Sailing off an anchor

Niki Perryman takes some of the angst out of sailing off an anchor with these commonsense tips.

While cruising Bass Strait in their Payne sloop, Cathy and Sean decide to visit a friend living on an island in the Furneaux Group. The anchorage closest to the friend’s cottage is too exposed for their liking, but since the forecast is good and the barometer steady, they work into the bay, find a space between the fishing boat moorings and set their hook. Before they dinghy ashore, Cathy notes that the sloop is lying to a gentle northerly.

When Sean checks on the boat mid-afternoon, the wind has swung to the southwest and is already pushing a brisk chop into the bay. Not wishing to spend a bouncy night on a lee shore, they decide to head for a more protected anchorage on the other side of the sound while there’s still daylight.

Back at the boat they hoist the dinghy aboard and get ready to up-anchor. A problem materialises: the motor won’t start. Sean investigates, but is none the wiser after half-an-hour of prodding in the engine compartment. If they don’t leave now, they’ll run out of light before reaching their destination. They nervously contemplate sailing off the anchor. How can they do it without hitting any of the moored fishing boats?

Discussion

When you’re in a tight anchorage, the two essential ingredients for a successful engineless manoeuvre are anticipation and teamwork. Since they plan to sail off the anchor under mainsail, Cathy and Sean first need to discuss which is the desirable tack to fall away on once the anchor is off the bottom. One tack will offer a clearer route than the other, giving the sloop more time to accelerate and gain steerageway before encountering any hazards.

Although the helmsman (Cathy) is ultimately responsible for sailing the boat onto the chosen tack, the bowman (Sean) can significantly help or hinder, depending on how he reacts. Similarly, in light to moderate breeze it’s possible for the helmsman to ease the bowman’s job of raising the anchor, by beating upwind towards it.

This is how it works

Sean starts to haul in the anchor. This creates momentum, which allows Cathy to steer onto one tack. The mainsail begins to draw and drives the boat slowly forward, which in turn slackens the rode, making it easier for Sean to pull in. As the boat sails away from the lie of the chain, rode tension increases and yanks the boat’s nose around into the wind. Sean rests briefly while Cathy tacks. Once the mainsail is drawing on the new tack, the rode-tension eases. Sean continues hauling, taking care to leave a little slack in the chain so the boat can sail.

Since the rode is marked at five-metre intervals and Sean has already checked to see what depth they are in, he is able to warn Cathy shortly before the anchor breaks out. It’s now up to Cathy to manoeuvre the boat onto the desirable tack as the final length of rode comes up.

Often, however, the action of breaking out the anchor jerks the boat head-to-wind, leaving it in irons and at the mercy of any stray gusts. With no steerage and no headsail, Cathy has little control over which tack the boat will end up on.

This is where pre-manoeuvre discussion really pays off. Since he’s already aware of the desirable tack to be on, Sean wastes no valuable time in appraising the situation and needs no instruction from Cathy. As he heaves the anchor off the bottom, he senses that his helmsman is having difficulties. Instead of winding the anchor all the way up to the bow-roller, he secures it once it is clear of the bottom, then runs aft and quickly hoists (or rolls out) the headsail.

Having fastened the halyard, he carries the headsail clew to the windward rail, so that Cathy can back it instantly by pulling on the windward sheet. (Alternatively, if the boat is truly head-to-wind, he should grab a handful of sail approximately one metre aft of the luff, and hold it as far out to “windward” as he can reach.) Once the bow is moving in the right direction, Cathy can control the headsail from the cockpit with the sheets. Sean now finishes tidying up the anchor at leisure.

Unexpected hazard

But what if an unexpected hazard materialises during the procedure, and Cathy decides that the chosen tack is no longer viable? Aware of the original strategy, Sean instinctively knows that the call for a “change of plan” means increased danger, and reacts accordingly. In those crucial moments, a quick-thinking bowman can make the difference between success and failure.