The anchor, the lines and the dinghy are the gear you handle every day, and the gear most often lost or broken. See each piece yourself at the base, try it, and learn how the briefing wants it used.
1 · Anchor and chain
Sign for what you have seen at the bow
What should I check on the anchor and chain before signing for a charter yacht?
Go to the bow and see it yourself: ask for the chain marks and write their colour code on the form, check the bitter end is lashed with rope you can cut, and photograph a cracked roller or missing pin.
Go to the bow before you sign for the ground tackle: anchor on the roller, chain in the locker. Ask for the chain marks and write the colour code on the form: scope is counted by the marks. The bitter end should be lashed with rope you can cut in an emergency, not shackled hard.
Photograph a cracked roller or a missing pin and write it down: damage not on the form is yours at check-out. An anchor that comes up upside down on a twisted chain needs a swivel. A blocked locker drain is cleared. Have the second anchor dug out with its warp and shackle. With a rope rode, look for sharp edges where it meets the roller.
2 · Windlass
Test every control, keep hands off the chain
Why does the anchor windlass do nothing when I press the foot switch?
Usually its breaker is off. Switch it on and use the windlass with the engine running, or its current flattens the house battery. If the motor runs but the gypsy does not turn, the clutch is slipping.
Run the chain out and in from both foot switches and from the remote. Nothing at all usually means its breaker is off. Use the windlass with the engine running: its current would flatten the house battery. If the motor runs but the gypsy does not turn, the clutch is slipping: tighten it with the windlass handle, which also frees it to lower by hand.
Rule
Chain is cleared with the windlass stopped, never by hand while it runs.
3 · Anchoring
Sand, scope, and a pull to prove it
How much anchor chain should I let out in the Mediterranean?
With all chain, 4–5 times the depth, measured from the bow roller, and more for a windy night: in 6 m with the roller 1 m up, about 30 m. Drop it on pale sand, not weed or rock.
B: pale sand holds. The anchor skids over weed and jams in rock.
With all chain the usual Mediterranean scope is 4–5 times the depth, measured from the bow roller, and more for a windy night: choose a sheltered bay shallow enough for your chain.
Set the anchor by reversing slowly, then at about 1,500 rpm, watching a transit ashore. For the night give the plotter's anchor alarm the chain out plus a boat length and a margin: 35 m of chain and a 14 m boat make about 55 m. By day an anchored vessel shows a black ball forward, at night the all-round white light.
4 · The chain's load
The windlass lifts chain, nothing more
Can I leave the anchor chain on the windlass overnight?
No: the load goes onto a snubber hooked to the chain and made fast to a cleat, with the chain slack on the gypsy behind it. A catamaran uses a bridle to both bows.
At anchor the load goes onto the snubber, hooked to the chain and made fast to a cleat, with the chain slack behind it. A catamaran uses a bridle to both bows, which stops her sheering. To weigh, motor slowly up the chain so the windlass lifts only slack. Where old chains foul the bottom, rig a buoyed trip line on the anchor's crown.
Before a passage close the chain stopper, fit the roller pin and switch the breaker off: a kicked foot switch cannot then drop the anchor.
5 · Stern-to
Quays, lazy lines, buoys and lines ashore
How far from the quay do I drop the anchor when mooring stern-to?
About four boat lengths off when there are no lazy lines: drop it closer and it never bites. Come in square to the gap, then reverse in.
B: square to the gap, then reverse in.
Without lazy lines you drop the anchor about four boat lengths off the quay: closer and it never bites. If the wind turns onshore, take chain in to pull the stern off, ease the stern lines and lift the passerelle. With a lazy line, keep its slack out of the water and clear of the propeller while it is walked forward; have gloves and a boat hook that locks. The base wants the boat back on its own berth, on its lazy line, on time.
