Any cruizin' plans for 'down south'?

"Sadler...Do we have a rough count yet?"

OK, here are the boats I come up with so far. I've listed the CSR name and put the real name (if you've used it on CSR) in parentheses:

Traburne (Randy and Nita)
Traburne's daughter and son in law in a (gasp!) Crownline (just kidding :smt001)
Sweet Dreams
Islandhopper00 (Mike)
Islandhopper00's friends (Mike are they bringing a boat or just riding with you?)
GJarrett (Gerald)
Nickysc (Nicky)
Nickysc's friends in a (gasp!) Regal (don't worry, again just kidding :grin:)
Sadler (Sadler)
Chuck1 (Chuck)--not sure yet
SearayPaul (Paul and Jane)--not sure yet

If everyone comes, that's 11 boats.

Did I miss anyone?


Sadler
 
Sadler, if my friends come they will be bringing their own boat.

That's a good list of boats.

I'm ready for the anchor out stuff. Depending on the currents where we will be anchoring, I don't know if a Bahama anchor will work or not. Bahamas is sand, SC is mud or ??
Two anchors 180 degrees from each other, but you still swing off one or the other anchor. I have rafted off four boats like that. A 28 ft tiara, a 26 ft chaparell, 28 ft sea ray and my 26 ft sea ray. A anchor bridle can be made to distribute the load between boats. Meaning, tie one end of the bridle to the port side of the starboard boat, and the other end to the starboard side of the port boat. Am I making sense? Then secure the anchor line(s) to the bridle. Then boats can be added to the outside of the raft up, up to the ability of the anchors holding power. You'd be suprised at the ability of an anchors holding power.
My anchor held all four boats in a storm with 30-35 mph winds and side ways rain, here's the, "yea right" part. My anchor is the danforth 5 lb fluke jobber (it's fully welded). I know I'd have a hard time believing it if I didn't witness it. My anchor line was banjo string tight. I just knew it was going to part. Anyways, I'm trying to say we can fiogure it out. Mike
 
Sadler -

I found the article that I mentioned earlier but I can't get to it online. I scanned the diagram so I can send it to you if you want. Just let me know where to send it. The gist of the diagram is this:

1) largest boat sets his anchor then places a fender on each side fore and aft,
2) second then third boats (next two largest) come alongside port and starboard and tie off to first boat with spring lines keeping sterns approximately even then place fenders on the outside of raft,
3) fourth and fifth boats (next largest) set anchor about ten degrees oblique to the line of boat #1 then back out to join raft-up tying up exactly as boats two and three did then place their fenders outside of raft,
4) sixth and seventh boats (smallest) approach and tie off just as boats two and three did (i.e., without anchoring)

:smt017 :huh: :smt009

This arrangement seems to be three groups of three boats overlapping (where the two boats tied to boat #1 are also one each of the boats tied to boats #4 and #5). Does my explanation have you thoroughly confused? If not, I can go over it again - LOL! Simply put, take the first three fingers of you left hand and place the first three fingers of you right hand beside them with the index finger of the right hand covering the index finger of the left. The index fingers together are one boat. Add one more hand the same way and you have the diagram. In this illustration each middle finger is an anchored boat. See - I told you it would be simple. :thumbsup:

Anyway - if you want, I can e-mail the diagram to you.

Happy cruizin'...



Back again - I got the diagram uploaded into an album on my profile. You can view it there. G'day.
 
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Mike and Randy--thanks. Both techniques sound good. I think we can do this, one way or the other. It'll be pretty wild to overnight with this many boats rafted together.

Mike--that's pretty good for one little anchor! Randy--I sent you my email address. I think I can envision the method you describe, but I'm not sure, so seeing the article will be helpful.

Wish we were leaving for the trip tomorrow!

Sadler
 
If I'm picturing traburne's anchor set right (and I could be very wrong since it's hard to envision without a drawn diagram) I don't think it would work when the tide shifts and reverses the other way if we anchor somewhere within the ICW or rivers... (?)

