Anchoring Minutiae

We're in Arthur Island Cove tonight - Part 2.

Part 2?

Yes. Not to be confused with Part 1. Okay?

Got it.

You don't sound so sure.

Ya think?

Normally I like to back the boat toward shore when I set the anchor. That allows me to see how far the boat will be at its closest to shore, no matter what the wind does, assuming the anchor holds.

Another technique advises pointing the boat into the wind, then letting the wind push the boat back while you let out your anchor chain. This has the advantage of allowing us to see how far the wind can push the boat in the direction it is blowing without hitting any obstacles.

More often than not, these techniques end up being the same because the air over the water is cooler than the air over the land. Cooler air is more dense than warmer air and tends to flow toward the less dense areas over land. They call this a sea breeze because it blows from the sea. Nine times out of ten I can point Quijote into the wind and back the boat toward shore.

When we arrived this afternoon, the winds were blowing from the northwest where an island stood. If the land were a continent it would be a land breeze, but because it was a small island it just happened to be in the way of larger forces.

What to do? Back the boat into the wind and shore, or point the boat into the wind and shore and back away? I chose the latter because I expected the wind to remain out of the northwest. I also observed that the cove water depths remained fairly deep until close to shore. Pointing the bow in toward shore allowed the anchor to be set in shallower water. Of course if the wind shifts direction the boat can easily end up on the rocks with its anchor so close to shore, but only if the wind pulls a 180 and blows hard.

As it turns out I chose wrong. The wind did pull a 180° shift, but thankfully didn't blow any harder than ten knots.

Chuck was sitting in the cockpit watching the shift unfold while I was down below attending to… something. "Uhhh… Skipper!" At that time the wind was blowing out of the south at about ten knots, and the boat had drifted slowly toward shore. It wasn't likely that the wind would blow significantly harder, given the forecast, but then it wasn't forecasted to shift 180 either, so the best course of action was to pull up the anchor and do it again, This time backing to shore, and this time with the wind. So that's what we did. Then, after resetting the anchor, the wind died all together. Of course.