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This is the second half of a 2-part article by Daria Blackwell,
first published in the Ocean Cruising Club publication Flying Fish.
You can read part 1 here.

Photo: James Dagmore

Bizarre whale tales

Who can forget the photos of the 40 ton southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) that breached onto a 33ft sloop in South Africa in 2010, breaking the mast before sliding into the water with an ‘eerie groan’? Amazingly, Ralph Mothes and Paloma Werner were not injured and returned to harbour on their own, and a nearby vessel managed to record the whole incident on video.

YouTube video: Whale Crashes on Boat – Published by CBSNewsOnline.

It seems this was simply a case of being in the wrong place when a whale came up for air.

There are several additional videos on YouTube that show whales ramming boats or breaching onto them. So it does happen.

In 2011, a breaching humpback whale off southwest Washington smashed the mast and rigging of a 38ft yacht taking part in the Oregon Offshore International Yacht Race to Victoria, BC ‘leaving bits of blubber behind’, as Ryan Barnes told the Coast Guard. Ironically, the boat was called L’Orca. Her crew were in the cockpit and were not injured during the encounter.

YouTube video: Oregon Offshore 2011- Whale vs. Boat!

YouTube video: Sailboat struck by breaching whale near Astoria

In June 2012, Max Young of Sacramento, California, on the last leg of a circumnavigation, had to be rescued after a breaching whale struck his 50ft yacht 40 miles off the coast of Mexico just after dark. He was only about ten feet from the 55ft whale as it jumped about twelve feet in the air and came down on the bow of boat, lifting the stern clear of the water. The collision disabled the steering system and holed the boat, but he used a mattress to plug a hole, and four bilge pumps to bail water, while waiting to be rescued 5.

CruisersForum – www.cruisersforum.com – has a report of a man who left harbour in his new 27ft Bayliner just before sunset with two friends. They were off Santa Barbara Point ‘when a 30ft grey whale suddenly breached and landed on top of the boat. The weight of the whale crushed the cabin before it rolled off the boat back into the water… the beast came around and took another run at the Bayliner and slammed the boat with its tail’. This damaged the boat’s rail and broke one of the owner’s ribs, cut his hand, and embedded barnacles in his back. The whale made a third run at the boat, but just rolled one of its eyes out of the water and stared at them.

Then there’s the truly bizarre story from Australia of a humpback whale that grabbed a yacht’s anchor rode and swam off, towing the boat 1½ miles out to sea at night. It was joined by a second whale that helped along the way. The woman onboard managed to get a video of the encounter before they cut away the rode. The couple had called the Coast Guard and others for assistance but were not taken seriously.

Published studies of collisions

In 2001, researchers from the US and Europe conducted the first survey of reports of collisions between ships and whales (See Laist, DW, et al, Collisions between ships and whales. MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE, 17(1): 35-75 (January 2001).)

They focused on motorised vessels, as collision reports first started appearing in the 1800s with the advent of steam power. They found that collisions increased as vessel speed increased.

A humpback whale lands in the water after breaching near Auke Bay, Alaska. Photo Aleria Jensen, Public domain NOAA/NMFS/AKFSC. NOAA Photo Library anim1037

Of eleven species known to be hit by ships, they reported that fin whales are struck most frequently and right whales, humpback whales, sperm whales and grey whales (Eschrichtius robustus) are hit commonly. The most lethal or severe injuries are caused by ships travelling at 14 knots or more, which eliminates many cruising yachts. Today, collisions occur most often with high speed ferries and racing yachts.

Since then other reports have been filed, including the 2009 report of an ExxonMobile tanker returning to port with a humpback whale draped over its bulbous bow. In Alaska, in 2010, an adult female humpback was found on the bow of a cruise ship owned by Princess Cruises – the third whale incident involving the company since 2001. Bizarrely, this same ship had had a similar encounter with a fin whale the year before outside Vancouver. Speed and visibility were considered factors in these events.

In 2011 Fabian Ritter, collaborating with noonsite.com, published a study which constitutes the first attempt to quantitatively assess collisions involving sailing vessels and whales on a global scale (Fabian Ritter. Collisions and near miss events between sailing vessels and cetaceans – MEER eV, Bundesallee 123, 12161 Berlin, Germany.)

A total of 108 collisions and 57 ‘near misses’ were identified between 1966 and 2010, the majority of which (75%) were reported between 2002 and 2010. He concluded that elevated vessel speed contributes to a higher risk of collisions, although it doesn’t correlate with likelihood of damage or injuries where other factors can prevail.

Ritter recommended three courses of action to protect ships and whales:

1. speed reduction,
2. dedicated observers, and
3. the shift of routes.

He also recommended publicising the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Ship Strike Data Base and encouraging sailors to report their encounters so the data can be collected and analysed.

In other studies, sound has been used to try to deter whales from crossing paths with boats. In one, it was documented that harmonics may actually attract rather than deter whales. So running your engine may not be a good way to ward them off.

