How to Stop Rolling When Anchored

On of the most annoying things I find when anchored or moored is when the wind and swell are at ninety degrees to each other. We had this a few times in the BVI. What happens is that the wind causes your boat to lie broad on to the swell and waves and as they come in you end up rolling really badly. The boys liked it down below, with the right timing they could turn themselves into small human projectiles from one side of the 11′ salon to the other.

Not so good for drinking coffee though.

I happened to be talking to an Old Salt and he gave me the trick of tying a bridle to a mid cleat and pulling it in to turn the bow into the waves. Problem solved.

Doug from SV Prudence explains the technique pretty well.

Even better was a technique I found using a Shockle (glorified bungy) to do the same thing.

Regarding anchoring, two good books are:

• Happy Hooking – The Art of Anchoring
• The Complete Anchoring Handbook: Stay Put on Any Bottom in Any Weather

Happy Hooking is my favorite, though a little more expensive.