The one we used that night at Kiawah - the "Bahama" anchor strategy that Mike knows - worked even if the wind and/or tide moved us around. I'm just having a hard time figuring out how to pull it off and still hold with a whole lotta more boats strapped together.
 
Sadler I do carry other anchors. I have a fortress fx7, and a hydro bubble plow. I used the danforth 5 lb as a lunch or stern hook, or anchoring on the lake. I use it as my main anchor now, after seeing it's performace. I hope it doesn't let me down.LOL.
 
Wow Mike, you've got a lot of anchors, but you boat in the Bahamas and other places where you need a variety. I've only got one lonely anchor. The rafting up anchor method Randy saw in a magazine I uploaded to Picasa:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Sadlerlv/2ndCSRRendezvous2009?authkey=dYEQn9ImHRg#5299484915041736162

Note the last sentence in that image. The author says it's not safe to raft overnight, and everyone there anchors independently after 8 pm. Maybe we should not raft after dark as well, or keep the rafting to no more than two or three boats after dark?

edit: here's a pdf I found on one yacht club's guidelines to rafting up. They limit overnight rafts to three boats preferably and no more than five; lots of other guidelines too for large rafts:
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mobileyachtclub.com%2FMYCC_Rafting_Protocol.pdf&ei=pZaLSdb1ENW5twepsOigBw&usg=AFQjCNFwedGpsnXw_DRow8FW5iCKQGgRFA&sig2=y186Q-S3EyfoZ8HZkw6VIw

I'm headed down to Charleston this weekend with some friends, and I'll work on a couple of good anchor spots that will work well with with ten or so boats.

Sadler
 
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When we raft up in the islands we break apart before nightfall, and raft into two or three boat rafts. Three boats work well, and balances well.

Things to note during raft up. Don't tie the boats up tight, they need room to rock and roll, and not pull on each other when they do.

Use spring lines to prevent side shifting, and maintain alignment.

Use as big of fenders as possible. Don't go cheap, or you'll end up spending money on repairing fiberglass.

Check your cleats for sharp edges, and file them down if necessary. Sawing action will part lines in the middle of the night when it's the worst time. Ask me how I know.

Check your dock lines, make sure they are not dry rotted, specially if your an "inside" boat.

Lastly, have much fun, crawl from boat to boat, but don't jump into the water...Gerald!
 
I can guarantee if we make the trip we will have some kind of sauce, it may not cooking sauce. (Grin) Can you say mojito time.
 
I just figured out that my own work situation may prevent us from coming down Friday night and we'd have to come down Saturday morning. Grrr. If that happens I wouldn't want to waste that far of a trip on a single night so we'd still be good for two whole days and would stay until Monday morning.

If this does happen, we'd have to find the group by getting a GPS fix on you guys via cellphone and then follow up via VHF radio when in range. Or something like that. Just thinking out loud right now.

I'm praying hard to be able to make it Friday night though.
 
Gerald,
Hope you can at least make it Sat. You wont miss much I dont think and the long weekend will still give you or anyone else that comes along Sat a good bit of time to enjoy.
 
I was in Charleston last weekend and looked and thought about where would good places to anchor up to 11 boats for the Rendezvous. A couple are some distance from the city, and may not work for Friday night. I'm thinking we should stay close to the city Friday night, or pick a place north of the city up the ICW, on the route that many are taking on their way to the city.

The problem with near the city is that it may be difficult to find private places where we won't get waked a lot by big boats and that are large enough for 11 boats.

However, about 30-45 minutes north up the waterway, there is a pretty good spot or two, that I think would work well for Friday night. Saturday night, we would have a wider choice, since we'd have a lot of Saturday to get there. (I think Gerald said he'd be shooting for a Saturday am arrival, and if so, he'd be good for an outlying Saturday anchorage too.)

So, here's the question: what would folks think about our staying 30-45 minutes water time (@ ~25 mph when possible, slower in no wake zones) north of Charleston on the ICW Friday night? Please let me know if you think this would be convenient for you.

Thanks,

Sadler
 
Works for us. convenient actually for Fri night as we will be coming in that way anyway. Just need to make sure it will work for those coing in on Cooper and whomever will be puttting in starting from the city area.
 
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