In the Oyster magazine, Pantaenius Insurance reported research they carried out following the loss of a Formula 40 catamaran after it hit a dormant whale in 1991.

The advice their experts offered was for yachts to keep their depth sounders on during ocean passages, as a whale can hear the pulse emitted by the transducer.

What can you do?

Minimising risk of collision with whales is a goal of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). They are planning detailed guidance for all segments of the maritime industry, including cruising and racing yachts. In advance of the guidance, the Belgian Department of the Environment has released an information leaflet which includes advice about how to reduce the risk of collisions with whales and provides a link to the ship strikes database developed by the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

Their advice includes the following points:

• Plan passages to avoid high density areas
• Keep a close watch, reduce speed, and alter course for direct avoidance
• Report incidents to help improve knowledge
• Heed restrictions and seek advice from the IMO and national authorities
• Contribute to scientific research by reporting sightings and encounters

The IWC database contains 1076 collisions reported between 1877 and 2010. It includes the type of whale and the location of collision, though the IWC is quick to note that these reports are, for the most part, uncorroborated.

A humpback whale breaching near the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. Photo Wanetta Ayers. Released into the public domain on Wikimedia Commons

The majority of whale fatalities occur off the East Coast of North America and in the Mediterranean. This is hardly surprising, as that is where shipping is most congested and where whales migrate. A recent study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), however, has shown that whale populations are on the increase in California waters, adding to the risk of encounters. Multiple species of whale feed along the coast, including killer, grey, humpbacks and blue (Balaenoptera musculus – the world’s largest animal). NOAA has issued advisories to shipping to reduce speed along the migration paths.

What happens to the vessels involved in collisions with whales seems, in comparison, mild. Few ships have been reported holed, disabled or sunk. It has happened, but it seems – at least from our experience – that the benefits to cruising sailors of being out there outweigh the risks of collision – at least with whales.

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street and methodically knocking people’s hats off – then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.

Herman Melville

About Daria Blackwell

Daria Blackwell is a USCG licensed Captain. She and her husband Alex, and cruising kitty Onyx, have crossed the Atlantic three times in three years aboard their Bowman 57 ketch Aleria, spending years cruising the Caribbean and Atlantic islands as well as the American and European coasts. They are now in Ireland planning their next adventure.

Daria is a proud member of the Ocean Cruising Club Committee, Seven Seas Cruising Association (cruising station for Ireland), American Yacht Club and Mayo Sailing Club.

The Blackwells are co-authors of Happy Hooking – The Art of Anchoringwhich has received excellent reviews in the sailing press. They periodically conduct their Happy Hooking webinar for Seven Seas University.

Their website is www.CoastalBoating.net, “the boaters’ resource for places to go and things to know”.

Further readings

• John S. Marshall: Calif. man tells of sailboat collision with whale
• Laist, DW, et al, Collisions between ships and whales. MARINE MAMMAL SCIENCE, 17(1): 35-75 (January 2001)
• Fabian Ritter. Collisions and near miss events between sailing vessels and cetaceans – MEER eV, Bundesallee 123, 12161 Berlin, Germany
• International Whaling Commission (IWC) Ship Strike Data Base
• NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)- National Marine Sanctuaries: Reducing Ship Strike Risk to Whales
• Belgian Department of the Environment: Reducing risk of collisions with whales (PDF)

Also on this website

• Chance encounters between ships and whales – Part 1
• All posts about Nature
• More posts by Daria Blackwell:
  - Dancing in the Harbour
  - What I like best about cruising? Passages and anchorages: a world of your own

A fin whale preparing to dive beneath ALERIA’s bow. Photo Alex Blackwell.

Most sailors setting off on a passage dream of encountering wildlife at sea.

Yet ask blue water sailors about their biggest fears, and near the top of the list is likely to be ‘striking a whale’. It’s one of the events most likely to be catastrophic at sea. Today, we can usually avoid really bad weather, but can we avoid a sleeping whale at night?

And what is the likelihood of a chance encounter with a whale? It may not be as rare (or as common) as one might think, depending on location. The likelihood appears to be increasing as protected whale species increase in numbers, and like many cruisers Alex and I have had a few very happy encounters.

Fortunately, several lessons can be applied to reduce the risk and enhance the experience.

Magic at sea – the friendly encounter

First encounter with whales

Whale spy hopping on Stellwagon Bank.

Our first encounter with whales came while crossing Stellwagen Bank, a vast marine sanctuary off Cape Cod. We came upon a pod of northern right whales (Eubalaena glacialis), which started us off with a magical experience that would be difficult to top. We first sighted a mother and calf feeding near tour boats – she was ignoring the humans intruding on her brunch.

About an hour later we noted a rock where there should have been deep water.

After frantically checking the charts and keeping a close eye through  binoculars, we realised it was a whale with callosities, spy hopping and being  groomed by a flock of birds. Then the whale rolled and dived to show off his  fluke.

Soon afterwards a second whale appeared, much closer, then two more, and five more, until we were surrounded by scores of these leviathans.

