Dropping the hook in tricky waters Lindsay McRory June 3, 1996 Summer weather patterns are settling in. The days are hot and the winds are light and variable. Every other day, afternoon sqalls bring wind and rain. Sailing is getting pretty much routine, athough we find ourselves concentrating on skills we thought were honed from our years sailing in the Pacific Northwest. Anchoring, weather forecasting, navigating reefs and shallows. These are some of the skills we continue working on. Anchoring, in particular, continues to test us. From shore, it looks pretty easy: sail into an anchorage, find some room, toss the hook, and pull hard in reverse. Not here in the Bahamas. We have a unique drill now. First pull into an anchorage and study it for a few minutes. Then figure out where we want to be and why. Most people seem to drop anchor near another boat, assuming it's a good location. In a large harbor, it's not uncommon to see most boats grouped together in a small section, even if it is not the ideal spot. After figuring out where we want to be and why, we head slowly towards our spot from downwind or down current, whichever is stronger. Denise is at the helm and I watch the bottom from the bow. We are moving at less than a quarter knot. We have hand signals to indicate faster, slower, forward, neutral, reverse, right rudder, hard right rudder, left rudder, hard left rudder. My job at the bow is to find something for the anchor to bite into, like a patch of sand, an obvious hole or depression, or a mound. Once a good anchor site is spotted, Denise puts the boat in neutral and I lower the anchor until it's touching the water. We have overshot the spot now, but the wind or current will stop the boat and start us drifting backwards. Once we are over the spot, I let the anchor down. If we're using the MAX anchor, we keep drifting back until all of the scope is out. Then I wait for the the rode to take a couple of good tugs from the boat. Then Denise will pull on the anchor slowly in reverse. If we're setting the CQR, we usually let out only half the scope, let it set, then pull on it in reverse, then let out the rest of the scope. I'm not sure why this is, but if we set the CQR with full scope it wants to set on one side. If we set the the MAX with 1/2 scope it wants to set on its side. Anyway, these seems to be the basic rules for these anchoring conditions, which are almost always turtle grass over thin sand or hard mud. After the anchor or anchors are down, I don the snorkeling gear and check them out. If the set is not good I may try to reset them by hand or we will start over again. The entire process can take almost an hour from when we enter an anchorage until the engine is shut off. On another note, we find the name of Hakuna Matata draws some interesting comments. Unless you have kids (who watch the movie "The Lion King") or speak Swahili, the name Hakuna Matata won't mean much, although a lot of people try to guess. We've had some pretty good ones so far: Haluan Matata ... 'Oh, you're from Hawaii!' Hakuna Matata ... 'That's Japanese for what?' Hakuna Matata ... 'Isn't that Italian?' Hakuna Matata ... 'Is that your kids' names?'