Marina vs. Anchoring

While cruising, you will frequently be faced with many choices to be made. Some are mundane such as "What should I eat for lunch?" Others are much more profound such as "When should I set off on my long passage?" 

While these two questions may seem obvious in their importance, one question that may seem simple actually caries a lot of importance with it. "Should I anchor or tie up in a marina?" 

Anchoring is free while marinas charge by the foot to tie up. Marinas also offer many amenities such as water and electricity, amenities which are not found while anchored out. The most obvious advantage of a marina comes when you decide to leave the boat to go ashore. All you need to do is step off the boat and onto the dock, then you can walk into town and enjoy the local wonders. 

Anchoring, while free, means that you will need to row to shore and find a place to land your dinghy upon arrival. Some towns are more friendly towards dinghies than others and will provide free dinghy docks for you to tie up. Others discourage dinghy usage and will charge you to tie up your small craft as you make landfall. 

While these may seem like small and insignificant decisions to ponder, the commutative effects are astounding! Anchoring is free, so every night that you anchor is a night that you don't have to pay anyone and a night that you get to keep your money so that you can cruise longer.  

Marinas typically charge somewhere between $1 per foot and $3.50 per foot. If you have a 45 foot yacht, you will be spending $45 to $157.50 per night that you are tied up in a marina.  A month of nights in a marina will end up costing you $1,350 and $4,725! You can see how a little decision such as tying up can add up significantly and greatly affect your cruising budget.

We, as a rule, anchor out all the time. We feel that $45 spent at a marina is much better spent on a nice dinner ashore! We value food more than a marina berth and invested in a large and secure anchor before going cruising. 

When you set off cruising, these small and insignificant choices should be revisited and evaluated much closer as they can drastically affect how fun cruising is and how long you can cruise for. 

Tides and Currents

Tides are the rise and fall of water levels as dictated by the moon. High tide occurs every 12 hours and low tide also every 12 hours. The tide rises for 6 hours, then falls for 6 hours, over and over, every day for all time. 

The incoming tide is called a "Flood Tide" and the outgoing tide is called an "Ebb Tide". It makes since when you think about it because a floor tide will flood low level tidal land and when the tide recedes, it "ebbs" away. 

Tides are simple to comprehend as they are easily visible, but currents are what can be really fascinating! It may seem obvious that as the tide comes in, the current will also flow in and as the tide ebbs, the current also flows out. 

What might not seem too obvious at first is that at slack tide, when the high tide is at its highest and then begins to fall, the current can still be flowing! As the tide ebbs, the current can still be flooding! It is even possible for the current to never change direction as the tide floods and ebbs. This begs the question: How can water flow in while it is flowing out? 

Currents and tides may seem interlocked, but they are actually two separate animals. Tides are merely the height of the water level, and current is the flow of water. If you have a large river that drains into the ocean through a narrow inlet, the current may always flow out even with a strong tidal variance. Having more water present will cause the tide to climb, but the current can still flow regardless of water levels. 

When you are looking at waterways, it will be a huge help to learn the local water patterns. Look up tides and the currents in areas to see if you can figure out how they operate. If you can't get the information, it would be helpful to just anchor and observe it for a while. 

While transiting the ICW, we have encountered some very strong currents and we use them to help us travel south, towards our destination. The tides will rise and fall, but the currents seem to run on their own schedule, several hours delayed of the tide's shedule. By anchoring, we can visually see the intensity and direction of the tide by looking at the anchor rode.  

When the current is strong, it will actually form a wake behind the rode. When the current reverses, the boat will actually shift direction, letting us know the change has occurred. Writing down the times it changes is helpful as this lets you know when you will be traveling and makes sure you are prepared to leave when the tide will become in your favor. 

Once moving, looking at other stationary objects will help you determine the intensity and direction. The wake will always form on the downstream side of the object and the larger the wake, the stronger the current. Buoys will also tip over and create a wake when the current is strong!  

When the current is helping you, enjoy the bonus speed that it gives you. When the current is on your nose, drop anchor and wait for conditions to improve. Pushing along against the current is foolish when in a few hours, you will get a hefty push. 

If you are unfamiliar with how the local waters operate, simply ask a local fisherman and they will give you all the clues and know-how available to navigate the waters safely and easily. 