As they came closer to get a better look at  us with those all-knowing eyes, our first thoughts drifted to the infamous line from Jaws, “we’re gonna need a bigger boat”. They were  about the same length as Aleria.

As soon as we realised they were just curious and respectful we  ghosted along beside them as we checked each other out. We were under full sail  in light winds with no engines running, and worried about them surfacing beneath  us after their dives. We kept a close watch, steered cautiously away from any ahead  of us, and avoided coming between mothers and their calves.

Whereas the experience was initially silent, suddenly the air filled with whale song. Not just one but a cacophony of voices, which seemed to be amplified by Aleria’s hull acting like a stethoscope. There were  long wails, short burps, moans, groans, and high pitched squeals of varied  duration and emphasis. We were taken aback, perplexed. We looked at each other to  make sure we were both hearing this. It sounded surreal. Then, we succumbed to the sheer joy of it. We sang back, jumping up and down, cheering and clapping like children. I don’t recall ever having had such a joyous experience in my  life. We were speaking whale! All fear was gone, replaced with sheer wonder. It  seemed to go on forever.

Then, suddenly, they were gone. The whale song receded and the whales disappeared from view. We mourned their passing but  felt blessed to have met them. Alex described the experience as ‘prehistoric,  otherworldly’. We had been so dumbfounded that we forgot to take pictures. We  have only a few that Alex took as he sighted that first ‘rock’.

Occasional glimpses

As we left Nova Scotia to cross the Atlantic  to Ireland, we were followed out of St Margaret’s Bay by a lone killer whale (Orcinus orca). She swam along peacefully and we wondered if her reputation was deserved.  We didn’t see any more whales all the way to Ireland, but we sailed through thick fog followed by six gales. We know now that whales are sighted more often on calm,  clear days – if the surface of the sea is smooth, you’ll spot an unusual disturbance more readily.

We were next rewarded with a visit by a pod  of pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) while in transit from Tenerife to La Gomera in the Canary Islands. They are known to be resident there, so we kept a close watch.  Not much bigger than dolphins but black in colour, the pilot whales swam gently along  in company for some time.

A pilot whale off La Gomera in the Canary IslandsPhoto Martina Nolte / Lizenz Creative Commons CC-by-sa-3.0 de

During six months of cruising the Caribbean, where whales come to calve, we saw only one, breaching off the west coast of Antigua. From the shape and acrobatics it appeared to be a humpback (Megaptera  novaeangliae). In  certain islands, the Grenadines for example, fishermen are permitted to take  their annual quota of whale meat in the traditional way, and as we passed St  Vincent we saw a boat with a bow-mounted harpoon coming in with a cetacean strapped to  the side of the hull.

Whales galore

Crossing the Atlantic from the Caribbean to  the Azores, we encountered very light wind conditions. In fact, the Azores high overtook us until we were smack in the middle. It was on this leg that we learned the value of a flat sea for whale sightings and learned just how many of these creatures are en route through the area at any given time. No wonder the Azores were so prominent  on the whaling scene. Plentiful food, good weather – what’s not to like?

We had numerous sightings on one day – sperm  whales (Physeter catodon) and fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), mothers with calves, juveniles and  elderly, in the distance and REALLY close by. In fact, one pod swam along in our bow wave like dolphins, except they were 60ft long fin  whales. They dove underneath and we wondered where they’d come back up. They  blew air which carried the scent of bountiful fisheries right beside us and  stared at us with those penetrating gazes. It happened to be my birthday – one I will never forget!

In all these encounters, we have never truly felt threatened – concerned about proximity, but not threatened. We rarely use the engine even in very light air, and we always keep a close watch. We are  respectful of the distance between us. We are respectful of their environment. We are  respectful of their intelligence and their place on this oceanic earth. I think they knew all  that.

Collisions between ships and whales

Struck by a whale off Grand Banks

The first time I heard about a sailing boat ‘encountering’ a whale mid-ocean was when a yacht, the 49ft  sloop Peningo, collided with a whale about 700 miles from the Azores while en  route from the US to the America’s Cup Jubilee in England in 2001.

The skipper wrote  about their ordeal afterwards, providing insight into the experience1. Although the story is entitled Struck by a Whale, from his description of the encounter it is more  likely that it was the vessel that struck the whale. The whale was severely injured and the yacht was rendered helpless with serious rudder damage. Luckily for those  aboard, the yacht remained afloat with no major water intrusion until a rescue ship  arrived to tow them back to Newfoundland.

The whale probably didn’t do so well.

The sinking of the Essex

This illustration from the Russel Purrington Panorama – a series of paintings intended to describe the workings of the whale fishery – shows the attack of the whale on the Essex

A most famous encounter is that of the  Nantucket whaling ship Essex, which was sunk by a sperm whale in the South Pacific2 in 1820. Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dickis based on this true story, told by the few  crew who survived. The whale struck the Essex with its head just behind the bow while the light boats were out hunting.

