Bow Anchor Roller.

A broker, huh?

Well Jeff,
All I can say is what I know from experience-over 100K miles of serious offshore passagemaking and island hopping through the West Indies and the entire Eastern Seaboard-and what I learned from my mentors-who may not have been yacht brokers but were lisenced delivery skippers with more miles than I have.

Not that I need to defend myself, but I also managed one the Steve Colgate Offshore Sailing Schools, and ran our yacht club's sailing school for many years-not to mention being an industry pro for many years.

But, you are right-ask 10 sailors a question, get 15 answers. I am certainly not telling anyone to do anything, just sharing a trick I learned by doing this the hard way for years until I saw it done properly.

Clearly some boats do better than others, and some conditions are better suited. Note that I was quite clear there comes a point with wind and waves where the back end of boat is not what you want pointing into the stuff..

Just consider it another "arrow in your quiver" of tricks.

I think I'll step out of this now...

Hi Seth,

I'm sure Carl didn't mean to offend you, especially since he doesn't even know you.

With a perfect bottom and ideal wind-current-swell conditions anchoring stern-to sounds fine. I'll try it some time when the conditions are right.

Now back to happy Ericson talk



-Sven

My 32-3 came with a very nice anchor OEM roller that I never use for several reasons:

1) My boat, don't know about other models, comes with 10" bow cleats that are located right at the edge so that an anchor line has nothing to chafe on. Any nylon line throught the roller will chafe. A while back a Nor'easter came through my area and nearly every boat with nylon line that was moored through the anchor roller or through chocks was lost.

2) On a mooring like mine, an anchor on a roller can cut the mooring lines.

3) Like Seth says, I want to keep weight off the bow.

4) The anchor well on the boat is big enough to hold my anchor (Spade A80).


Anchoring from the stern is an interesting idea. However, I have seen it done only once, on an Ericson 35-3 that had manged to wrap its spinnaker and the owner was aloft trying to get it off the headstay.

anchoring from stern?

Several issues I have with stern-to in a regular anchorage or for overnighting it from the stern:

Usually stern anchored boats have a totally different swing pattern than other vessels in an anchorage. In fact, last summer, the Coasties came into an anchorage here in San Francisco and kicked a stern anchored guy out of it after he nearly crashed into several boats and refused to re-deploy from the bow or move. Nuff said. Think about THAT if it where to happen at night "Bam...Smash...WHAT THE *$#%&@*???"

A companionway to a light breeze will blow alot of bugs into the boat when the boards are raised to enter or exit whilst anchored anywhere with bugs present (Florida Keys comes to mind....nasty no-see-ums).

Lastly, deploying from the stern in all but an emergency or for light day anchoring is a bummer if a storm kicks up at night and one has to re-deploy the hook to get the bow into the wind.....nothing like 3-5 foot curlers over the stern in 25-35 kts of wind while trying to retrieve an anchor by hand...... bad enough when on the bow with a windlass.

But to each his own........just not where I'm anchored please.

The exception? Bow AND stern anchors, but only if anchored alone, well-spaced or all boats in near vacinity are doing the same thing or you'll hear about it, kindly at first, then rather rudely if nothing changes (see above). After all, unless first in an anchorage courtesy dictates follow the heard or move on.

As for weight on the bow.....it's not necessary to carry the 35 lb CQR there all the time..a 15 lb bruce will suffice for day trips; store the heavy storm anchor below deck well secured. Or, if a performance angle is desired, simply store the anchor as ballast and deploy when needed whilst keeping a light emergency hook mounted on the stern as I do (or in cockpit locker?).

John M.

I also am examining my anchoring techniques/anchor storage problems on my '73 E25. I like the stern anchoring theory because I could easily store the anchor in the cockpit boxes, but using a bridle would be difficult do to the stern hung rudder, outboard motor and boarding ladder. I am going to try some variation of the method to see how I like having the stern hung out into the wind, possibly using a centerline cleat.

The other option I am considering is a bow roller and using a Fortress anchor to save bow weight. Has anyone tried this combination on a smaller Ericson? I know that the light weight anchors tend to 'sail' in any current when you drop them, but I carry a big kedge anchor that I could swap out if that is a problem (rare in this area).

Brian Lowman
S/V Gypsy Rose

One more voice, for what it is worth:

I routinely used a stern anchor single handing in San Diego, for the same reasons Seth gave. The wind there does exactly the same thing pretty much every day, so there were no worries. Behind the barrier island in Pensacola it worked pretty well too (no swells, and noone to swing into).

Eventually I will probably put a winch on the bow, when I get sick of raising by hand, up until now I have just carried the anchor to the bow when in a crowded area.

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

"Staying Put, the Art of Anchoring" By Brian Fagen.

I just picked up a great little book called "Staying Put, the Art of Anchoring" By Brian Fagen.

He was also the author of California Costal Passages, Cruising Guide, San Francisco to Ensanada, Cruising Guide, California's Offshore Islands. I have always respected his writing and recommendations. Staying Put is no exception.

Fwiw

Thanks Seth. I stared at my bow roller all last year to try and figure out a better way. With a roller furler there simply isn't enough usefull room. The previous owner had the yard fabricate this bow sprit out of half inch aluminum and plywood. The running lights are in cut outs on the sides. In a stroke of sheer genius it was bolted to the deck with stainless steel bolts. It's such a lovely shade of green - good thing it's in freshwater. My solution is going to be to tear off what's there, keep the chain stop, get a rail mounting for the bow hook (WM/USB), and purchase a lunch hook. It really gets down to what you want to do with it.