TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Anchoring at Jost

Getting ready for my second bareboat cat trip on Moorings 4000. When going to SD the last time, I ended up anchoring little too far out for those who wanted swim to shore, being a little intimidated by idea of anchoring "so close" to another boat (first week of October so probably fewer than normal). Any practical advice for comfortably anchoring there (day only)? Amount of scope truly needed in that sand?

The problem you may have going in closer is you can get boxed in by other boats. The easy thing would be to pick up a ball in Great Harbour and taxi over to White Bay.

The French think the number is 3-1, the Americans think 7-1 always measured from the stem to the bottom never what the depth sounder might say. Heavier chain could lower the amount of scope needed. All that is meaningless in White Bay or any crowd of boats. To keep the boats from banging together everyone must use the same scope or anchor line length. So if you show up and anchor in a crowd you must make match their scope. If someone comes along and joins your crowd all the boats should make the changes to end up with similar scope. That is why White Bay is s mess in a sudden series of microburst and why prudent boat owners and their captains never paint themselves as I into the corner. The it's a rental crowd does it everyday.

If you must... very short scope and always be ready to leave in 15 minutes or less.

There are a few of us here that can attest that the French lay out all the chain in the locker even in 10' of depth and then accuse everyone else in the anchrage of dragging into them. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Some of the charter companies red line white bay. There is a reason for that. The recommendation is to pick up a ball in Great Harbour. The convenience of anchoring in White Bay is simply not worth the risk to the boat. There have been many boat accidents in that bay. You don't want to be one of them.

And that's after they anchor close enough to hear gas being past in the forward head. I'll see yer <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> and raise ya one <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

We haven't anchored in WB in the past 10 years. We will poke in and if there is a ball we will grab it. If no balls we move over to GH or LH and taxi over. I know some like to dinghy around the point but beaching a RIB is not like the old aluminum skiffs.

It's 6 feet deep in WB. Add 4 feet to the bow roller and 5 to 1 means 50 feet of chain. That's more then enough for a lunch stop if properly set. Drop 30 to 35 feet of chain and put the bridal on. That will get you 50. Make sure you set it!
G

^^^^ This.

I wouldn't anchor there with all of the daytrippers....even in October.

I sell the dingy ride from GH to WB to the crew well in advance as if it is part of our overall plan - like going to the baths or the Willy T. We all get wet and laugh if the breeze is up. If less than 4 in RIB sometimes we can plane and it isnt even an issue.

Two can always enter White Bay and drop the rest of the swimmers off to party early. The two skill hand volunteers then go take care of the boat and taxi(even hike) to join the rest on the beach once the boat is somewhere secure where the skipper does not have his or her day ruined worrying about the boat. If the weather is perfect and mooring happens to be free in White Bay then maybe take the mooring. Anchoring in White Bay sets you up for someone to mess with you or ruin your day no matter how talented you are.

Got a mooring ball right in front of Ivan's 9:30 am and stayed the day/night and left the next morning.

Couldn't have been a nicer experience and was the highlight of the trip. Kids loved it. Dinghied over to Soggy dollar bar around 4 just as all the day tour boats were leaving and had as many pain killers as I wanted (way more than I needed!) For the 4th time that trip thanked my foresight of teaching my 13 year old how to use the dinghy.

Not sure I would anchor there though. Didn't look like there were too many places with enough swing room and all of the boats in the mooring field were swinging every which way. (maybe that was the pain killers though! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />)

Been there done that. Great fun when the weather is settled.

Here is the rub or the Russian Roulette on that. A sudden squall and downburst with gusts from the south or just about any direction other than north. If that mooring fails in the short banging chop the boat is on the beach or into other boats in seconds. Even if everything is perfect on your end with great cleats and chain all the way to the bottom the boats upwind of your could be on top of you in seconds. In the crowd, shallow water, white out conditions(mixed with Rhum) there is little or no place to run and hide.

Again I have done it many times. I understand why many a prudent mariner does not put their hulls or guests in a position where they can lose control in seconds.

Somewhere there is some good YouTube revealing just how fast the conditions can change for the worst in White Bay. The video I am thinking about has the skipper(hubby) yelling at the Admiral for pushing him into the tight spot earlier in the once nice day.

There is other video and stills of a boat destroyed on the rocks between the two beaches.

We anchored in White Bay on the 11th. It was pretty packed in but there was plenty of room on sandy bottom to the right of the main channel. What amazed us was when two boats came in and dropped anchor... one just inside the red buoy and one directly in between them. Thankfully, one of the boats immediately started dragging anchor and both left in short order. Otherwise, I'm not sure how anyone was going to get out of there.