‘The ship brought up as suddenly and  violently as if she had struck a rock,’ recalled Owen Chase, the first mate. The whale had smashed through the bulkhead and water was streaming in. Chase set the crew to work  on the pumps and signalled the other boats to return immediately.

The whale,  meanwhile, was apparently badly injured and was leaping and twisting in convulsions  some distance away. Then suddenly the animal raced toward the ship again, its head  high above the water like a battering ram.

It stove in the port side of the ship and the Essex sank, leaving the crew thousands of miles from land in three light boats. (See Nathaniel Philbrick: In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex Penguin, 2001.)

In a scientific paper on whale behaviour by Carrier published in 2002, the authors note, ‘Head-butting during aggressive behaviour is common and widespread among cetaceans, suggesting that it may be a basal behaviour for the group. Although data is not available for most species, head-butting has been observed in species in each of the four major cetacean lineages’. They put forth a hypothesis that the spermaceti organ has evolved in whales as a weapon used in male-to-male  aggression and was used as a battering ram capable of sinking the Essex. (See Carrier, DR et al: The face that sank the Essex: potential function of the spermaceti organ in aggression. J Exp Biol 205: 1755-1763, 2002.)

Even without this, the sperm whale is the  largest-toothed animal alive today with some growing to more than 60ft in length and weighing 50 tons.

A mother sperm whale and her calf dive together near the Azores. Photo: Daria Blackwell

Whale attack! Yachts colliding with whales

During a passage from the Canaries to the  Caribbean we heard one of the boats in our SSB net report an attack by a whale.

She was a vessel in the 35ft range, heading back to Boston from Europe with two people  aboard. While under sail in light wind they sighted several whales, one of which  turned towards their boat and rammed it head on. It circled, and came back at them  repeatedly. They were terrified that the whale was going to keep battering until they were holed and sunk, then suddenly it swam away. They had the presence of mind to  take photos and were able to identify it as a false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens). The net controller  asked what colour their hull was, as a crew member suggested  that whales tend to attack boats with red bottoms. Interestingly, they had just had their bottom repainted – and the colour they had chosen was red. Aleria’s bottom is green and her hull is white.

There are multiple reports of yachts colliding with whales, including two in the 1970s when British yachts were lost.

• Maurice and Maralyn Bailey were on their way from Panama to the Galapagos Islands when, at dawn  on 4 March 1973, their 31ft Auralyn was struck by a whale and holed. The Baileys  survived for 117 days and drifted 1500 miles on an inflatable liferaft before being rescued. They wrote an account of their ordeal entitled 117 Days Adrift(Staying Alive! in the US).

• Dougal Robertson left England in 1971 aboard Lucette, a 43ft wooden schooner, with his wife and four children. On 15 June 1972 Lucette was holed by a pod of killer whales and sank approximately 200 miles west  of the Galapagos Islands. The six people on board took to an inflatable liferaft and a solid hull dinghy, which they used as a tow-boat with a jury-rigged sail. They were rescued after 38 days by a fishing trawler.

Robertson wrote two books, Survive the Savage Seaand Sea Survival: A Manual.

• More recently there’s the 1989 account of a  pod of pilot whales sinking the yacht Siboney, after which owners Bill and Simone Butler awaited rescue in a liferaft. He documented their story in the book, 66 Days Adrift: A True Story of Disaster and Survival on the Open Sea.

• In October 2011 Yachting Monthly reported on a boat which had been attacked by a whale mid-ocean in the mid 1990s. The animal made three glancing blows before swimming away, and scientists whom the author spoke to afterwards suggested that she must have had a calf and was chasing them  off. They did not report the colour of their bottom paint, but noted that sections of  paint had been scraped clean in the collision. The vessel, an Oyster Lightwave, did not suffer any significant damage.

• Anecdotal reports on blogs include one by Paul J who reported being attacked by what may have been a sperm whale about 150 miles off the Great Barrier Reef. He posted a photo (right) on ybw.com of the bottom of his steel boat dented by the whale’s head – the bottom of his boat was painted red.

In the same thread, two other cruisers noted encounters with pilot whales around their redbottomed boats, but no attacks.

Can whales see colour?

It has long been advised not to paint a boat’s bottom white because it looks like the belly of a killer whale. Other people advise not to paint it black, grey or blue because it might appear to be a competing whale or a  predator. Then the red question came about.

Yet scientists have long professed that  whales cannot see colour as they do not have the short wavelength cones in their eyes. That to me is short sighted (excuse the pun) as it assumes the human way is the only way to see colour. A study published in 2002 by Griebel suggests that cetaceans do indeed discern  colour, but in a different way than we do (See Griebel, U, Color vision in marine mammals. A review. Bright, M,Dworschak, PC, and Stachowitsch, M (Eds.) 2002: The Vienna School of Marine Biology: A Tribute to Jörg Ott. Facultas Universitätsverlag, Wien: 73-87.)

So it is possible that colour does make a difference to whales – we just don’t know for sure.

