Bridle while Anchoring??

[Max Treece]

Do you use any kind of bridle arrangement when achoring? Does this keep the boat from swinging a larger angle while at anchor?

While chartering in the BVI, the outfitter recommended that we use an extra piece of line attached to the chain to bridle the anchor between the port and starboard cleats. When picking up a mooring ball for the night, they wanted us to loop line thru the mooring ball loop twice and the tie off the the cleat on the other side also forming a bridle as well. One of the boats in our charter did this and the line was cut by the mooring ball loop (which contained a hard plastic chaffing piece) and ended up being set adrift during the night. Not good for a 50 foot boat.

I would be interested in your thoughts about the benefit if any of hooking up the extra line to the anchor rode for an overnight stay.

Max Treece
CD25 "DAWN" #88



metreece@duke-energy.com

[Brian]

Do you use any kind of bridle arrangement when achoring? Does this keep the boat from swinging a larger angle while at anchor?

While chartering in the BVI, the outfitter recommended that we use an extra piece of line attached to the chain to bridle the anchor between the port and starboard cleats. When picking up a mooring ball for the night, they wanted us to loop line thru the mooring ball loop twice and the tie off the the cleat on the other side also forming a bridle as well. One of the boats in our charter did this and the line was cut by the mooring ball loop (which contained a hard plastic chaffing piece) and ended up being set adrift during the night. Not good for a 50 foot boat.

I would be interested in your thoughts about the benefit if any of hooking up the extra line to the anchor rode for an overnight stay.

Max Treece
CD25 "DAWN" #88

Max,

Regarding the anchor chain, are you referring to using a snubber? Most of the charter boats in the BVI are equiped with an electric windlass and have chain for the entire scope. To take the stress off the mechanicals of the windlass, a hook on a short piece of snubber line is hooked into the chain just off the roler and cleated. The stress is now on the cleat where it should be.

The mooring ball is something else, but the charter companies will insist on using a snubber to secure the chain and to protect the equipment.

Brian

[matt cawthorne]

Max,
I have never found any advantage of using a bridle for reducing sailing at anchor. I have done extensive study of shock loading on the anchor (Part of my masters) and there is plenty of good reason for using a bridle to reduce the chance of having your anchor pop loose. An all chain rode will help keep the anchor from pulling upward, and has good energy absorbtion capability while the rode has a reasonable amount of curvature. The down side to an all chain rode is that when you get a really big gust and the boat accelerates backwards and as the chain begins to straighten out it begins to appear really stiff to the boat/anchor system. You can get a really big load spike, which can pop the anchor up. Adding the snubber adds significant flexibility to the system and limits large load spikes.

Matt



mcawthor@bellatlantic.net

[Tom G]

What did they have you do with the Bridle that was attached to the mooring? Did they not want you to use it? I have heard of running the rope though the loop of the bridle then to the cleats. Also using the bridle and a rope, join a storm . But never using a rope to the mooring ball and not using the bridle.

Do you use any kind of bridle arrangement when achoring? Does this keep the boat from swinging a larger angle while at anchor?

While chartering in the BVI, the outfitter recommended that we use an extra piece of line attached to the chain to bridle the anchor between the port and starboard cleats. When picking up a mooring ball for the night, they wanted us to loop line thru the mooring ball loop twice and the tie off the the cleat on the other side also forming a bridle as well. One of the boats in our charter did this and the line was cut by the mooring ball loop (which contained a hard plastic chaffing piece) and ended up being set adrift during the night. Not good for a 50 foot boat.

I would be interested in your thoughts about the benefit if any of hooking up the extra line to the anchor rode for an overnight stay.

Max Treece
CD25 "DAWN" #88

tgrant9008@aol.com

[Max Treece]

The Mooring balls in the BVI do not have a Bridle; only a single rope pennent with a loop spliced in the end. Most folks just pick up the line and throw the loop over a bow cleat and forget it. The charter company wanted us to use our own line off the boat and loop it thru the mooring ball loop twice and cleat our line on both sides of the bow on separate cleats. On our first pickup of a mooring ball we found the loop on the line from the mooring ball worn thru the loop in the end and only frayed ends left. We tied a bowline in the remaining line and then made a bridle to it from our boat. The folks collecting the fee at the ball later didn't like the way we did the hookup to the line but we had done as our charter company had instructed. The differences in opinion from the mooring fee folks and the charter folks caused to wonder if the arrangement was a good one as we could see sign of wear from the frayed used-to-be loop.

