Choosing and setting
How Scope is calculated on depth at HIGH water plus your bow height, not the depth you see now. Anchoring at low water on short scope is how boats drag at 0300.
How 7:1 for overnight, 5:1 if crowded and settled, 10:1 if it is going to blow. Rode length divided by (depth at high water + bow roller height above water).
How Mud and sand hold. Rock, kelp and shell often do not.
How Walk a full circle around the boat mentally at full rode. Include what happens when the current reverses at slack and everyone swings differently — boats on chain swing differently from boats on rope.
How Let it settle, then astern gently until the rode comes taut and the boat stops. Increase power and hold. Watch a beam transit ashore — if it moves, you are dragging.
How Two objects ashore in line. Cheaper and more reliable than any alarm, and it works with the power off.
How Takes the shock load off the windlass and stops the chain from snatching.
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Emergencies — Mayday script and six procedures · All checklists