Re: [PUP] Anchoring experience, building confidence!
-----Original Message-----
From: "Scott E. Bulger" scottebulger@gmail.com
Sent: Feb 3, 2008 5:48 AM
To: 'Passagemaking Under Power List' passagemaking-under-power@lists.samurai.com
Subject: [PUP] Anchoring experience, building confidence!
What I wanted to share was an experience we had coming down to Acapulco.
There was an anchorage, Caleta de Compos, where we tucked behind some rocks
and secured a really nice location. The waves were predictable, wrapping
around the rocks, into the cove and onto the beach. I'd guess we were maybe
300 yards from the shoreline and 100 yards to the rocks. Oh, note: It's
really, really hard to judge distance on the water. Over and over I've been
shocked just how much room there is between boats when I get on the dingy
and motor away from Alanui. On the boat it looks like 50' to the other
boat, but once away from the boat the distance becomes 300'. I guess in
time I'll develop that skill to estimate the distance. Anyway, what I found
very interesting was an occasional GOOD SIZE wave would wrap around the
rocks. You would feel the boat begin to pull against the anchor rode and
the bow would dip, then the whole boat would start to rise, perhaps 4 or 5
feet. As the wave rolled under the boat I'd look out the stern toward the
beach and watch the wave continue to pile up to the point it would foam on
top, then crash on the beach. I'd guess the wave was actually breaking
about 200 yards aft of Alanui. Well after a day and a night of this I
became reasonably comfortable that all was good and a "BIG ONE" wasn't going
to come around the corner and break on us.
REPLY:
Scott,
I have the same problem judging distance from our boat. I solved that by buying a handheld range finder. I have the Bushnell Range Finder. It is the size of a small set of binoculars and sells for less than $200. They are made for golfers and hunters. Simply look thru the view finder and push the button when the X is on whatever your target is and the range is immediately displayed. I bought mine at Sport Chalet but they are widely available. The only problem I have found is that it does not work well in fog. I assume the infrared beam it uses is confused by all the water droplets in the air in those conditions. I find it very comforting to know that those rocks that are surely 50 feet away are really 300 yards distant.
Stan Creighton
Pax Nautica
Selene 53
Ventura, CA
"... I solved that by buying a handheld range finder. I have the Bushnell
Range Finder...."
I always use the radar for this type of measuring. It's a bit of a pain
converting fractional nautical miles to feet .. but, calculators are good at
this kind of stuff. Normally I'm doing it to measure the distance to other
boats at anchor...
I'd be curious what distance others consider the "minimum" to another boat
when dropping anchor. Specifically, if staying overnight, with 250 feet of
rode out -- what is the closest you'd consider acceptable to another boat?
My personal minimum in this situation is around 300 feet, but I've noticed
that others seem to think much smaller distances are acceptable.
I like the idea of a range finder though...
-Ken Williams
Sans Souci, nordhavn68.com
Hi Scott,
Good to hear from you. We also have a Bushnell Range Finder on board. It's
also helpful to detect if you are drifting on your anchor by taking a read
off the shore. Keep us posted on your travels south.
best regards.,
Neil, Elaine and Cody
M/V Senjero
----- Original Message -----
From: catdoctor@earthlink.net
To: "Passagemaking Under Power List"
passagemaking-under-power@lists.samurai.com
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 3:16 PM
Subject: Re: [PUP] Anchoring experience, building confidence!
-----Original Message-----
From: "Scott E. Bulger" scottebulger@gmail.com
Sent: Feb 3, 2008 5:48 AM
To: 'Passagemaking Under Power List'
passagemaking-under-power@lists.samurai.com
Subject: [PUP] Anchoring experience, building confidence!
What I wanted to share was an experience we had coming down to Acapulco.
There was an anchorage, Caleta de Compos, where we tucked behind some
rocks
and secured a really nice location. The waves were predictable, wrapping
around the rocks, into the cove and onto the beach. I'd guess we were
maybe
300 yards from the shoreline and 100 yards to the rocks. Oh, note: It's
really, really hard to judge distance on the water. Over and over I've
been
shocked just how much room there is between boats when I get on the dingy
and motor away from Alanui. On the boat it looks like 50' to the other
boat, but once away from the boat the distance becomes 300'. I guess in
time I'll develop that skill to estimate the distance. Anyway, what I
found
very interesting was an occasional GOOD SIZE wave would wrap around the
rocks. You would feel the boat begin to pull against the anchor rode and
the bow would dip, then the whole boat would start to rise, perhaps 4 or 5
feet. As the wave rolled under the boat I'd look out the stern toward the
beach and watch the wave continue to pile up to the point it would foam on
top, then crash on the beach. I'd guess the wave was actually breaking
about 200 yards aft of Alanui. Well after a day and a night of this I
became reasonably comfortable that all was good and a "BIG ONE" wasn't
going
to come around the corner and break on us.
REPLY:
Scott,
I have the same problem judging distance from our boat. I solved that by
buying a handheld range finder. I have the Bushnell Range Finder. It is
the size of a small set of binoculars and sells for less than $200. They
are made for golfers and hunters. Simply look thru the view finder and
push the button when the X is on whatever your target is and the range is
immediately displayed. I bought mine at Sport Chalet but they are widely
available. The only problem I have found is that it does not work well in
fog. I assume the infrared beam it uses is confused by all the water
droplets in the air in those conditions. I find it very comforting to know
that those rocks that are surely 50 feet away are really 300 yards
distant.
Stan Creighton
Pax Nautica
Selene 53
Ventura, CA
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Ken wrote:
I like the idea of a range finder though...
So do I, and with a bit of Googling, I found one that looks perfectly
adequate for about $130.00 shipped.