What did they have you do with the Bridle that was attached to the mooring? Did they not want you to use it? I have heard of running the rope though the loop of the bridle then to the cleats. Also using the bridle and a rope, join a storm . But never using a rope to the mooring ball and not using the bridle.

Do you use any kind of bridle arrangement when achoring? Does this keep the boat from swinging a larger angle while at anchor?

While chartering in the BVI, the outfitter recommended that we use an extra piece of line attached to the chain to bridle the anchor between the port and starboard cleats. When picking up a mooring ball for the night, they wanted us to loop line thru the mooring ball loop twice and the tie off the the cleat on the other side also forming a bridle as well. One of the boats in our charter did this and the line was cut by the mooring ball loop (which contained a hard plastic chaffing piece) and ended up being set adrift during the night. Not good for a 50 foot boat.

I would be interested in your thoughts about the benefit if any of hooking up the extra line to the anchor rode for an overnight stay.

Max Treece
CD25 "DAWN" #88

metreece@duke-energy.com

[Max Treece]

Do you use any kind of bridle arrangement when achoring? Does this keep the boat from swinging a larger angle while at anchor?

While chartering in the BVI, the outfitter recommended that we use an extra piece of line attached to the chain to bridle the anchor between the port and starboard cleats. When picking up a mooring ball for the night, they wanted us to loop line thru the mooring ball loop twice and the tie off the the cleat on the other side also forming a bridle as well. One of the boats in our charter did this and the line was cut by the mooring ball loop (which contained a hard plastic chaffing piece) and ended up being set adrift during the night. Not good for a 50 foot boat.

I would be interested in your thoughts about the benefit if any of hooking up the extra line to the anchor rode for an overnight stay.

Max Treece
CD25 "DAWN" #88

Max,

Regarding the anchor chain, are you referring to using a snubber? Most of the charter boats in the BVI are equiped with an electric windlass and have chain for the entire scope. To take the stress off the mechanicals of the windlass, a hook on a short piece of snubber line is hooked into the chain just off the roler and cleated. The stress is now on the cleat where it should be.

Yes, you are correct. It was a snubber and not a bridle on the anchor. Its main purposed was to releive stress on the electric windlass. However on my personal boat back home I do not have a windlass and was wondering about hooking up a snubber from the other side of the bow but only putting enough tension on the anchor rode to balance the load from both sides of the bow. My question on the post was whether this would cause less swing and sailing at anchor over just having a single anchor rode line attached to one side of the boat?

The mooring ball is something else, but the charter companies will insist on using a snubber to secure the chain and to protect the equipment.

Brian

metreece@duke-energy.com

[Tom G]

I agree with the mooring fee people. I would have tied my own line to the mooring ball,if there was dought about the the pennent. Have the mooring pennent tied on one cleat, and my line off the other cleat. But it's the charter company's boat, so you were wise to do it that way.

Tom
Ambuscade

The Mooring balls in the BVI do not have a Bridle; only a single rope pennent with a loop spliced in the end. Most folks just pick up the line and throw the loop over a bow cleat and forget it. The charter company wanted us to use our own line off the boat and loop it thru the mooring ball loop twice and cleat our line on both sides of the bow on separate cleats. On our first pickup of a mooring ball we found the loop on the line from the mooring ball worn thru the loop in the end and only frayed ends left. We tied a bowline in the remaining line and then made a bridle to it from our boat. The folks collecting the fee at the ball later didn't like the way we did the hookup to the line but we had done as our charter company had instructed. The differences in opinion from the mooring fee folks and the charter folks caused to wonder if the arrangement was a good one as we could see sign of wear from the frayed used-to-be loop.

What did they have you do with the Bridle that was attached to the mooring? Did they not want you to use it? I have heard of running the rope though the loop of the bridle then to the cleats. Also using the bridle and a rope, join a storm . But never using a rope to the mooring ball and not using the bridle.

Do you use any kind of bridle arrangement when achoring? Does this keep the boat from swinging a larger angle while at anchor?

While chartering in the BVI, the outfitter recommended that we use an extra piece of line attached to the chain to bridle the anchor between the port and starboard cleats. When picking up a mooring ball for the night, they wanted us to loop line thru the mooring ball loop twice and the tie off the the cleat on the other side also forming a bridle as well. One of the boats in our charter did this and the line was cut by the mooring ball loop (which contained a hard plastic chaffing piece) and ended up being set adrift during the night. Not good for a 50 foot boat.

I would be interested in your thoughts about the benefit if any of hooking up the extra line to the anchor rode for an overnight stay.

Max Treece
CD25 "DAWN" #88

tgrant9008@aol.com