chain starts to pull straight off the bow toward the anchor.
A straight chain indicates a “set” anchor!
NEVER pull on the chain for more than five seconds, and never at any engine
RPM other than idle! Putting the boat’s weight plus its horsepower on the chain
forcefully even at idle will bend the anchor and/or damage the mooring gear!
If while checking the set, the chain rumbles and clunks, and seems to release in bursts, it
means you're anchoring on a rocky bottom and the anchor is not holding. Be patient: it may not set on
the first try, and you'll have to repeat the process sometimes to get a good “set”.
3B4: Shore Lines
When a shore line is required, anchors are set 75 - 100 feet from shore, with the boat backing
toward shore during anchor-setting. The stern line is put around a tree, and brought back to the boat.
During this process, be sure to keep clear of rocks near the shore, and allow for our Northwest tides,
occasionally twelve feet, and sometimes 20 feet when further north! Check the present tide, and high
and low tides before beginning anchoring
: No sense anchoring in 15 feet of water if you're at the "top"
of a 15 foot tide!
To get to the shore, you will need to have a dinghy down, and then have your mate keep the
boat's stern toward shore with short bursts of reverse gear. Sometimes a helpful boater already
anchored will help you by taking your line to shore for you with his dinghy, a neat "good deed" that you
might reciprocate. We've met some nice boaters this way!
The shore line is in the lazarette,
and is long enough to usually allow taking it to a tree, around
it, and back to the boat so you don't have to go ashore to untie when leaving. With a crew member
keeping the boat in position, take the dinghy to shore pulling the end of the shore line with you. Pass it
around a tree, and pull it back to the boat if you can, since then to get away in the morning all you have
to do is release the bitter end from the boat, and pull it aboard. Pull the line tight, as long as you've got
over 100' total of line out: there is plenty of sag/stretch, and we want to keep the boat in its area! If
necessary, put a crab pot float or fender on the line to warn others it’s there!
Here is a sketch of a properly anchored boat with a shore line (In this drawing, S=Scope, which
should be at least 4 x DL, the Depth at Low Tide):
(See next page)
Section 3B: Shore Line Suggestions 3.5
