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This Island Packet still has both mooring pendants fully intact. One of the two anchors however has broken free and is chafing the pendants.


Some of you may remember my rantings on various sailing boards about folks leaving anchors on their bows, in exposed mooring fields, during rough weather. If your mooring field has the fetch to build waves that can pitch the bow of your boat enough to impinge on the anchor then it can be a rude & inconsiderate practice to the boaters around you, who may get hit by your drifting boat if you do not remove your anchor when a blow is expected. Many times chafe comes from the chocks but after motoring around the anchorage the morning after this short storm I saw that most of the chafe was anchor related.



For some time now, I have been trying to capture the "moment" on film to really drive the point home about removing your anchor from the bow if a storm is coming. Some folks actually get it and can visualize the impact their anchor may have on the pendants, but many still don't.

I think this Island Packet is a prime example of "my anchors are protected by a bow sprit, I don't need to remove them" line of reasoning. This owner likely had no idea his or her boat could pitch this much in Falmouth, ME. This was not even one of the bad storms we've seen.


In my opinion any anchor than can interfere with any pendant in rough weather has no place remaining on the bow of a boat.