We sailed from our anchorage at Lynyard Cay where we anchored after our long passage from Eleuthera to the Abacos to the north. A significant weather event is expected over the next three days with very high winds and rough seas. These storms always “clock around” meaning that the wind starts in one direction and then moves clockwise as the storm passes to end up in the opposite direction (until the next front comes through). This is a normal pattern here where the main variable is how strong the wind will blow and for how long. Of course these storms never behave as forecast so while we look at every weather source we can, we know deep down that it is often a waste of time since the storms enjoy making the forecasters look silly. The storm’s success rate in this is nearly 100%.
Screen shot of the Predict Wind weather app that shows monster storm along whole east coast headed our way! Red is high wind. We are the red dot.
However, there’s no good alternative so we listen, look at our anchorage options, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of them, make a decision and move the boat’s position as needed.
So today we sailed toward Marsh Harbour which is ”the big city” in the Abacos with good services and resupply options. All day long we heard radio traffic with boats asking about space in marinas for their boats. Some were calling marinas looking for dock space and some were looking for mooring balls. The harbor in Marsh Harbour is pretty big and is very protected from east, south, and west winds. Figuring our chances of finding an open mooring ball in one of the more protected marinas was near nil, we decided to head for Marsh Harbour and anchor. This harbor has the perfect protection for the coming storm. When we got to Marsh Harbour, however, there were more boats already there than we could count, way more boats than the anchorage could safely hold in a blow. Knowing that many people don’t anchor very well and knowing that a lot of people with no boating experience charter boats in this part of the Bahamas, we did not want to be in the middle of that group. If one boat broke free, it would be a domino effect taking out many boats as it dragged downwind. Also as boats swing as the wind clocks around, if boats have different amount of anchor chain out, they all end up with different spacings once they rotate with the wind. Boats can end up running into each other in this tight of an anchorage even when their anchors don't drag.
We are, I admit, anchoring snobs. We pay very careful attention to how our anchor goes down and how it sets. This care has stood us in good stead over the years. It is a very bad thing if your anchor breaks loose from the bottom and “drags” since that means it is not staying were you put it and you are therefore moving with no control over where you go and what you run into. It’s pretty certain, however, that you will run into something eventually if you don’t do something quickly. Whether your anchor drags or not is dependent on your anchoring technique, your anchor type and the composition of the sea bottom where you anchor. Sand is really good. Mud is pretty good. Hard bottom or coral is really bad. Sand or mud with sea grass in it is mediocre. The other major factor is how much anchor line/chain you put between your boat and the anchor on the bottom. This is called “scope” for some reason. The deeper the water and the stronger the wind, the more scope you need to put out.
Our anchor almost always “sets” right away and holds well. In the time we have sailed on Regina Maris, we have only “drug anchor” once. (This was in 40 knot winds with a seven foot tide change just as the tide switched directions 180 degrees.)
Once we saw the crowd in Marsh Harbour, we turned around and sailed north another 8 miles to a protected bay with no boats. Unfortunately, we are anchored in a bay with a not-so-good bottom for anchoring. It is the dreaded sand and grass bottom. We had to set our anchor 3 times before it held. Part of the process is to “back down” on the anchor after it is dropped and the appropriate scope has been let out. Today the anchor slipped a bit on the first two tries when we “backed down” on it. I pulled in the chain and the anchor was fouled with the thick chunky roots of the sea grass. On the third try it held and has been solid so far.
The final thing you can do is get “eyes on” your anchor. The water here is very clear so by donning a mask, snorkel and flippers you can get a pretty good look at the anchor and how it is set from the surface. I’ll talk about this in the next blog.
Beautiful clear Abacos water
We may get 40 knot (44mph) winds so we are a bit worried about our anchor holding. The good news is that if we drag there are no other boats around and there is open water in the direction the wind will push us, so it will probably catch on something before we run into shore on the other side of the Sea of Abaco!
This is a view of our chartplotter which shows our boat position. We occasionally add anchor symbol waypoints as the wind swings so we can track our movement. You want to see a nice arc like this. That tells you the boat is swinging around on its anchor but not dragging. We have two arcs because we decided to add more anchor chain once we heard an updated forecast for even stronger forecast winds. The black squiggly line shows our track of where we first tried to anchor and couldn't get the anchor to set properly. We have an app that mirrors our chartplotter on our iPads so we can monitor our movement from the comfort of our beds! That is if we can sleep with the howling wind noise!
Hopefully we will not test that theory. It’s much better if the anchor stays where we put it.
Thanks for reading!
David and Mary Beth