anchoring in a river with current and wind

[Pembquist]

I'm on the Columbia River and have been trying out anchoring my CD 28. I am having difficulty. What happens is that with the wind coming up river and the current going down the boat wants to sail all over the place. I haven't quite figured out what is going on but it seems to like to have the rode go back from the bow towards the stern sort of sailing across or slightly up stream. Then, something will change and it will perform a kind of orbit over the rode as if it wants to wrap its keel up. I thought of trailing a droque or bucket from the stern but that would just put more load on the anchor etc. Do I just use 2 anchors? One from the stern and one from the bow? The current is a steady 2.5-3 knots and the wind is about 8-10 mph. I feel like this is a little basic so it is embarrassing.

The other thing I experience is that the boat really loves to turn downwind when I am trying to get out of the Marina. The rudder doesn't bite when backing up unless you have a fair bit of speed so I sometimes will back out and get swung down wind pointed away from the exit and there is not enough space to get the boat turned into the wind. While shots of hefty forward throttle will spin it with the rudder hard over the same does not happen in reverse and the boat swings back down wind before I can back the boat enough to give it another shot forward. I assume this is normal given the hull/keel shape. Has anyone tried a riding sail or have any tips? (Nowadays I use a spring line from the downwind stern to pull the bow around, so the problem is more if I miss my approach to my slip when I come back. I cannot imagine being able to do a mediterranean mooring.

[mgphl52]

When backing KAYLA out of her slip (southerly). I frequently have a westerly wind that wants to go opposite of my 'desires'... Usually I do do whatever it takes to make sure my bowsprit and anchors clear the pilings and usually end up pointing east instead of west. Once clear from the pilings, I just do a hard starboard helm and make a 180 to get back to my desired west-south-west course.

When anchoring in a river with current opposed to the wind, deploying a stern anchor has been my only solution.