On a side note, flood and ebb tides are when water comes in or out. Slack tide is when the tide is at its peak or trough and the water level is not changing. With currents, you have the same setup, but the time with no current is called "Slack Water" and this is the time to navigate narrow or dangerous areas, as there will be no current pushing you into obstacles. Slack water only lasts around 15 minutes and occurs only 4 times a day, so if there is an area that requires slack water to pass through it, it will be imperative that you time it perfectly and don't be late!

Bilge Pump Syphons

I discovered a rather dangerous situation today in our bilge. The bilge has always seemed to have a fair amount of water in it. I strive for a dry bilge, but this is an old boat and water makes its way into the bilge; in the end, I would rather go cruising than stress about a few drops here or there. 

Regardless, I check the bilge a few times a day and pump it out when it looks full. My go-to pump is the electric rule pump, as it only takes the flip of a switch to drain the bilge. I also have a manual bilge pump in the cockpit and a massive manual bilge pump that is operated from inside the cabin.  

Our water tanks in the bow are a little low, about 80 gallons shy and we are anchored with 100 feet of chain out. This is a lot of weight removed from the bow (640 pounds of water missing, 165 pounds of ground tackle missing) so the bow of the boat is sitting a bit higher than normal. We are also loaded up to go cruising so our waterline is a bit higher than normal. 

Since the bow is high and the rest of the boat is low, the through hulls in our stern are now awash. Most importantly, the through hull to the bilge pump is now submerged! When I ran the bilge pump, I drained the bilge and primed the line to create a syphon to fill the bilge back up as soon as I turned off the pump. Thankfully I was watching and saw about 8 inches of water fill the bilge in a few minutes! I turned the pump on again and the water vanished, only to return again when the pump stopped. 

I realized what was happening and needed a way to break the syphon! The cockpit manual bilge pump is teed into the electric bilge pump discharge hose, so in theory, pumping it when the bilge was dry would draw air into the line and break the syphon! It worked and the bilge stayed dry after the pump shut off. 

It is very important to check your bilge and to make sure that your through hulls are above the waterline, otherwise your bilge pump could turn into your water intake and sink your boat! Check valves are nice to have, but they are prone to clogging and stopping up your much needed bilge pump, so the best defense is to keep the through hulls mounted high and dry, where a syphon is not a problem. 

Yacht Delivery vs. Cruising

When you think about cruising, you probably picture someone sailing on a warm sunny day, arriving at a popular anchorage and enjoying dinner on a beach front bar.

This is what most people aspire towards when they set out cruising. They plan on relaxing and taking it easy in a place where everything comes easily. The problem is, you probably don't live there and are then faced with the reality of getting your yacht to your dreamlike fantasy. 

You have two choices when it comes to getting your yacht somewhere nice: 1. Pay someone to get it there, or 2. Get it there yourself. 

For the short term cruiser who will work hard at their paying job right up until the beginning of the cruise, paying a delivery captain might be the best use of their time. For someone who has only a week or so to cruise, they want to spend as much time in paradise and not "getting to" paradise! Short term cruising tends to cost much more than longer term cruising simply because you are faced with the option of spending money to make things happen. This involves having the latest gear that will make your life easier, and paying to have everything prepared for you so that you arrive at your yacht in paradise and can unwind quickly before you have to return to your fast-paced, high-stress reality. 

Option 2 is the other way, where you are the delivery captain and you don't have to pay anyone to get your yacht to paradise. You will depart your home port and set sail towards paradise. It might be a quick journey, or it might be almost as long as the time you spend in paradise. The truth is, it will take the time that it takes, and you will get there when you arrive. This option is more popular among longer term cruisers who have set sail for over a year. They are on a tighter budget since they are away from their paying jobs.  

Since they have more time than they have money, they can afford to take the time to sail to where they want to be. Along the way, they will become very familiar with all the little quirks of their yacht as they have had plenty of time to familiarize themselves with her on the voyage. 

Now, if you have a short journey or you leave at a comfortable time of year, the "getting there" might feel like part of cruising through paradise! The times when the sentiment will shift to "delivery job" feeling is when the weather is less than optimal. 

We set off cruising July 2017 from Baltimore, MD and planned to be in a distant country in the next few months. Now it is December 2017, and we are in North Carolina, two states away and in the same country! Progress was slow in the beginning as every place we anchored was beautiful and we spent close to 3 months in the Chesapeake Bay. We didn't leave the bay until mid October and slowly made our way through North Carolina.