Speed is a factor

One certain trend is that more collisions are  being recorded as boats get faster (especially racing boats). A British sailing journalist’s blog looked back at some of the better-known collisions with whales, and  we have now added to the list. There are four reports of collisions during the  OSTAR (one in 1964, two in 1988 and one in 1996) the latter including one with Ellen  MacArthur’s Kingfisher in which the whale was killed and found wrapped around the  vessel’s keel. David Selling’s Hyccup sank as a result of a collision in 1988.

There were two reports during Whitbread Round the World Races, in 1989 and 1998; of  the second, Knut Frostad said, ‘It was like being in a car crash’. Delta Lloyd and Ericsson 3 both hit whales during the 2008/09 Volvo Ocean Race, with minor damage.

There were four other reports during races between 2001 and 2005 in which  boats were damaged, with rudders being particularly vulnerable.

That’s a total of twelve high-profile  collisions reported since the 1960s, but only one vessel (Hyccup) was catastrophically damaged.

And in the  2011/12 Volvo Ocean Race, Camper’s helmsman Roberto Bermudez managed to avoid  collision with a whale on Leg 7 from Miami to Lisbon –  all caught on amazing video footage

YouTube video: CAMPER Avoids Whale Collision – Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12

Next:
Part 2 of this article is here. 

About Daria Blackwell

Daria Blackwell is a USCG licensed Captain. She and her husband Alex, and cruising kitty Onyx, have crossed the Atlantic three times in three years aboard their Bowman 57 ketch Aleria, spending years cruising the Caribbean and Atlantic islands as well as the American and European coasts. They are now in Ireland planning their next adventure.

Daria is a proud member of the Ocean Cruising Club Committee, Seven Seas Cruising Association (cruising station for Ireland), American Yacht Club and Mayo Sailing Club.

The Blackwells are co-authors of Happy Hooking – The Art of Anchoringwhich has received excellent reviews in the sailing press. They periodically conduct their Happy Hooking webinar for Seven Seas University.

Their website is www.CoastalBoating.net, “the boaters’ resource for places to go and things to know”.

Further readings

• Dod A Fraser: Struck by a whale off Grand Banks
• Wikipedia: Essex (whaleship)
• Herman Melville: Moby Dick
• Nathaniel Philbrick: In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex Penguin, 2001
• Carrier, DR et al: The face that sank the Essex: potential function of the spermaceti organ in aggression. J Exp Biol 205: 1755-1763, 2002
• Maurice and Maralyn Bailey: 117 Days Adrift
• Dougal Robertson: Survive the Savage Sea& Sea Survival: A Manual
• Bill Butler: 66 Days Adrift: A True Story of Disaster and Survival on the Open Sea
• Yachting Monthly, October 2011: Whale attack! When a 6-ton boat met 12 tonnes of blubber
• ybw. com forum thread: Pilot whale attacks
• Griebel, U, Color vision in marine mammals. A review.Bright, M,Dworschak, PC, and Stachowitsch, M (Eds.) 2002: The Vienna School of Marine Biology: A Tribute to Jörg Ott. Facultas Universitätsverlag, Wien: 73-87.
• YachtingMonthly.com: Whale collisions a perennial risk, by Elaine Bunting

Also on this website

• Chance encounters between ships and whales – Part 2
• All posts about Nature
• More posts by Daria Blackwell:
  - Dancing in the Harbour
  - What I like best about cruising? Passages and anchorages: a world of your own

Have you ever noticed how a normally loving relationship can quickly turn into a battle of the anchorage?  When things don’t go as planned, people get excited. Voices are raised, get louder and louder, the words harsher, the emotions higher with every exchange.

Well it need not be such a trying ordeal.  In fact, anchoring should be a lovely dance in the harbour, a celebration of a successful passage.  That final step that signifies you’ve made it safely, and now with just a few more simple steps, it will be cocktail time, your favourite time of day.

I joined forces with my husband Alex to write a book we called “Happy Hooking – the Art of Anchoring”. (Everyone remembers the title!) It started out that we were known as “the cruisers” in the sailing club. We anchored out a lot. So we were asked to do a lecture about anchoring for all “the racers”. One thing led to another, we crossed oceans, and now our book is in its second expanded edition, we do seminars, we conduct webinars for SSCA’s Seven Seas University, and we have a course online through NauticEd. So, we talk to a lot of people about their favourite anchoring stories (and do we hear some good ones), and we hear a lot about their issues when anchoring.

Rather than doing a “how to” here (we have a repository of short excerpts from our book on our website www.CoastalBoating.net/HappyHooking), what I thought might be useful is to share with you the frustrations I’ve heard countless times from the women cruisers and some of the suggestions I’ve shared with them over the years.

Then, if you have questions or suggestions, contact me at CooastBoating.net and I’ll do my best to answer them – and of course all the wonderfully experienced women here can jump in to add their expertise!  The one thing I’ve learned for certain is that you can never know it all.

