we've been anchoring/mooring from the WRONG end

[rtbates]

http://www.jordanseriesdrogue.com/D_14.htm

This makes so much sense, I just wonder why it took so long to come to light. Maybe it has something to do with sailors being so tradition bound. "It's always been done this way!"

Randy 25D Seraph #161

[Didereaux]

Go back a day or to and look at this thread/post:
"Excellent new article on storm mooring and anchoring.. Mooring stern to"

;)

[rtbates]

I missed it as I was out SAILING!!!

Did it reference the same article?

randy 25D Seraph #161

[Didereaux]

LOL Randy, you've caught my oldtimerz disease!
(the link http://www.jordanseriesdrogue.com/D_14.htm)

Quoted from that previous thread...
" know Seraph yaws at anchor and I have used an anchor sail to prevent that from happening. Anchoring by the stern is much easier. And for high winds/loads I'd run the lines thru the stern chocks, one turn around the stern cleats and on up to the bow cleats.
I'll definitely give it a try next time I anchor out. Another benefit would be that the dodger can now act as a wind scoop. Assuming I want/need all the air below I can get. In a blow I'd have to strike the dodger or at least open up the middle panel.
Thanks for the article
randy 25D Seraph #161"


;)

[rtbates]

Naw I was just checking to see if you're paying attention. Actually I visit a few other boards and sometime forget where I've posted what. That's my story and I'm sticking to it

[marvbrinn]

wouldnt the boat offer a nice inviting target for the seas , and fill up quickly? I dont know this doesnt sound right.

[rtbates]

Marvbrinn wrote,

wouldnt the boat offer a nice inviting target for the seas , and fill up quickly? I dont know this doesnt sound right.

You'd think so and apparently most others do too. BUT according to Mr. Jordon and his experience the answer is NO. Yes you'll get more water in the cockpit and need good hatch boards in a hurricane, BUT according to him you have a much better chance of staying in place. Seems it's the extreme veering and snatching to a stop and heeling that puts the biggest strain on the ground tackle.
I'm certainly going to give it a try. What I'll do is use my bow roller mounted bruce by simply walking the line aft after setting. If the wave action or whatever doesn't seem to be working I'll simply let go the stern and let Seraph go back to being hung by the bow.

I'll have secured the rode forward to the bow cleats and then run them thru the bow chock back to the stern. That way all I need do is release the stern.

[John D.]

n/m

[fwbouf]

Has anyone tried this concept.......what type/design bridle did you use?

[Dick Barthel]

I supposed in a hurricane you're more interested in saving the whole vessel, but wouldn't the CDs fairly large rudder be almost surely damaged with the trailing edge facing the weather/seas?

I've seen pictures of the 1938 hurricane that roared through Connecticut and LI and my guess is it wouldn't have mattered whether she was bow or stern moored or on the hard.

[Didereaux]

Dick,
Good point, I'll lash it hard amidships.

fwbouf,
I will try this out in the next few weeks, not in heavy weather though. ;) I have made up a bridle with eyesplices in both ends that will go over each primary winch. Then attach the anchor rode to the center of that. Although I have not completely given up making a shorter line with one eyesplice, taking a rolling hitch on the anchor rode. Eysplice to one winch, the bitter end of the anchor rode to the other. That would let me use the winch to haul the anchor.

We'll see.

If the stern approach works then the final will be a bridle all the way from two forward cleats(just got them the other day from Jamestown, and will oversize the backing) in a bight, with the anchor rode in the middle. Each side of the bridle will go aft from its cleat, then a turn or two around the winch out aft of the stern and back up the other side. This would be my first thought for a really heavy weather stern-to rig.

Like I said though, if some of us give this a really good try, then we can either lay the theory to rest once and for all for our type boats, or we will have gained a new trick.

[rtbates]

Lash the rudder amidships. I NEVER never let my rudder swing even in the slightest breeze or wave action or even at the dock. Who needs the additional wear that allowing the rudder to swing places on the bearing areas.

As for a bridle. I run the bow anchor around to the stern. Run it thru the chock and cleat it off. I then take a piece of line (about 15' or so and attach it to the anchor line with a rolling hitch. I then run this line the other chock and tie it off to the other stern cleat. I then let the anchor line out till the stern sits square between the two lines. I tried this out this past weekend and it worked like a champ. Seraph sat dead downwind with hardly any movement. When the wind did shift she moved as a unit to the new heading. All the while the anchor line remained centered.

And the dodger makes a great wind scoop. Had to close her up around 2AM as it was getting a tad chilly. I think it got down to 65!

[M. R. Bober]

Coming up from below (into the cockpit) should be mighty interesting. Also I suspect the motion/pounding would be tough on the stomach.

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Annapolis (where gentlemen anchor to windward), MD

[Didereaux]

Randy,
Glad that an actual field trial worked. However, I have some concerns about using the stern cleats and chocks...even if they are strong enough.

In a heavy blow with some waves I am concerned that the lines running through aft chocks will hole the stern down. Given the tremendous forces involves if the anchor holds the stern wiil almost assuredly be pooped. Worse, with a CD-25 and that motor well even if not pooped over the transom, then most certainly a large volume of water at good pressure will be forced up into the moter well, flooding the motor(although in a blow that thing really should be stowed away in the locker. (been toying with building some sort of bolt on panel to block that hole on long trips, anyway.)

But if, as you did I run the lines around the outside of the shrouds and back into the bow chocks to the cleats, then theoretically the stern should be free to meet the waves and ride over them. That may well be the answer. Actually that is the proper sling set up for towing as well. Those bow cleats had better have some large heavy duty backing on them.

Yes, this may prove fruitful. heh thanks again for the field report, saves each of us from perhaps repeating and learning less.

g'Luk