Wish I had seen this article two years ago before a BVI charter trip. Our second night out and the following 5 were under Small Craft Warnings (35+ knot winds at night). When we were able to get a mooring - we swung and heeled wildly all night which meant no sleep for the Captain (me of course). The only problem I see here is the location of the tackle we use to moor - The bow anchor locker - and I don't see me handling some 200'+ of chain off the stern easily. But it may be worth a try - just to see what happens. :rolleyes:

I am certainly willing to try. I can count too many times my anchor rode wrapped around my keel and wedge in between the rudder.

I wonder how well a C36 would do in storm conditions anchored from the stern. Reading the article made me wonder how wise it would be with an open transom boat that has a big, low companionway.

The article mentioned that when anchored stern to the weather the boat tended not to ride up waves and waves tended to board the boat. Its not much good if the boat behaves well, while waves slam over the stern and down the companion way until the boat sinks.

I was just reading the USCG Federal Requirements to see how our Canadian safety requirements mesh with the US ones. On pages 60 and 61 there is a little lesson on anchoring, and on page 61 in red letters it says "Do Not anchor from the stern!!!", exclamation marks are theirs. They obviously think it's not a good thing to do.

I've only ever seen it done once, that was in pictures a friend of ours showed us taken on a trip they did to the Grenadines. They were in a big stinkboat belonging to a friend and they anchored off this beach stern to so that the wind would blow through the boat from stern to bow, they were anchored very close to the beach, 50 feet out at most so there was no wave action hitting the stern. Not something I would do, but they said under the circumstances it worked fine.

Of course at bedtime they started up the generator and ran the air all night. But that's another story, isn't it.

I was peripherally involved with attempting to assist a Dufour 34 that had accidentally anchored itself from the stern after an unsecured bow anchor departed the bow in a seaway, got wrapped around the prop, and anchored itself in 100 feet of water. Winds were 15-plus in Puget Sound, relatively sheltered waters (no swells, only wind waves) and with not much fetch, so you'd think it wouldn't have been a problem. But their crew stated they DID NOT like the uncomfortable ride in that situation. Our boat was unsuccessful in towing them free. When a professional diver arrived he refused to dive on the boat to clear the prop. He said it was not safe, with the boat that active.

I suspect marine board and USCG prohibitions against anchoring from the stern are intended primarily for recreational boaters, such as small fishing vessels, because when they anchor by the stern (in current) people die. We emphasize this time and again in the boater education courses for new boaters. A neophyte boater might anchor by the stern intentionally from ignorance, but more typically it happens accidentally, to novice and experienced boaters alike, when an anchor line or crab pot line wraps around the prop of an outboard. A moment's inattention, a line around the prop, and it instantly swamps the boat. It happened here on the Columbia River a year or two back, when a local priest and his brother and a friend went crabbing near Astoria, and theory says their crab pot accidentally wrapped around the O/B and within seconds they were drowning in the 2 knots river current. A very sad loss; all three died. Lesson: the blunt end of a boat is not designed to allow water to flow sweetly around it.

Another lesson: always wear a pfd.

I visited that website briefly and saw this: "...Fifteen years at sea with the series drogue has demonstrated that a yacht will not be "pooped", and the rudder and companionway doors will not be damaged by mooring from the stern. The cockpit may occasionally fill from waves slopping aboard..."

First, that is is the definition of "pooped" the cockpit filling with water from a wave. Second, that sounds really comfortable at anchor, having the cockpit occasionally FILL from waves. I'll take the port and starboardyawing motion any day over that.

While a few boats may be an exception, I do not recommend anchoring from the stern unless you have a really good reason to do it for brief periods in extremely settled weather.

Yesturday, after a beautiful sail down the lake, in 15knots of breeze, with the sunny slowly setting and 28C conditions, we rafted up with a 320 to share a brew and watch the fireworks. After they finished we motored in the dark around to the lee shore for a night on the anchor. At 2am, I awoke to a loud slapping sound. So I got up to investigate (and enjoy the freedom of peeing off the back of the boat). The boat was pointing into the gentle breeze, but there was a 4" chop coming towards the stern (against the prevailing wind) - and that was slapping into the stern.

I was thinking of changing the boat around, so that it was pointing into the chop, but SWMBO said - don't worry,it will ease soon.... This may have been the ideal situation to swing the boat around and moor from the stern.

Yes, the slap of a chop under the counter can be annoying. It is a rare occurrence, in my experience, but once we were in a slip where the stern was exposed to the fetch. In this case conditions were not going to change for a day or so, but I thought of a quick and easy solution: At night I tied the inflatable dinghy athwartship, across the stern. Thus the dink formed a 'breakwater' that dampened the waves and the noise.