Are We Anchored Too Close?

YES.

Avemar is anchored in the Great Salt Pond in Block Island, RI. We have 110 feet of 3/8” chain out in 27 feet of water. We’ve swung from north to northeast for the past few days, and the anchor has consistently been between 101 and 108 feet from the bow.

I always worry about dragging, so I leave the chart plotter on to check the distance from the anchor anytime. I also religiously look at the chart plotter above the nav desk when cooking, sitting here, or just walking by. I can even check it from my phone when ashore.

There is an alarm if Avemar moves more than a certain distance from the spot where the anchor was dropped. It’s currently set at 125’ and hasn’t alerted me yet.

I’m 99% sure we’re set firm, but I still watch.

Great Salt Pond is an active place. Hundreds of boats of all types are anchored in a small circular bay about a mile wide. It is a beehive of activity on the weekends, and there are too many boats to count.

Everyone anchored here will be relatively close to another boat. It’s just the nature of a popular place with many other people and watercraft inside a small space.

My anchoring routine, which I follow every time, has proven effective after thousands of miles. Of course, I’ve dragged a few times and ended up too close to other boats. Everyone has.

Although I’ve taken all the necessary precautions to give me confidence that Avemar will stay put even if the winds change or pick up while I’m ashore, I still watch that anchor marker on the chart plotter and how the boat swings when the wind shifts.

It never fails that someone comes into a river, harbor, anchorage, or even out in a wide-open bay and drops their hook nearby. The first anchored boat seems to signal to other boats that ‘that spot’ must be good because someone else thought it was good, so they drop their hook there, too.

It also never fails that another boat nearby asked the question:

“Are we anchored too close?”

My answer will always be, “Yes! Go anchor on the other side of the river, a mile away, somewhere I can’t see you.”

My answer will always be, “Yes.”

All I can count on is that I’ve anchored the best I can, and I’m confident that I have done everything I know how to do so that Avemar should be safe around other ships that were here when I set the hook.

The skippers who ask the question are the ones who chose a poor spot, or are not confident in their anchoring skills.

“Are we too close?”

How would you reply?