So here are a few tips on how to keep that anchoring dance a lovely swirl around the harbour rather than a jig on hot coals –just to get us started.

FRUSTRATION 1:
My partner yells instructions at me like I’ve never done this before; it’s  so annoying.

Tip 1: Take the helm.

It’s much easier than dealing with the anchor and rode. All you have to do is drive in a circle, stop the boat, and reverse gently. No heavy lifting. He can’t shout instructions about anchoring if he’s the one doing the lifting.

We have a rule on board: NO SHOUTING.

Alternatively, take him aside afterwards and calmly explain that you feel humiliated when he treats you like you don’t know what you’re doing, and you don’t appreciate it. Ask him to let you demonstrate your competence next time without step by step instructions.  Very often, people don’t even realize that they are doing something that’s not appreciated until they are told outright.

By the way, I know it sounds like a gender bias thing here; but honestly I’ve never heard a complaint from a man that his female partner yells at him.

FRUSTRATION 2:
The boat can’t back. It always goes sideways when we anchor and I’m afraid we’re going to drift into boats nearby.

Tip 2: Snub along the way.

If your boat starts to drift sideways, it’s because you’re going too slow to have steerage and the wind grabs it.

To overcome that tendency, snub (temporarily secure) the rode and stop letting out more until the boat straightens out. The anchor, as long as it is already touching the bottom, should catch just enough to set lightly, the breeze will swing you slowly around, straighten out the rode, and your boat will realign itself with the anchor. Once you are aligned again, continue to let our more rode until you have adequate scope. (This actually helps the anchor set as well.) Then you can set the anchor properly.

FRUSTRATION 3: I can’t hear what he’s saying, especially when the wind is blowing.

Tip 3: Establish hand signals.

• Karate chop forward: forward.
• Karate chop backward: reverse.
• Arm out to the right palm forward: head right.
• Arm bent at elbow: head left.
• Arm out to the right palm down moving up and down: Slow down.
• Arm straight up: Stop.
• Arm circling: go around again.
• One thumb up: Anchor’s off the bottom.
• Two thumbs up: Anchor is back on board and secure.
• Cut your neck with your hand: Stop yelling.

Tip 3a: Get a set of radios.

FRS or walkie talkie radios with headsets for hands free operation are great for communication while anchoring, especially for use in the dusk or night time emergency when the wind scatters every word to kingdom come (see also: Interpersonal Communications). The EU equivalent is the PMR446 Pan European Radio system which uses similar (often the same) models as FRS but chipped for a different frequency.

FRUSTRATION 4:
I can never tell how far we are from other boats – I can’t judge distances so I can’t tell if we are too close

Tip 4: Get yourself an inexpensive rangefinder.

You can find them for golfers online for very little money.  All you have to do is gauge how high an object is to have it tell you how far away it is.  Most masts are about 50 feet tall. So there you go.

FRUSTRATION 5:
Our anchor never holds on the first try when we set it, so we always have to re-anchor multiple times.

There could be a couple of reasons for this.

Tip 5:  Use the right anchor.

You could be using the wrong anchor for the bottom type.

A fluke style anchor, such as a Fortress, likes muddy bottoms. A plow type anchor, like a Delta or CQR, likes hard bottoms. They won’t set right and won’t hold right in the wrong conditions.

If you have a new generation anchor, like Spade, Rocna, Manson Supreme, or Ultra, you will most likely not have this problem as they tend to work well in all kinds of bottoms. (see also: Anchor Selection)

Tip 5a: More Scope.

It could simply be that you didn’t let out enough scope for the anchor to address the bottom at an effective angle. Let out more scope when you set the anchor. You can always shorten the scope after the anchor is set if need be.

Tip 5b:  Slow down.

We often see people rushing. Just slowing down helps – stop the boat, drop the anchor slowly while reversing at idle speed and let out plenty of rode (5:1 minimum), tugging gently on the rode to help it grab. Then give the anchor some time to settle.  Finally, set the anchor by putting the engine into reverse gently at idle speed. If you gun it right away, you are likely to yank it out.

If you are expecting a blow, gradually increase the engine speed until you feel the anchor bury itself and you can verify by objects ashore that you are not moving (see box below).

FRUSTRATION 6:
We seem to drag anchor more than anyone else, and always at the worst times

Tip 6:  Get a new anchor.

There can be multiple reasons why your boat would drag anchor, including using too little scope (less than 5:1) and having too small an anchor for your boat’s displacement.

If your anchor is a CQR, then read all the recent independent reports on how poorly a CQR performs relative to the newer anchor designs. Plows are meant to plow, and a CQR does just that.  It was a great design in the 1930s when it was introduced, but it is truly outdated.

Your boat is a huge investment. Protect it with good safety gear – i.e., anchor.

But, if you think you are doing things right and you still keep dragging, it may also be that your anchor is worn or damaged. An anchor that is damaged will not perform as intended ever again. A bent fluke or shaft or a worn hinge is all it takes to cause an anchor to roll out to its weak side.

