Where is ORION?

[Jim Walsh]

Steve is correct. I'm in 17 feet of water and I've got 80 feet of 5/16 chain out. That's just shy of 5 to 1.

[swhfire21]

Never realized that. I've never seen chain rodes in use down here in south jersey.

[Jim Walsh]

Never realized that. I've never seen chain rodes in use down here in south jersey.

Here you see nothing but. Lots of coral. Back home in New England it allows you to get a good nights sleep.
Even if you just occasionally spend a night out in a protected anchorage you should have a reasonable length of chain to protect your ground tackle from underwater obstructions. Doesn't take much to chafe through nylon line.

[Jim Walsh]

Just forward of the Beneteau from Singapore which is anchored off my starboard is a Cape Dory 25! It is the only one I've seen here, though several people have come by to compliment me and recognized ORION as a Cape Dory. It has no sails rigged and thus looks a bit forlorn but it appears to be in overall good condition.

[swhfire21]

Jim,

Thanks for anchor info. Typical set up in this area is 10 - 20 ft of chain on anchor then a rope rode. Our bay bottoms are pretty much black mud and sometime sand. Rock and coral are basically nonexistent. So are "anchorages" for that matter, boating is a day trip thing here except for the very few of us that occasionally anchor out in the bay in nice weather.

Enjoy the balance of your journey and take care,

[Neil Gordon]

Steve is correct. I'm in 17 feet of water and I've got 80 feet of 5/16 chain out. That's just shy of 5 to 1.

Plus the free board; don't forget the free board!!!

[Neil Gordon]

Typical set up in this area is 10 - 20 ft of chain on anchor then a rope rode. ... boating is a day trip thing here except for the very few of us that occasionally anchor out in the bay in nice weather.

Sure, except for the part where you might have an emergency and need to drop the hook.

[swhfire21]

Neil,

Not sure I follow. Most serious boaters here have anchors, but choose to either boat from their backyard docks on saltwater lagoons or the few marinas available. 99.99% of boating here consists of fishing and day tripping using motor boats with sailboats being very rare because the bays are relatively small, shallow, have few "destinations" and are connected to the ocean by less then friendly inlets (the CD26 works well in these shallow bays). Anchoring is primarily a fishing tactic here.

I personally carry two anchors; a delta as my primary (kept on deck) and a heavier Danforth on a heavier rope road. Both are on about 20 ft of chain

[Jim Walsh]

Steve is correct. I'm in 17 feet of water and I've got 80 feet of 5/16 chain out. That's just shy of 5 to 1.

Plus the free board; don't forget the free board!!!

That's 80 feet in the water I already did the freeboard calculation to save my response from being someone else's math problem. I get your point though, there are those who fail to take their freeboard into consideration.

[Jim Walsh]

This photo was taken June 2nd. The "Yvestla" was bearing down on me. I'd been watching her on AIS. She was doing 13+ knots and I was doing about 4. When she was still 2+ miles off I could clearly see she was not bearing away from me. I hailed her on 16. No response. I called her bridge directly via AIS. No response. After a couple minutes I tried again. Finally someone replied, mostly unintelligible. I gave them my current range and bearing, explained I was a small sailing vessel and asked if they intended to take evasive action or should I. A further unintelligible reply was noted. I figured I'd give them 60 seconds before I started my engine and prayers. She almost imperceptibly started to alter her course the merest fraction of a degree so I held steady. She passed me by a couple hundred yards. I snapped this photo but just like the rear view mirrors on your car "objects are closer than they appear".

[Steve Laume]

I would have bared off or tacked for that one. They are always much faster than you think they are. I like to look at the stern of big ships. Steve.

[Jim Walsh]

I was at a 90 degree angle to their course already. My fear was to confuse them by altering course after contacting them. Had they gotten any closer before I could see they were altering course I'd have started the engine to scoot along a little faster.

[Astronomertoo]

Never realized that. I've never seen chain rodes in use down here in south jersey.

Here you see nothing but. Lots of coral. Back home in New England it allows you to get a good nights sleep.
Even if you just occasionally spend a night out in a protected anchorage you should have a reasonable length of chain to protect your ground tackle from underwater obstructions. Doesn't take much to chafe through nylon line.

Ditto in the Florida Keys with the sharper corals, and elsewhere around Florida,even in the estuaries where there are oyster shells. Our 27 ft was easier to use with our
22 Bruce with 33 ft of 5/16 HT chain, followed by 200 ft 5/8 3-strand twisted nylon. The catenary in less than 15 ft of water made it easy to stay close to the anchor in an open anchorage. Our stern mounted Danforth 13S with 10 ft of 1/4 chain hardly ever got used as the bow rig was a good, easy, and safe habit. We always slept well, and if a tough thunderstorm came up all we had to do was let out some rode. Whenever we anchored around coral or rocks, we always snorkeled down to make sure the anchor was well set, and not stuck in a bad spot that would cause us problems later. Obviously there are many times we set back further on the rope.

[Jim Walsh]

My son arrived yesterday to spend a week aboard with the old man. I had put off visiting Hamilton until he arrived. This morning we took the high speed ferry to the Royal Naval Dockyard, took a little look around, had lunch, and took another high speed ferry to the downtown Hamilton waterfront. We discovered that the Portugese tall ship "Sagres" was in port and took a tour. It's immaculate and very impressive.
We walked the waterfront past all the expensive shops to the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. I'd recommend it to anyone. A beautiful modern building housing an impressive collection and displays with interactive opportunities perfect for children of all ages.
We then hopped a bus to the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo. Once again I'd recommend it to anyone visiting the island. You can easily spend a couple hours touring the facility.
Finally it was another bus ride back to St. George's and ORION for a well deserved swim and some dinner. A sunny, humid day today so swimming is mandatory. Life is tough sometimes.

[Sea Hunt Video]

Jim:

As I am sure you know, your son arrived in time to spend Father's Day with his "old man".

You are very fortunate.