The reviews indicate it has trouble with a golf flags at 150 yards,
but it should have no trouble with a shiny boat hull at 25!
Best,
Steve
Steve Dubnoff
1966 Willard Pilothouse
www.mvnereid.com
sdubnoff@circlesys.com
Scott,
We all seem to share the same experience with this... my solution was
to purchase a pair of Leica binoculars that had the range finder
function built in. Outstanding binoculars and a very good rangefinder.
Advantage is that you are always looking at things with binocs
anyway, and pushing the button lets you get range data as you scan
around (as long as the target is within about 600 yards or so).
John Marshall
Serendipity - N5520
On Feb 4, 2008, at 1:16 PM, catdoctor@earthlink.net wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: "Scott E. Bulger" scottebulger@gmail.com
Sent: Feb 3, 2008 5:48 AM
To: 'Passagemaking Under Power List' <passagemaking-under-power@lists.samurai.com
Subject: [PUP] Anchoring experience, building confidence!
What I wanted to share was an experience we had coming down to
Acapulco.
There was an anchorage, Caleta de Compos, where we tucked behind
some rocks
and secured a really nice location. The waves were predictable,
wrapping
around the rocks, into the cove and onto the beach. I'd guess we
were maybe
300 yards from the shoreline and 100 yards to the rocks. Oh,
note: It's
really, really hard to judge distance on the water. Over and over
I've been
shocked just how much room there is between boats when I get on the
dingy
and motor away from Alanui. On the boat it looks like 50' to the
other
boat, but once away from the boat the distance becomes 300'. I
guess in
time I'll develop that skill to estimate the distance. Anyway,
what I found
very interesting was an occasional GOOD SIZE wave would wrap around
the
rocks. You would feel the boat begin to pull against the anchor
rode and
the bow would dip, then the whole boat would start to rise, perhaps
4 or 5
feet. As the wave rolled under the boat I'd look out the stern
toward the
beach and watch the wave continue to pile up to the point it would
foam on
top, then crash on the beach. I'd guess the wave was actually
breaking
about 200 yards aft of Alanui. Well after a day and a night of
this I
became reasonably comfortable that all was good and a "BIG ONE"
wasn't going
to come around the corner and break on us.
REPLY:
Scott,
I have the same problem judging distance from our boat. I solved
that by buying a handheld range finder. I have the Bushnell Range
Finder. It is the size of a small set of binoculars and sells for
less than $200. They are made for golfers and hunters. Simply look
thru the view finder and push the button when the X is on whatever
your target is and the range is immediately displayed. I bought mine
at Sport Chalet but they are widely available. The only problem I
have found is that it does not work well in fog. I assume the
infrared beam it uses is confused by all the water droplets in the
air in those conditions. I find it very comforting to know that
those rocks that are surely 50 feet away are really 300 yards distant.
Stan Creighton
Pax Nautica
Selene 53
Ventura, CA
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Passagemaking Under Power and PUP are trademarks of Water World
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I would think that it is a bit more complex. Doesn't it call for
consideration of each boat's swinging circle? For example, if I had 250
ft. of rode out and someone were to drop 50 ft. ahead of me and 50 ft.
to starboard and also deploy 250 ft. rode, they would likely fetch up
about 70 ft. off my starboard quarter. Should this be a cause for
concern? Our swinging circles overlap, but we should stay clear of each
other unless we swing quite differently, as indeed we may if the boats
have substantially different underbodies, wind profiles or rode
composition. My point is that it's more complex than simply the length
of rode, but ordinarily doesn't require separation as great as the rode
length, much less more.
The technique I have used for years with my 34 ft. sailboat, and will
begin using this summer in my newly acquired trawler, makes use of the
alarm settings in my navigation software. I put an alarm circle on the
chart centered on my intended drop point with a radius equal to the sum
of my intended rode length plus boat length (This sometimes requires one
or two iterations of rode length to match the charted depth where the
center of the circle is indicated.). While attending to the indicated
swinging circle, I move the charted circle as far into a cove as I would
consider prudent for the conditions.
When I reach the anchorage and find other vessels already anchored or
moored there I steam around in my charted circle noting the positions of
the other vessels within the circle as I pass them. I then adjust the
location of my charted circle, proceed to it's center and drop (again,
after making any adjustments in circle radius required by depth at the
new center).
I have tried unsuccessfully to get the maker of my navigation software
to provide such a circle without the distracting alarm. I don't know of
any who do provide such a capability. I would also wish that it could be
specified by radius in feet, rather than diameter in nautical miles. I
have made up an anchoring table that makes the conversions for me in
conjunction with the rode length calculation based on charted depth.
Paul Konnersman
Marblehead, MA
Ken Williams wrote:
"... I solved that by buying a handheld range finder. I have the Bushnell
Range Finder...."
I always use the radar for this type of measuring. It's a bit of a pain
converting fractional nautical miles to feet .. but, calculators are good at
this kind of stuff. Normally I'm doing it to measure the distance to other
boats at anchor...
I'd be curious what distance others consider the "minimum" to another boat
when dropping anchor. Specifically, if staying overnight, with 250 feet of
rode out -- what is the closest you'd consider acceptable to another boat?
My personal minimum in this situation is around 300 feet, but I've noticed
that others seem to think much smaller distances are acceptable.
I like the idea of a range finder though...
-Ken Williams
Sans Souci, nordhavn68.com
http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/passagemaking-under-power
To unsubscribe send email to
passagemaking-under-power-request@lists.samurai.com with the word
UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message.
Passagemaking Under Power and PUP are trademarks of Water World Productions, formerly known as Trawler World Productions.