Boat: Anchoring in Morro Bay

The very first day I arrived in Morro Bay, I just threw my 33lb Bruce anchor down, let out a bunch of scope, and hoped for the best. The following morning, the fat hairy owner of the trimaran next door came over, and advised: "Hey kid, one hook isn't enough in the bay. You need at least two." That began my ordeal to find the perfect anchoring system.


The tides in the bay are very strong, running like a river at times. The tide changes four times a day, so expecting an anchor to reset four times daily isn't exactly the best gamble. So I asked fisherman Jim, who was going by in his dinghy, where I could get another big anchor for cheap. "Well," he replied, "I've got a kedge that'll hold you good. I'll sell it at a buck a pound. 42 pounds, 42 dollars."

It was rusty and awful, but it was the right price, and plus the fisherman would help me set it properly. So we dropped it 180 degrees opposite of my Bruce. That is, whereas the Bruce was lying to the north, the kedge was set to the south, so that one of the anchors would be taught with every tidal swing.

Soon though, the two lines got tangled up on each other. It was clear I needed a swivel to keep them unravelled. I thought, if I'm gonna do it, I might as well do it right. I wanted to set up a semi-permanent system with a mooring ball so I wouldn't have to pull anchor every time I motored to the dock to re-supply. That's a hassle and a headache I wanted to avoid.

I'd heard a 3 anchor system is the most bombproof system possible, with each anchor lying 120 degrees to one another. I already had two small Danforths (14lbs and 18lbs), and I figured I'd use the kedge as the third anchor. They'd attach to a swivel, and come up to a mooring ball, which I'd tie off to my bow cleat. The Bruce would just stay on my bow, for use while cruising.

The system worked great. I left the country for a month and the boat didn't move an inch (thank God!). A week and a half after I returned from travelling, I woke up at dawn to take a pee, and freaked out! my boat had drifted 30 yards. Oh nightmare. The kedge anchor had dragged overnight, with the super strong tidal pull from the full moon. For a month the boat was getting battered by gusty winds, and it had stayed put; now on a calm night, just when I was returned to the boat, it dragged. How amazing was the timing.

I pulled the kedge up- turns out it had fouled on itself. That is one of the disadvantages of a kedge anchor- each sharp fluke has the potential to snag the chain and render the anchor useless.

I dropped it in again- within three days the same anchor dragged. My boat had drifted up against the dry mudflat. Just to think it could have easily drifted into another boat instead. Ahh! Turns out the kedge anchor fouled again - this time on some junk on the seafloor. The issue had to be fixed ASAP.

I hired the services of a local handyman, a resident liveaboard in the bay. Soon I learned that he was an ex-convict, and reportedly not the most stable kind of guy. But we had a good agreement- he really needed the money, and I couldn't afford anyone else. He was cool- as long as he had a stash of tobacco to work with, then he did accomplish a fair bit.

We decided the line on each anchor segment wasn't taught enough - 100 feet three ways - so we pulled them all up, and sorted the anchor rode out. The excess slack on the lines had gathered up a lot of junk - seaweed, trash, and of course jumbled-up knots on the line. It was hard work sorting it out.

When we had them cleared, and it came time to drop them, the handyman used a neat technique: run a line through the head of the second anchor, drop the first one, then pay out the line on anchor two until both anchors were taught- then pull the line through and let anchor two drop. This way both anchor lines are almost horizontal on the seafloor - the swivel between them - and a line coming up vertically from the swivel to tie off the boat. This means the holding power of each anchor is increased.

Instead of using three anchors, we used two, for simplicity sake. I bought a new 35lb Danforth to substitute the two small Danforths. Hence, the big Danforth and the big kedge lie 180 degrees to each other, one to the north and one to the south. They're connected to a swivel, which runs up to a mooring ball, so I can leave and come back to the mooring ball quite easily. The other two light-weight Danforths I now keep aboard as stern/backup anchors, the Bruce on the bow. Ufa! more anchors than I care to deal with!

Throughout all the intense storms we've had in California this winter, I've had this latest system with two anchors and a swivel, and the boat hasn't budged an inch. Knock on wood three times. I hope it stays that way!

Reference: Chapman's Piloting - Seamanship & Small Boat Handling. This classic book has descriptions of different anchor systems, including the three point and two point semi-permanent anchor/moorings I've tried.