Situation
What you do
Mooring buoy
A line through the ring and back to the same cleat, then a second
Leaving a quay early
Double each stern line through its ring and slip it from aboard
A neighbour's chain on your anchor
Take its weight on a line, lower your anchor clear, slip the line
Boats lying on lines ashore
Anchor and take a long line ashore as they do
See how the passerelle fits, and lash it down for passages.
6 · Lines and fenders
Long enough, sound, and guarded from chafe
How long should a stern line be for Med mooring?
At least a boat length, because it goes to the quay and back; add a long line for the shore. Guard it from chafe at the fairlead and the quay edge: chafe, not strain, parts mooring lines.
A stern line goes to the quay and back, so it is at least a boat length; add a long line for the shore. A hard, chafed line is the base's to replace. Count the fenders and have a flat one pumped up.
Fenderclove hitch, slipped half hitch
Stern linechafe guard where it moves
Tied this way a fender's height changes in seconds. Fenders go where hull and quay meet, higher at a tall stone quay. Chafe, not strain, parts mooring lines: fit a sleeve or a piece of hose at the fairlead and the quay edge.
7 · Dinghy and outboard
The gear a waiver often does not cover
Does the damage waiver cover theft of the charter dinghy and outboard?
Often not: theft of the dinghy and outboard is often outside the damage waiver, so read the dinghy clause. Lift and lock the dinghy at night, and try the outboard lock's key at the pontoon.
Check the dinghy inflated hard with every valve closed, its drain plug, oars and pump, and the boat's name on the tubes. Read the dinghy clause: theft of the dinghy and outboard is often outside the damage waiver. So lift and lock it at night, and try the outboard lock's key at the pontoon.
Outboard, at the pontoon
Tank vent open, bulb squeezed firm
Starts in neutral
Stops when you pull the kill cord
Clamps tight, lock bar on
Moved between boats on a lanyard
An outboard that dies after a few seconds usually has a closed tank vent. Before a beach, stop the motor and tilt it, then row or wade in. For towing, the outboard rides on the pushpit bracket. On davits, pull the plug so rain drains and refit it before launching; before a rough passage take the outboard off, drain the dinghy and strap it tight.
Practice questions
Questions from this topic, as the app asks them. Open one to see the answer.
Inventory — ground tackle
Main anchor: Delta 25 kg
Chain: 10 mm, 70 m, all chain
Boat: 45 ft monohull
The technician reads you the ground-tackle line of the inventory in the office and offers you the pen. What do you do?
Go to the bow first and see the anchor and the chain yourself
Sign, and check the anchor on the first evening at anchor
Ask for a heavier anchor; 25 kg is too light for 45 ft
Sign — the inventory is the base's own record of the boat
Show the answer
A. Go to the bow first and see the anchor and the chain yourself
You sign for what you have seen: anchor type and size on the roller, chain in the locker.
The technician showed you the snubber at check-in. On your first night you are anchored as drawn and the wind is building. What do you do with the chain?
Set the chain stopper and keep the snubber for a real gale
Leave the chain on the gypsy — the windlass brake is made for it
Hook the snubber on, take the load to a cleat and slacken the chain on the gypsy
Lead the chain round the mast foot and make it fast there
Show the answer
C. Hook the snubber on, take the load to a cleat and slacken the chain on the gypsy
The windlass is not a mooring point: the snubber takes the snatch loads, the chain stopper backs it up.
At the quay demonstration the technician hauls the lazy line up bare-handed. You will also pick up buoys in the bays. What do you check is aboard before you sign?
A second boat hook and a bucket for the mud off the line
Spare lazy lines of your own for quays that have none
A long lanyard so the lazy line can be tied to the pulpit
Gloves for the slime line and a boat hook that locks when extended
Show the answer
D. Gloves for the slime line and a boat hook that locks when extended
Lazy lines are slimy and cut hands; the boat hook that does the buoys and lines must lock, not telescope back.
All 50 questions of this topic are in the app: practice by topic with the reason after every answer, your mistakes brought back, and a timed mock exam. Free, no sign-up, in the browser or in Telegram.
