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All the modern lightweight sailboats with high freeboard swing enormous angles whilst at anchor and in strong winds this puts a big load on the anchor. When there is a gust the bow swings off the wind first as the foot of the hull is so shallow. I’ve tried raising a small sail on the back stay (like a ketch) which only improved the situation slightly. I tried a navy method of a line from the midship cleat to the anchor chain some way off the bow but this did not work. The boat just swung over this line.
For instance – in a force 9 in Larne harbour recently with the plough dug in and 40 metres of chain down the boat swung through 90 degrees, pulled the anchor out and we were dragging with the boat beam on to the wind. Ketches with a the mizzen up dont do this. Our attempt to replicate the mizzen as above didn’t work. Tried buckets hanging off the stern which just rwrapped round the rudder. For extreme conditions I now have a stern anchor and can set it just slightly off the wind on one side but this is useless in a tidal river.
Does anybody know how to stop the swing at anchor. I have no confidence in my Bavaria at anchor.
I dont think you should be surprised if there was a F9 blowing ,what was the depth, and what sort of bottom was there?. Where there any swell or waves. We have dragged a few times when you do there is only one thing to do ,start the engine and reanchor or put to sea,thats bad enough in a F9 ,to have a stern anchor out adds to the problems.All boats veer in strong and gusty conditions.
Rgds Bill “Stardust”HI Keith,
We had the same problem with our prior boat (a Coronado 25) and I was disappointed to discover that our new Bavaria 31 swings way more than I expected it to when on the hook. I bought an anchor sail (their “standard one”) from Banner Bay Marine that worked really well for our old boat, but doesn’t seem to work so well on our Bavaria. I’m pretty sure I’m going to buy the newer “fin delta” model from them, as I suspect it will work better. Check out the info and testimonials on this at their website – it makes sense to me that this could solve the problem. I don’t worry too much about our anchor dragging because of the swing (we”ve been out in winds up to 20 knots or so, but with a lot of chain out it’s not been a problem) but it drives me CRAZY (and makes me a bit seasick) to swing a lot. If you buy a fin delta (or if someone else out there has one) make sure you drop me a note to let me know if it solves the problem! Here is the Banner Bay website:
https://www.bannerbaymarine.com/
Riyad
SV “Battuta”
Vancouver, CanadaThanks for the info Riyad on the Banner Bay sail. I had one of these manufactured out of PVC just as an experiment. It is of the same design. Whilst on a bouy at Oban in Scotland we checked the angle of swing without the sail and with the sail. There was a marginal improvement. I could increase the size of the sail but it would become unmanageable. The foot of the sail is from the rear end of the boom to the backstay and about twice as high. If I increase the foot length there is the danger of the sail hitting the backstay. I could make it higher but not much. I think the root cause of the problem is that the forefoot of the hull is not deep enough. I dont think there is a solution other than to buy a proper sailing boat!
RegardsIf I tried to anchor my Bav in a F9 I’d expect it to swing about a bit. Try the same trick in a Jeanneau or Beneteau or Elan and you’ll get the same result, in much lower wind strength. I know, I’ve done it.
Ian Culley
Further to my initial comments – I was in Larne N.Ireland during the summer and with a 22kg plough and 40 metres of chain down in just 4 metres in a force 9 and the Bavaria 37 swung so much that it was almost beam on and the anchor just pulled out of the the thick heavy mud. AND the boat just kept dragging beam on. The wind on the bow overroad the drag on the anchor. I was just able to get the chain in with the electric winch motoring up. It was so rough that the local inflatable lifeboat had to help my wife get onto a bouy. I could not leave the helm as I had to keep the bow into the wind. Just 2 seconds off the helm and the boat had swung beam on. Even an oversize anchor didn’t work. Even the bow thruster could not hold the bow. The root cause of the problem is the lack of depth in the hull at the bow.
Entertaining for the Larne yacht club members watching!
Dont buy a Bavaria for bad weather. Probably applies to all light boats with no deep forefoot.
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