Anchoring / Mooring

[Dr. Peter]

Just got back from trip. Tried hanging off a swing mooring and reversing into shore.

Swing Mooring: Bit windy but pretty settled as far as wave action. We attached ourselves to the mooring via a 1.5m rope. Our sails were furled and the pop-top was up with a small tarp put over the boom. The tiller was lashed to port. We swung in an arc from 9:00 to 2:00. Even with the rudder left free the boat hunted around its mooring.

Tried a secondary mooring rope to the second stanchion from the bow and played with the angles on both the port and starboard sides. About 45 degree between the two ropes was best where the secondary rope would come into major play to keep the bow pointed in the general directions of the prevailing waves. I found this calmed the boat down no end. Arc was between 11:30 and 2:00. Rudder was best set to bear away from the second line.

Reversing into shore: It was calm and the shore was a steeply shelved beach. We took the time to sort out the anchor and chain locker so all was ready to go. I use an 20m all-chain rode with the biggest CQR I can fit (thanks Ian) and to this I attached my nylon mooring line (about 10m). Next I removed the fixed rudder and raised the centre board. We motored up to have a look-see at the beach (other boats were already there). Decided where we wanted to be and began reversing briskly toward the beach.

At about 3m on the depth sounder I slowed the motor and we let the anchor in under control and it began to bite and take the rest of the chain with it. I then put the motor in neutral and was about to lift the motor up when it gently nudged the bottom*. Nearly all the chain was out and I used my extremely long nylon mooring line to tie the stern off to a tree growing on shore. I had about 2m to spare. I later exchanged the long nylon mooring line at the bow for a much shorter line of the same material and used this over the bow (less wear and tear).

That night I let out the stern line and pulled the bow in and we floated free of the bottom. I ensured the centreboard was free to move. We had a very comfortable night.

In the morning I did the reverse.

Access to and from the boat was over the stern rail using the mainsheet as a support. Very easy.

* In retrospect it would have been quicker to tilt the motor up rather than lift it.

Peter

[Yara50]

Re hunting / sailing on a mooring or anchor. A solution which often works is to put some kind of windage on the stern. A small scrap of sail say, attached to the backstay. This has the effect of feathering the boat into the wind. When I retire one day I might cut up an old sail and make one of these.

[malgyver]

Hi,
A good friend of mines father is Dave Millet, who has had a lot of experience with I563's. They used to beach their boat using a plank that was fed under the boat just prior to grounding. The boat would be tied down securely each side to eyebolts at the ends of the plank. Worked quite well apparently and would not take up too much space when not in use. See sketch.
cheers
Mal

[no way]

Like Ozzie I don't have a tide problem and the beaches on the Myalls are all sandy so I moor stern too as my previous post.
Have a good rear end set up for it too
Split pushpit rail, kick up rudder (don't know how you guys live with fixed blade), fold up tiller, "marlin board" with folding ladder - which when down is just off the bottom as the keel touches.
See the pic

[Dr. Peter]

Hi,
A good friend of mines father is Dave Millet, who has had a lot of experience with I563's. They used to beach their boat using a plank that was fed under the boat just prior to grounding. The boat would be tied down securely each side to eyebolts at the ends of the plank. Worked quite well apparently and would not take up too much space when not in use. See sketch.
cheers
Mal

I have reported on our travels by car around South Gippsland and Westernport elsewhere. The main take homes for us was dealing with the massive tide (about 2m) and the large / tall wharves available to the public.

A comment I made to the first mate was that if you had a boat that could take grounding then the options for anchoring / mooring were considerably enhanced. At the time I was thinking about bilge-keelers and catamarans or even trailer sailers with flat bottoms and retractable keels; not Investigators you'll note.

Then I recalled Mal's post to the forum above and wondered whether it could work for investigators. Mal's sketch is fairly straightforward but is does assume a relatively surface to ground on.

Has anyone anything more to say about this idea?

[Yara50]

Peter,
For sure the board under the boat, and ropes tied off to the chain plates works well. However, like any form of grounding, you need to know what the bottom is like before you dry out. WRT to big tides, you have to plan very carefully to take them into account. We are lucky in NSW that the tides are not as big as in other parts of the World.

[Bobbo]

Hello all. I have been away for a while and I'm just catching up with the forum. I would never presume to "give advice' or tell some one else how to sail his/her boat...but my scalp tingled when I read about anchoring bow in because the water at low tide may have been too thin for the rudder. With a boat drawing 600mm ( As an Investigator in cruising mode does) personally I would never consider anything less than two meters under me at low tide.
I sail from Mackay, Central Queensland, and not only do we get big tides but we are subject to sudden and powerful wind changes; usually at about 02:00 hours. When this happens if you are in , say, a meter of water and the seas get up to 1.200 ( which is not at all uncommon) You have just lost your boat.
I think it was Ozzie who remarked that a better alternative was to be up on the beach itself , so long, of course, that you beached her at high tide.
When my kids were growing up we had a twenty foot, center - board open boat. Every chance we got we would sail out to the islands and camp for a week or so. In case it is of interest our technique was as follows...
Calculating our ETA on a speed of 3 knots we would leave Mackay harbour at a time that got us to our destination at high tide. We had a stern anchor in a milk crate and in that crate was a traffic witches hat wired to the bottom. The rode was wound around the hat and the result was that when it ran out it did not tangle or ruck up. The bitter end of the rode exited from the bottom and was tied off to a sturdy bitt. The anchor, a small Danforth, was hung over the stern. We would draw straws to choose who made the decision, and when we got to our chosen beach that person nominated when the anchor went over the stern. Loud was the derision if the anchor snubbed us too far out so that we could not step ashore dry shod. Our camping gear was swiftly unloaded any old how, and while she still floated we did one of two things. If we were in no danger of being neaped we would heave the boat up just above high tide. If we thought it was warranted we would swing the boat around and having set up two anchors from the stern we would pull ourselves out using what was our stern anchor until we were over a nice sandy spot, free of rocks. One person would do this and then wade or swim ashore.
With three anchors out ( And I would never sail with less) we could position that boat exactly where we wanted her. Experience proved that even with a six meter tide the natural catenary in the anchor rodes was enough for the rise and fall of the boat. I believe that leaving a boat overnight with her stern exposed to whatever the sea might dish up is a pretty scary thing to do, and it will impose big loads on your bow anchor.
I also think that while of course the type of bottom is important, of more concern should be the position's exposure. I don't think it is wise to beach any boat in a possie that has any sort of fetch. My experience has been that between the first water of the incoming tide touching your bottom and the boat actually being afloat will take about half to three quarters of an hour. During that critical time your boat is going to be picked up and slammed down, picked up and slammed down. During that half an hour it is just possible that your hair will also turn white.
I have been toying with the idea of fitting beaching legs to my beloved Zoe-Amelia. I was excited to see Malgyver's proposal with the plank. What a brilliant idea! And how handy that plank would be for a variety of situations. I am just going to have to try that one and I will post the results.
Best wishes to all. Bob.

[kevwr400]

I know this is of the track a bit, but I purchased a box anchor 2 seasons ago, and have found it to be an awesome piece of ground tackle. As recommended by “Rich Johnson’s, who wrote ‘Guide to trailer boat sailing’ very easy to set and bites to anything. Worth a look!

[Yara50]

If possible, can you post a pic of the box anchor. Does it fit in the well? Weight?

[Ozzie]

LM is fairly safe with a good selection of sheltered beaches Bobo. I would not anchor bow in on an exposed shore. If weather is predicted and I feel like an o'night I am lucky enough to have a mooring.