Whats the wisdom on anchoring around bommies. Just got back from being out on the reef. The bommies make me nervous.

It's very difficult to find room to swing without risking the chain going around a bommie at zero dark thirty in the morning. Even if it is deep enough to not worry about touching the keel I still worry about the chain going round it and getting snagged.


Do you just not worry about that or set less chain than you otherwise would to have a safe scope.

PacificStar said..
in the pacific we floated our anchor chain .

our friends irelene & brown on "Blown Away" explain how it's done here

this minimises damage to the coral and the chance to foul a bombie, but nothing can eliminate completely

cheers,

Unfortunately this looks like a recipe for getting somebody else's keel, rudder or prop tangled in your chain

PacificStar said..
in the pacific we floated our anchor chain .

our friends irelene & brown on "Blown Away" explain how it's done here

this minimises damage to the coral and the chance to foul a bombie, but nothing can eliminate completely

cheers,

Chris 249 said..

julesmoto said..

PacificStar said..
in the pacific we floated our anchor chain .

our friends irelene & brown on "Blown Away" explain how it's done here

this minimises damage to the coral and the chance to foul a bombie, but nothing can eliminate completely

cheers,

Unfortunately this looks like a recipe for getting somebody else's keel, rudder or prop tangled in your chain

Plenty of experienced cruisers do it, so it seems to work.

Hope I never run into them with their concealed underwater hazard chain scores of meters from their boat

I think it would be an ok practice in areas that it is a known common practice. I do think it would be better if the bouys or fenders were floating on top so you could see a string of bouys.

I think it would be prudent for all sailers to follow or expect a standard practice and be predictable. The sailor that lays out 50m of chain in 5 meters of water on a calm day is also a hazard.

MAGNESIUM said..
in shallow water you need more chain for it to work .

Ok, I’ve been schooled 🙄🙄🙄

I couldn't care what was adopted as a safe standard, but currently in calm waters as I mentioned above, the current accepted rule of thumb is scope = 3 times the depth. If you come into a crowded or restricted anchorage, how are you to know someone has laid out 10 times the depth? That boat is swinging on an arc over a much larger area than the rest of the anchorage that's adopted a predictable rule of thumb, and in my opinion has become the danger.

If you are sailing in an area where that has never had to be considered then power to you, I am envious.

The RYA handbook suggests for an all chain rode 4:1 minimum and reducing to 3:1 in a crowded anchorage can be acceptable (with a bunch of variables of course). But pick what number you like it really doesn't matter my argument still remains.

The point being, if people followed or at least expected certain procedures were used, then motoring into an anchorage with boats deploying a float system that this thread is meant to be about, then I see no problem or concerns with the technique.

I didn't say danger I said hazard (ok, I did actually say danger in one of my replies but I meant hazard)

cammd said..
5mtrs under the keel is 7.0mtrs deep plus at least 1mtr to the bow roller. Thats now 8mts x 4 = 32mtrs minimum.

And I would agree with you on your scope and I would have roughly the same therefore the same swing room because we have anchored in 7 meters of water and not 5. So you have (inadvertently) agreed that we would be anchoring based on the same rough rule of thumb.

But you have still focused on the numbers and not the argument at hand.

I am happy to be debated and happy to take on others views and to learn and change my mindset. But what I won't accept is this

MAGNESIUM said..

What a load of rubbish , Many a yacht has been lost because they didn’t put enough chain out on a calm day and was hit by a powerful squall .
in shallow water you need more chain for it to work .

If you have been hit by a powerful squall then it is not exactly a calm day is it.