Midsummer Night Photos

[politby]

Just came back from our traditional midsummer holiday on the sea - Friday was the yearly pagan celebration of the bright June summer evenings. Found a really nice cove to moor up in and I thought I'd share a few pictures.

In many places the cliffs are extremely steep all the way down so even deep-keeled sailboats can moor up close to land. The normal practice here is to drop an anchor off the stern and then slowly motor towards the cliff with a lookout at the bow who then jumps (or falls) ashore with a line, and hopefully find something to tie up to.

I hate this because we always seem to end up with the boat perpendicular to the wind and the stern anchor starts dragging. I prefer to anchor up away from the shore and use the dinghy to go ashore, but the Admiral insists on being "tied to land". Of course we had to re-set the anchor in the middle of the night...

Anyway, enjoy:



View from astern. The Dinghy Sling works great, BTW.



Our friends' sail boat alongside us, and another sailor coming in to moor up.



A bunch of already-drunk-at-10am-misfits on their old Bayliner. 



An Admiral on the lookout for rocks and preparing to jump ashore.



We use these rock anchors when there is nothing else to tie to.



Trees are useful too.













A Delta 34 coming in. I love their design.





My 9-year old son is like a monkey. I could never do this... 





10.28 PM



11.07 PM



One of the many steam driven commuter boats.



There is a species of bird here, Phalacrocoracidae, whose excrement contains something that kills off all the vegetation in areas where the birds nest. There are many little islands where all the trees have died because of this.



Another example of why you have to pay attention when boating here.

[Tony Walker]

Hey Politby,

Beautiful photos.

I noticed your anchor on the windless, almost the last photo.

What kind is it?

A disappointment on our loop trip was that our plow anchor did not work very well in anything but sand or mud so we only anchored once, where there happened to be a mud/sand bottom.

Yours looks interesting.

Tony
Salt Shaker 342

[politby]

Hey Politby,

Beautiful photos.

I noticed your anchor on the windless, almost the last photo.

What kind is it?

Manson Supreme.

http://www.manson-marine.co.nz/SitePages/Supreme.htm

We have bottoms with kelp, weeds, rocks, sand, mud, silt, you name it. It has never once dragged - unlike the Fortress we use as a stern anchor.

[Tony Walker]

Thank you

At my first opportunity I will order one from West Marine and retire the plow!

A couple more questions.

Is it a direct remove and replace in the windless?

Is the size selection chart a good guide?  Should I order the SUP35, a 35 pounder designed for a 35 to 40 foot boat.

Tony

[politby]

Thank you

At my first opportunity I will order one from West Marine and retire the plow!

A couple more questions.

Is it a direct remove and replace in the windless?

Is the size selection chart a good guide?  Should I order the SUP35, a 35 pounder designed for a 35 to 40 foot boat.

Tony

Should be a plug and play replacement. Not sure which windlass you have but I replaced the old Simpson Lawrence on my boat with a Lewmar Profish 1000. But it should work with any windlass. The Supreme freefalls very well.

I have the 25 pound version. We always anchor in sheltered waters but I imagine in your location you might be more exposed so maybe the 35 is a safer choice for you.

I have about 30' of chain and then 12-strand plait anchor line. Just keep whatever rode you have today.

[Dream 'Inn]

great pictures!!  Good catch there Tony!  I may have to keep that anchor in mind if I go out of the bay some day.

[pepmyster]

Nice.... thanks!!!!