How to Anchor a Boat to the Shore

If you plan to "get away from it all" on the water, you'll want to be prepared to get ashore wherever and whenever necessary. When off in the dockless wilds of a lake, you don't want your boat washed up on shore or floating away leaving you stranded. So here's the basics of anchoring the boat.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 2 lengths of marine quality rope long enough for the water depth and distance to shore, and strong enough for the size of your boat.
• 2 anchors capable of holding the boat even in a storm.

1. 1. The stern (back) anchor must be securely tied to your rope ready for use. The second rope should be secured to the bow (front) of the boat.

2. 2. Approach a strange shore slowly watching for submerged rocks or logs.

3. 3. Drop the stern anchor while the water is still deep enough to protect the boat from hitting anything.

4. 4. Allow the boat to continue drifting close to shore to a point where you can safely get off at the bow, and then tie off the stern anchor line to the boat.

5. 5. Take the bow line and get off the bow of the boat. If the shore has trees or something to tie the bow line to, no anchor is needed. If there is only a bare rock or sand shore, you need the second anchor.

6. 6. Double check your mooring! If the wind can blow the boat close enough that it hits bottom, get back to the stern line and tie it off tighter. The stern anchor is the only thing keeping your boat from being wrecked on the shore. The bow line serves to make it easy to climb back on board.

Tips & Warnings

• Just as different licenses and knowledge are needed to drive a car, bus, or semi, on the water much depends upon whether you are in a motor boat, sailboat, yacht, or ship. Dropping a sail complicates dropping the anchor. On salt water you have to consider the changes in tide. Check for available charts wherever you are going.

[Daiquiri]

on 6/3/2009 This is a great article! Reminds me of countless boating/camping trips as a kid - the boat was anchored at the beach where we camped for 2 weeks at a time. Whoever was in charge didn't know these tips though - we woke every morning to the boat horizontal to the shore and we had to shove it back out :) Thanks for commenting today on the hanging tomato article I did. I answered your questions in my comments section so other readers could see the answers too. Have a great day!

[strethx3]

on 5/26/2009 Now I can pitch in when we go boating with friends. Thanks