Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Caribbean Anchoring Styles



20/7/2010

Mary and I reckon we are quite slick on Sheer Tenacity ! First we check out the anchorage, select an anchoring position, check the depths, the swing radius, head to wind, drop the hook on a tickey, lay out a good 4-5 times depth scope, in a straight line, set the hook, attach the bridle, let it take up the slack , motor astern to re-check the anchor setting on the bridle …….all accomplished using well rehearsed hand signals. We then sit down smugly, open the anchoring beer, and wait for the applause!! Sadly, there’s always a deafening silence!
We have meantime, become admirers of the techniques of others! We have consolidated some of them into the following types:

1 ) The Dog Turd Droppers ( DTD’s)
2 )The French way
3 )The Ice breakers
4 )The German buoys
5 ) Bareboat Cat Clowns

The DTD’s sail under many National flags. They approach their final chosen spot, drop the anchor, with the entire chain right on top of the anchor ! That’s it. Job done! Invariably they have no idea of depths, swing radius, or whether rocks, reefs or neighbouring yachts could be a problem. The first time the wind pipes up, straightening out their chain, is usually marked by the signs of panic.

The French are very laid back , and their approach is often evidenced by sneaky jinking in and out, between closely anchored boats. Using this stealth approach, they creep right up behind some unsuspecting souls transom, drop the hook using a minimum of scope, pulling up a few metres from someone else’s bow. Setting the anchor is regarded as a waste of time, so its hardly surprising that we have seen more French boats drag than any other flag! Any suggestion from another cruiser that they might be a bit close, could earn one a single digit salute! The saving grace for the French, is that they CAN sail, and that they are often accompanied by lovely topless crewmembers, at far closer range than normal!

The Icebreakers come from Cape Horn , or the Baltic, arriving in big steel yachts, sprouting anchors all round. Disconcertingly, they tend to approach the anchorage downwind, dropping the hook on the run, sailing over it in a slight curve, before locking up the windlass at the required scope, allowing the forward momentum to straighten the chain, set the hook, and swing the boat around 180 degrees, to settle in with all the other boats. To their credit, we haven’t seen them make a mistake yet!

The Germans often seem to prefer buoys ( that’s as in mooring ! ) They will frequently commandeer a buoy, even if it is way too close to an anchored yacht. The principle of “he who anchors first has prior claim” does not apply. Their approach is that the buoy was there first, so “Youz mus Mooff!”, even if you have been anchored there for two weeks. This is an interesting debate! Does an unused buoy put down by a diver, or marina, in a designated public anchorage, have a prior claim to space in maritime law? I doubt it, unless that buoy is marked as “occupied " by a certain named boat. We had one such German yacht arrive , and pick up a buoy about 20mts off our beam. We had been anchored there for two weeks, and had let out an additional 10mts of chain during the previous days big blow.
Once he had picked up the buoy, he was uncomfortably close given the wind direction., and I wished to discuss this with the skipper. He however, rubberducked away as soon as he was tied up, leaving his attractive young wife on board . She chose this time to strip naked on the sugar scoop, and start neatening up her “bikini” line. Being a sensitive and discrete gentleman, I decided to leave her be until she had completed her bush clearing exercise This took a while, and kept delaying my approach. In fact, it took most of the day, by which time she had an extremely neat and well groomed bikini line. She was obviously so proud of it, that she started prancing around the deck, displaying her lovely body and clean new lines to the rest of the anchorage. Clearly, as Mary told me, she would not have minded in the least if I paddled over to discuss our proximity. Just as I was about to do so, the wind swung back, and the gap increased to 50 mts and safety. Damn!
The big mystery to me remains! Why would she spend so much time perfecting her bikini lines, and then not wear the bikini?

The last , most entertaining, and potentially most dangerous group, is the Bareboat Cat Clowns. They are often crewed by successful yuppies, and approach the task of anchoring by forgetting everything they must have learned to become successful achievers! Planning, organizing, delegating and controlling …. The very essence of business success! Gone in a flash! There are often 6 skippers on these cats, one for each corner, one to drive, and one on the windlass. They all issue instructions, nobody listens, and the cat roars backwards and forwards at full power, often trailing the anchor like an oversized fishing lure. It usually starts off with windlass man lowering the anchor, and another skipper suggesting going astern. The anchor has probably only dropped 1 metre , and they are already doing 5 knots astern. The anchor finally touches the seabed 50 mts later, but hasn't got a snowballs chance of holding, as there is still only 8 or 9 mts of chain out, and they are now approaching other boats, jetty’s, rocks etc ,at 7 knots ! More skipper commands from all corners, accompanied by “Its Dragging”, Not Holding etc” Their solution? Full speed ahead, up anchor and start all over . After two or three more failed attempts, they decide to try elsewhere , because the holdings obviously no good here!! Funny, I was about to suggest just that , in the hope that they would move well away from us!