The same goes with cheap knockoffs. They are not built to exacting specifications. So if the anchor doesn’t hold every time, get a new anchor. And you can’t go wrong if you oversize it.

FRUSTRATION 7:
I can never seem to tell if the anchor is set.

Tip 7: Feel the rode.

That’s an easy one. First off, many of the new anchors bite the bottom so hard that you can see the rode get bar taught and feel the boat shudder when it comes to a grinding halt.  But there is another way, put your foot or hand carefully on the rode where it leaves the boat while the engine is in reverse. If the anchor has not set, you’ll feel it jiggling as the anchor bounces along the bottom. If the anchor is set, you won’t feel a thing.

Tip 7a: Take bearings.

Pick out two stationary objects – one nearer and one farther away. If they move in relation to each other, you are moving. If not, then you are stationary.

You can also set a GPS alarm. There are loads of apps that serve that purpose these days.

FRUSTRATION 8.
I have no idea how much rode we have out. All our markers have worn off.

Tip 8: Refresh your geometry.

The proportions of a triangle always remain the same no matter how big the triangle gets as long as the angles of the triangle remain the same. The triangle made by the surface of the water, the height from the surface to the deck, and the length of the rode above the surface are proportional to the same distances measured at the bottom. So if you see 25 feet of rode above the surface and your bow is 5 feet above the water, you have 5:1 scope all the way down. The rode has to be completely stretched out so it works best with rope rode, but it is pretty close for guess work. Pretty cool, eh? (see also: A Simple Way to Check Scope)

FRUSTRATION 9-52:
…Your turn…

For more on this topic

Check out our book: “Happy Hooking – the Art of Anchoring”, the best-selling anchoring book on amazon.com. It is available from Amazon worldwide in print and Kindle format.

About Daria Blackwell

Daria Blackwell is a USCG licensed Captain. She and her husband Alex, and cruising kitty Onyx, have crossed the Atlantic three times in three years aboard their Bowman 57 ketch Aleria, spending years cruising the Caribbean and Atlantic islands as well as the American and European coasts. They are now in Ireland planning their next adventure.

Daria is a proud member of the Ocean Cruising Club Committee, Seven Seas Cruising Association (cruising station for Ireland), American Yacht Club and Mayo Sailing Club.  She and Alex periodically conduct their Happy Hooking webinar for Seven Seas University.

More from Daria Blackwell on this website:

• What I like best about cruising? Passages and anchorages: a world of your own
• Chance encounters between ships and whales:  Part 1 – Part 2

If you’ve never sampled a webinar, it’s the best thing to come along for learning in the comfort of your own home or boat. All you need is a computer and broadband.

We’ll be transmitting from Ireland, you’ll be chatting with us from wherever, and it will be an interactive experience to remember. Ask your most pressing questions online or email us afterwards. We’re here to help.

So if you want to brush up on what’s new out there that can help you stay put and wake up where you went to sleep, join us on June 7. To register, just go to the Seven Seas U website.

If you can’t make the live webinar, you can still download a recording for viewing at your leisure or you can sample our Anchoring a Sailboat Clinic at NauticEd.

NauticEd is a comprehensive new educational website for sailors, offering bareboat certification for chartering among many other courses for cruisers.

The Anchoring Clinic covers most of the same material as the webinar but in a self-paced written online course. It is set up in modules with a short test after each module.

Once you pass all the module tests, you’ll receive a certificate of completion. That certificate satisfies one of the requirements of the Bareboat Certification offered by NauticEd. You don’t need to complete the whole series to take our course. If you’re already a competent cruiser but just want a quick update on what’s new in anchors and anchoring, you can review this at your leisure.

NauticEd has some very useful apps and sailing games available free of charge so visit NauticEd website and check out our anchoring clinic.

I am pleased to offer 10% off the price of the Anchoring a Sailboat Clinic to Women and Cruising! Just enter hookbook10 as the promo code. Once you complete the course, you can also set up your own promo code (under the referrals tab when you log in) to get $10 off any additional  courses everytime someone signs up for a course using your new referral promo code.

The most comprehensive resource on anchoring is our book, “Happy Hooking. The Art of Anchoring.” It is available at coastalboating.net and at amazon.com.You can take it with you wherever you go.

Just this month it was endorsed by Practical Boat Owner in the UK after getting loads of favorable reviews in the States.

I’ll be starting a blog post with anchoring tips for women in the months to come, so send me your pressing questions, your pet peeves, and your best anchoring stories. We tackle them all together!

Happy Hooking! From Daria Blackwell…a new Admiral!

About Daria Blackwell

Daria Blackwell is a lifelong sailor and passionate cruiser. She has completed three Atlantic crossings and spent years cruising the coasts of the Americas and Europe, as well as the Bahamas, the Caribbean islands, and the Atlantic islands, most recently double-handing on their vintage 57-foot ketch, Aleria, with her husband, Alex, and cruising kitty, Onyx.

