In, ready to proceed with
the second set of tucks.
Not until you
can splice in the first set of tucks with perfection should you
attempt to do any additional splicing
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