Anchor by the bow

[kitchenpass]

Saturday morning about 10:30AM we were one of the 6 to 8 boats anchored up between the pilings behind the 2nd Island. We were anchored up on a wreck anchor with our stern into the 3rd or 4th set of pilings out from the north end of the island on the ocean side . A large container ship came into the harbor and passed through the channel and set off a wake of 5 to 6 feet. Luckily someone on my boat saw the wave and I managed to start the engine and drive into the monster. My 20 foot Grady felt like it went vertical but the anchor held, the motor kicked us forward enough and we nearly escaped a real mess. Anything not tied down ended up in the stern - tackle boxes, coolers, net, fisherman etc. If we had been anchored by the stern we definitely would have taken on a ton of water and most likely swamped the boat. As it was I saw barnacles on that piling that have not been out of the water for years. There have been days when I thought about anchoring from the stern when I was out alone, never again will those thoughts cross my mind again. Anchor by the bow, the design of the boat will cause you to rise and not dig in. As some one said on a previous post, stern cleats are for chum bags, not anchors.

[Rock crusher]

yep, didn't those kids in Miami say they were anchored up by bthe stern before they had their disaster?

[hookinfinger]

yep, didn't those kids in Miami say they were anchored up by bthe stern before they had their disaster?


Yup.:((

Anchor Error Doomed NFLers | NBC Miami (http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Anchor-Error-Doomed-NFLers.html)




kitchenpass, Good Post !

Many,many years ago I was fishing solo and got lazy. I anchored off the stern cleet. I dozed off and a rouge wave came along and almost sunk me. Almost chit my pants.:eek2: Never again. Bow only for me.


Dennis

[coldwater]

Rule # 1 of anchoring up . . . . . . never, never, never tie up to the stern. You don't need a big wave to swamp you, get caught in a real strong current and water will be over the transom before you can react. Enough said.

[hookinfinger]

Rule # 1 of anchoring up . . . . . . never, never, never tie up to the stern. You don't need a big wave to swamp you, get caught in a real strong current and water will be over the transom before you can react. Enough said.

Good point !

[Rock crusher]

DOnt forget those poor bsterds that took it in the river last year or so, anchored by the stern too. If you want to be lazy, get yourself a windlass.

[surf rat]

I was running back from the high rise last year late one nite with my buddy when all of a sudden there was a huge wake that came out of no where. I hit it so hard that my boat shot up like it had been launched. I hit the top of the second wake just right on the way down. It still impacted so hard that I nearly broke my jaw on the steering wheel.

[hookinfinger]

I was running back from the high rise last year late one nite with my buddy when all of a sudden there was a huge wake that came out of no where. I hit it so hard that my boat shot up like it had been launched. I hit the top of the second wake just right on the way down. It still impacted so hard that I nearly broke my jaw on the steering wheel.

It is amazing how they (waves) can come out of nowhere like that. I am not talking about a Sub that may have slipped by either. I was anchored up next to a jetty one day (bow first) and one snuck on me. It lifted us WAY up, broke the anchor free and was about to dump us on the rocks.

Thank GOD I had the engines running. I jammed them into "full emergency reverse" and we only missed those rocks by a coat of gelcoat.. Close call.

Scary stuff.