How difficult is it to attach your boat to land? Pretty simple should be the answer. You can either drive up to a dock, stop the boat and tie some ropes to the cleats, or, more in Ruffian’s budget style, you just chuck the anchor over the front, let out plenty of chain and then sleep soundly. After anchoring again and again in Rodney Bay we can now write a book called ‘How not to anchor: A practical illustrated guide.’

Unusually a cold front was making it’s way down from north America giving us southerly winds and a northerly swell. All the VHF and SSB nets were alive with chat as to where you could shelter from this. We didn’t have to partake in this chatter as we eyed a spot in the furthest corner of Rodney Bay. We’d surveyed our charts and like all the charts on Ruffian they were bang up to date, last surveyed in 1887, with ‘There be beasties here’ labelled on them.

We motored over into the corner and Iain let the anchor fly. With lots of chain out we could feel the anchor just skipping along the seabed as it polished its pointy tip on the smooth rock below. Attempt 1: Fail.

Thinking that our 1887 charts might tell another story we interrogated them further and yep, there was rock there 120 years ago, but just yards further away there should be sand. Would the sand from 1887 still be there?

With Ruffian expertly positioned by Fiona over the S/Rck on the charts, again the anchor hit the bottom. This time as we pulled on the chain, we could tell we’d struck sand and had dug into something, but instead of the bow pointing at the place were we dropped the anchor it was pointing in a completely different direction. This wasn’t good. Jumping into the water we found the chain doing zip zags along the sea bed trapped by rocks that were surrounded by sand. Attempt 2: Epic fail.

Trying again, again a little further away, the windless spun into life as the chain whizzed around it. This time we knew we’d dropped in sand. We could see the sand from the bow and even a little puff of it as the anchor hit. But then instead of tension coming onto the chain and Ruffian stopping we just kept going backwards. What was doing on? With a closer inspection required we found a mess on the seabed. The chain, tripline and anchor swivel were all wrapped around the anchor shaft turning our very expensive Manson Supreme anchor into basically a piece of pig iron. Attempt 3: Epic, epic fail.

As we were getting closer to sand we thought that we’d pull the thing up from the deep and again chuck it down just a little further away. This time as we used the engine to pull on the anchor Ruffian stopped as if she’d just been driven into a wall. We’d dug into something and nothing but a hurricane would move us.

Again just to make sure that everything was OK on the seabed Iain dived in and was surrounded by a world of sand. Happy days. He followed the chain along a featureless seabed and finally got to the anchor.

Instead of being embedded deep into sandy bottom it was sitting it a big hole in a big rock with the chain wrapped around, literally, rock hard pinnacles and both under and over the rocky overhang before snaking off into a world of sand. We were securely attached to the bottom and would probably be secure in a hurricane, but so much so that we’d never be able to move again. Attempt 4: Epic epic epic fail.

The chain was wound in and in 8 meters of water we had 8 meters of chain out. It was so tight it we could have strummed a high G by giving it a gentle flick. Trying to get more chain onto the boat would just result in slowing pulling Ruffians bow to the seabed and not the anchor to the surface.

There was noting for it but for Iain to once again dive in and do his best to untangle things. Down the chain he went and started wandering around the seabed. With some slack in the chain he could look up at Ruffian, untangle the chain and then simply pick up the anchor up and walk it to a less ‘holey’ spot. All a very surreal experience.

Getting very very bored of the anchor down, anchor up game and having manually wind up 200 meters of chain we returned, 3 hours later and an awful lot wiser to a spot near where we’d started the day, sheltered from the wind, but exposed to the swell. Rockily night here we come. Epic, epic, epic, epic fail.

‘How not to anchor: A practical illustrated guide: Figure 1: Surrounded by rock.’


‘How not to anchor: A practical illustrated guide: Figure 2: Chain on rock.’


‘How not to anchor: A practical illustrated guide: Figure 3: Tangled mess.’


‘How not to anchor: A practical illustrated guide: Figure 4: Anchor in rocky hole.’


‘How not to anchor: A practical illustrated guide: Figure 5: Finally dug into sand.’