How To Anchor a Boat Quietly, Safely, and Securely

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Anchoring is a method of using your boat's anchor to secure the boat for a short time, such as lunch or perhaps overnight.

The objective is to lower the anchor to the bottom, lay out the anchor rode with slack and when you have the required amount of rode deployed secure the rode and let the anchor set into the bottom.

When choosing an anchorage there are four criteria you should observe.

1. Shelter from wind and waves - you want to be anchored in a protected area away from any other traffic.

2. Good holding bottom - composition of the sea bed that will give your anchor a firm hold. We are fortunate in the Pacific Northwest that many harbours have bottoms that are composed of mud, sand, shells and clay.

3. Adequate depth at low water - over the years I have seen a number of boaters who forgot to check the range of the tide overnight. It is a real shock to wake up falling out of your bunk because you have gone aground.

4. Swing room - refers to the requirement for your vessel to be able to swing 360 degrees around the anchor and not contact any hazards or other boats.

Scope is the ratio of the length of the anchor rode in use divided by the distance from the seabed to your anchor roller or chock. Always remember to allow for the height of the tide during your stay.

If you are using a line & chain combination the following ratios are considered the minimum for safety:

Lunch stop - 3:1
Overnight - 5:1
Open anchorage - 7:1

Let us look at a sample. The harbour chart indicates a depth of 20 feet at Lowest Normal Tide. When we arrive the tide has a height of 3' and will be rising to a height of 7' overnight. The anchor roller is located 3' above waterline.

Therefore the maximum depth overnight will be
20' charted depth + 7' of tide = 27'
Height of anchor roller above water = 3'
Total distance= 30'

If we are stopping overnight and want a scope of 5:1 we will need to use 30' x 5 = 150' of rode.

Here is a simple step by step process that will allow you and your crew to anchor confidently and quietly.

1. Select your anchorage using the criteria in "Choosing Your Anchorage" above.

2. Check the chart for any hazards and circle around your selected anchoring watching your depth sounder.

3. Discuss with your crew your anchoring plan so everyone knows where you plan to anchor.

4. Proceed to your desired anchoring location, heading into the wind or current, whichever is stronger.

5. Have your crew lower the anchor until it is just in the water. The crew can observe the wave around the anchor and observe when the vessel has stopped.

6. Go astern with your engine(s) to stop the vessel.

7. When the crew observes there is no wave around the anchor, that is the signal to lower away.

8. At this time your vessel will be moving astern as the crew pays out the anchor rode. It is important that there be no tension in the anchor rode as this will cause the anchor to drag across the bottom.

9. You may need to go to neutral to reduce the vessel's speed.

10. When the crew has let out the correct amount of rode, see "What is Scope", they secure the anchor rode by cleating the line or stopping the winch.

11. When the anchor bites into the bottom, tension will come on the rode and the bow of the vessel will swing and point towards the anchor.

12. The crew will observe the anchor rode coming taut and the angle of the rode to the water surface will decrease.

13. Operate astern propulsion while everyone aboard observes a range or transit. This is simply two objects ashore that are in line. If the objects remain in line then the vessel is not moving and the anchor is set.

14. To confirm that the anchor is well set, you may want to slowly increase engine RPMs while observing the range. It is better to find out the anchor is not holding at 4:00 pm than at 4:00 am!

15. Once you are satisfied that the anchor is holding, slowly idle down and go to Neutral. You will observe the range moving as the anchor rode pulls the vessel forward.

In a crowded anchorage, you may want to limit your swing. One way to do this is to take a stern line to shore. Make sure that other boats around you are doing the same thing or you will have other vessels swinging into you.

Usually the vessel is anchored and then a crew member takes the dinghy to shore carrying the end of a stern line. The line is secured around a tree or large rock. In some of the Marine Parks, eye bolts have been secured in the rocky shoreline and are often marked with a blaze of paint or red survey tape. In this case, the preferred method is to run the line from the vessel, through the eye bolt and back to the vessel. In the morning it is just a matter of releasing one end of the line from the vessel and pulling the line back.

An easy way to store the line is to use a garden hose reel. A former owner of one of the charter vessels gave me this tip. He bought a plastic hose reel, removed all the hose fittings and then took the reel to a local chandler and had it filled with a polypropylene line.

The challenge is estimating your distance from shore so you have the correct scope. Often with students, we would end up with more scope that required. We would set the anchor and when the student had taken the stern line to shore, they would come to the end of the line before they returned to the vessel. It was then a matter of letting out more anchor rode until the stern line could be brought back to the vessel.