Daria holds a USCG OUPV Captain’s license and is a member of SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association), Mayo Sailing Club (Westport, Ireland) and American Yacht Club (Rye, NY). The Blackwells are also the organizers of the SSCA cruising station for Ireland.

The Blackwells are co-authors of Happy Hooking: The Art of Anchoring, which has received excellent reviews in the sailing press. Their seminar on anchoring has drawn large crowds and delivered exceptional attendee critiques and comments (Reference: SailAmerica). Most recently, they have been delivering seminars (on anchoring as well as other cruising topics) online and live via the Seven Seas University of SSCA, GLCC, yacht clubs and boat shows.

Daria is a frequent author about their sailing adventures, contributing to Cruising World, Classic Boat, Latitudes & Attitudes Seafaring, Practical Boat Owner, Ireland Afloat, Offshore, Windcheck, Spinsheet, Points East and elsewhere. For many years, Daria and Alex served as the webmasters for the website of American Yacht Club and launched the popular www.CoastalBoating.net, “the boaters’ resource for places to go and things to know”. As founders of Sail4Kids Make a Memory Cruise, the Blackwells were recognized with prestigious awards by both American Yacht Club and the International Society for Perpetuation of Cruelty to Racing Yachtsmen.

Read also on this website:

• What I like best about cruising? Passages and anchorages: a world of your own, by Daria Blackwell

More information

• For more information on this webinar or to register, go to: Seven Seas U: Happy Hooking webinar. Can’t make the webinar? You can also download it later or buy the book.
• The NauticEd Anchoring Clinic.
• Happy Hooking – the Art of Anchoring is available on www.Coastalboating.net and Amazon.com
  .

Do you have a question on anchoring?

Let us know. Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

Please join us for a lively interactive learning session about everyone’s favorite topic: anchoring. Don’t be intimidated by anchoring bullies. Here are the details:

Education for those long winter months – Seven Seas University Presents:

Happy Hooking – the Art of Anchoring

• with Captains Daria & Alex Blackwell
• Saturday February 12 at 1000 CST (1100 EST, 1600 GMT)

Whether you are sailing your own vessel locally or chartering in the Caribbean or beyond, knowing how to safely and effectively anchor is one of the most essential and liberating skills you can have.

Knowing about anchors, rodes, anchorages and anchoring techniques is a prerequisite for enjoying an evening in a magically beautiful setting as well as getting a good night’s sleep while swinging from the hook.

Much has changed over the years and the new gear offers serious technical advances over the older standard options.  The goal of this session is to either help you get more confident using the gear you have, or to help you select new gear and understand how to deploy it correctly.  We’ll be discussing available equipment and its performance under simulated and real conditions.

In addition, we will cover:

• Tackle and Anchor Selection
• Techniques for Setting the Anchor
• Scope, Chafe, Snubbers, Kellets, Trip Lines and More
• Anchorage Selection: Charts & Guides, Picking Your Spot, Swing Radius
• Setting Two Anchors and Med Mooring
• Weighing Anchor
• Anchoring Etiquette

Visit Seven Seas U to register today!

About Daria Blackwell

Daria Blackwell is a lifelong sailor and passionate cruiser. She has completed three Atlantic crossings and spent years cruising the coasts of the Americas and Europe, as well as the Bahamas, the Caribbean islands, and the Atlantic islands, most recently double-handing on their vintage 57-foot ketch, Aleria, with her husband, Alex, and cruising kitty, Onyx.

Daria holds a USCG OUPV Captain’s license and is a member of SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association), Mayo Sailing Club (Westport, Ireland) and American Yacht Club (Rye, NY). The Blackwells are also the organizers of the SSCA cruising station for Ireland.

The Blackwells are co-authors of Happy Hooking: The Art of Anchoring, which has received excellent reviews in the sailing press. Their seminar on anchoring has drawn large crowds and delivered exceptional attendee critiques and comments (Reference: SailAmerica). Most recently, they have been delivering seminars (on anchoring as well as other cruising topics) online and live via the Seven Seas University of SSCA, GLCC, yacht clubs and boat shows.

Daria is a frequent author about their sailing adventures, contributing to Cruising World, Classic Boat, Latitudes & Attitudes Seafaring, Practical Boat Owner, Ireland Afloat, Offshore, Windcheck, Spinsheet, Points East and elsewhere. For many years, Daria and Alex served as the webmasters for the website of American Yacht Club and launched the popular www.CoastalBoating.net, “the boaters’ resource for places to go and things to know”. As founders of Sail4Kids Make a Memory Cruise, the Blackwells were recognized with prestigious awards by both American Yacht Club and the International Society for Perpetuation of Cruelty to Racing Yachtsmen.

More information

• For more information on this webinar or to register, go to: Seven Seas U: Happy Hooking webinar.
  Can’t make the webinar? You can also download it later or buy the book.
• Happy Hooking – the Art of Anchoring is available on www.Coastalboating.net and Amazon.com.

Do you have a question on anchoring?

Let us know. Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.