However, we have just had a nasty squall roar through the Tyrrel Bay anchorage, gusting 35 -40, and despite all the interesting anchoring methods , only one boat has dragged…Surprise,surprise....... A 50ft luxury motor launch. It is currently impaled on the bowsprit of a big traditional sailing schooner, with the owner nowhere to be seen ! The 50 odd yachts, of all types and sizes, from all corners of the earth, have shown that their various techniques were OK , this time!

Farewell to World Cup, Friends and Prickly Bay




19/7/2010

As soon as one settles into a routine of events, people and places…. Then it’s time to move on again ! The World Cup in RSA is done and dusted, and by all accounts both here and back home, it appears to have been a great success, not withstanding the Vuvuzelas, which we hear have now been banned in Europe! Can’t think why, with Europe winning the top three places !
Watching the matches on De Big Fish screen in Prickly Bay was great fun, with every match entitling one to a Happy Hour Bucket of 3 beers for 10 EC ! With all the Nationalities ( real and adopted) it created lots of fun and amusement! We were Dutch, wearing orange ( Mary was a Blomkamp after all!).We all agreed that Spain deserved to win, having played better all round football. Some of the Dutch players would appear to be frustrated Rugby players!

There was an almost a lemming like exodus from Prickly Bay after the World Cup, with boats hauling out, setting off for Trinidad , and Bonaire, to leave boats there for hurricane season. A few intrepid souls heading back north as far as the Grenadines. Its still close enough to run South in the event of a hurricane, and also gives a better point of sail.

Alan Cooke and his two nephews William and Tim flew back to Cape Town after a quick dash around the Cays, and a few good braai’s and meals together. Sad to see them go. We can fully understand why Alan has almost adopted Prickly Bay as his other home. However, he departed leaving us with a few very welcome tips and gifts ! Fishing spots, a bottle of Chilean wine, and “Schwopper”! “ Schwopper” was Alan’s Gemini rubber duck, named after a line in an Arnold Swartzenegger movie, in which he urges all his men “Lez ahll getz in ze Schwopper” ( Helicopter !) Alan subjected Schwopper to some serious abuse, wakeboarding behind it with a 15hp engine, (design spec 8hp) and literally tore the transom right out of it, for the second time! Hyperlon is relatively easy to repair, but it takes 72 hrs to cure each stage, and with the Handimans lifestyle, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t rip out again! Alan replaced it with a new RIB, with an aluminium hull and transom, which is light , tough, dry, and probably the way all RIB’s will go in future.
Our Tinker was behaving rather like a cross between a submarine and a mobile swimming pool, so Alans gift was accepted with alacrity. Schwopper is now repaired, and rides again…. This time with a 3hp motor!
On our trip round to St Georges via the southern point of Grenada, we detoured over the drop off reef that Alan had told us about, and bagged ourselves a nice sized Big Eye Tuna ! Sushi for dinner for days! Thanks for everything Al!!

A few days later we headed up to Carriacou again, where we planned to meet up with Mike and Lesley from Extasea, who were picking up a charter for 8 , around the Cays. On the way we landed a really nice Dorado ( Mahi Mahi, or Dolphinfish), so were able to invite them to take a break from their boat, and have a Dorado night with us.

Also on the trip up ,about 4miles before we turned into Tyrrel Bay, a big Tuna hit the lure, as I was trying to drop the sails in the face of a big black squall. Great timing! On with engine, slow ahead, drop sails, while the tuna strips line, and we are drenched! Miraculously, when we are all shipshape, the fish is still taking line, and the fight begins ! After about 10 minutes I’m very grateful for the rain, and showing signs of making some progress with the monster, when it threw the hook! In fact, I was not too disappointed, as the fish was way too big. We would have needed to share our bounty with all the cruisers in Tyrrel Bay, and all we really felt like, was putting down the hook, and opening the anchoring beer.!

We had just completed an enjoyable and productive sail up from Grenada.! I still had the Dorado to clean and fillet, and the Tuna would have needed an abattoir!
Our three month visa in Grenada expires shortly, so we are heading up to Union Island, Mayreau, the Tobago Cays and Bequia, before coming back to Carriacou . As always, we keep an eagle eye on the weather, in case we have to run!


Views of Carriacou............lovely place!