To put it mildly, winter caught up with us and we are now forced to work hard at making miles instead of relaxing the days away. When we left, Maddie would read books to me while I steered our course. It was sunny and warm and we relaxed the day away. Lately, it has been 40F and raining with a chilling wind.  

We got tired of waiting for weather windows and decided to make our way down the ICW, where the weather is never severe and we can always make some miles southbound each day. The problem is finding the motivation to helm the boat and sail when it is cold and wet outside. 

While motor sailing down a long straight channel in freezing rain, you begin to realize that you have traded roles from cruiser to delivery skipper and you are not here to enjoy this, you are here to get south. With that mentality, pleasure and fun are stowed and speed and distances covered take priority. 

Cruisers wear many different hats, this is what makes us unique. We are able to adapt to the job that is needed, playing to role of plumber, rigger, electrician, carpenter, delivery captain, and anything else that might come up.

Sailing in Currents

The idea of a 3 knot push might sound like a dream come true! People spend thousands of dollars to have feathering propellers and faired underbodies, all in the interest of gaining a few tenths of a knot, and here you can magically gain 3+ knots, for FREE!  

Currents are caused by the movement of water from one place to another, as the water flows, it will carry everything in it along for a ride. If you happen to be sailing in the same direction as the current, then you will get a nice push in the right direction! Your speed over ground will become your speed through the water + the speed of the current. If you are sailing against the current, your speed over ground will become your speed through the water - the speed of the current. 

It is important to know what direction the current is flowing that way you can use it to your advantage! 

Offshore, currents tend to move in a single direction at a fairly constant rate. They also tend to be well known, such as the Gulf Stream and its famed "counter currents" that run parallel to it on its bounderies. In shore, currents are typically caused by draining rivers or tidal waters ebbing and flooding. While the currents offshore all flow in the same direction, the currents inland tend to correspond with the tides and will alter direction throughout the day. 

Knowing when the current will be flowing and how strong can really help a vessel cover serious ground in a single day. We sailed across the Bogue Sound in about 3.5 hours, covering 24 miles at an average speed of 6.8 knots! We are by no means a fast boat, and we usually average less than 2 knots on a passage since we are dependent on the wind being in the right direction. This day was perfect, we were on a beam reach and had a very strong current pushing us along at over 3 knots! While our speed over ground may seem impressive, our speed through the water was our typical sailing speed of around 3-4 knots. By timing the tides and its current, we were swept into the Bogue Sound and reached its middle before slack tide. When slack water approached, we slowed to 3-4 knots since we no longer had the current helping us. As the tide began to ebb, we were swept out with it on the other side and sped across the remainder of the sound, reaching the other side by lunch. When we crossed the inlet, we were then faced with an opposite current as it was also draining into the inlet and our speed plummeted from 6 knots to 2 knots as we fought a 4 knot current on the nose.

Using these speed boosts can seem fun and will help you cover more ground with less effort, but it does take some precautions on the part of the captain. 

Bridges and other obstacles will approach at a much faster rate than you are used to. This means that you need to line up with the opening in the bridge perfectly well in advance, as the current will slam you into the abutments if you are trying to cut it close.  

Strong currents will also create eddies and vortexes that will swirl just behind large fixed objects. These swirling forces can pull you in and throw you off course. Your keel is especially susceptible to these phenomenon and will pull you along helplessly. 

Encountering other vessels is also tricky, as the typical rules about right of way are skewed to accommodate for the current. The vessel traveling downstream will have right of way over all vessels traveling upstream because the downstream vessel has less maneuverability. If you are approaching a bridge pass, the downstream vessel can not stop as the current will pull them through the pass, so the vessel traveling upstream must stop and wait; even if the downstream vessel is under power and the upstream vessel is under sail. 

Currents are fun, but they can be a little stressful in tight quarters where the speed takes away your ability to stop the vessel with the normal controls, such as heaving to or putting the motor in neutral. The current will carry you along and push you where it wants, and currents in narrow areas run faster as the water has to rush through the narrow opening in a hurry. This can add to the stress of the situation if not managed well. 

If you do not feel comfortable navigating with a strong current, you will be forced to wait for slack water to occur before transiting tight areas. While it might seem intimidating at first, an important thought to keep in mind is that anchors still work with currents. If you ever feel like a current is going to slam you into a bridge or wall, the anchor will hold the bottom and keep your yacht from traveling at the mercy of the current.