Free at anchor - How does it work?

Sometimes a port is full or you don’t feel like entering a port at all because there is a beautiful bay around the corner.
Then the temptation is great to just throw out your anchor and enjoy the peace and quiet (and probably a very beautiful starry sky!) in that bay around the corner.
But how do you make sure your boat is right then?
How do you know if your anchor is “catching” and so you can go to sleep with peace of mind?

The preparation

After all, good preparation is half the battle….

Look for a spot where it is not too deep.
Five to 10 meters is ideal.
Also check if it is deep enough in a circle of about 50m around your planned spot.
This is because of the turning radius of your boat, once you have lowered your anchor and chain.
Also look carefully at your surroundings and take into account the turning circles of other yachts.
Make sure there is someone on the foredeck operating the anchor and that you agree in advance on signs to communicate with.
Once the anchor winch turns, it makes a lot of noise and you don’t want to have to yell at each other when the person on the foredeck needs to stop, retrieve or lower the chain.

The maneuver

Lower your anchor and slowly reverse while doing so.
Try to maintain a speed equal to the speed at which the anchor winch rolls out the chain.
Stationary astern is basically a good guide.
This will prevent your anchor chain from ending up in a pile on the bottom.
Provide enough chain, preferably all but a few feet of it.
In many spots, of course, this is not feasible because of your surroundings, but remember that the more chain you have out, the less likely your anchor will scratch.
Always assume at least 3x the depth + the length of your boat.
Example: if you anchor in 8m depth with a 43ft yacht, that means 3 x 8m + 13m = at least 37m of chain.
Once you have run enough chain, you signal to the foredeck to stop chaining.
You continue to sail astern to see if your anchor is catching.
If your anchor is catching properly and you have enough chain out, you will find that even at full throttle astern, you can’t get any more movement in your yacht.
So as long as your yacht keeps moving further astern, you are not lying right yet!
When you are sure that the yacht is no longer moving backward and take the throttle off, you will find that your yacht will move forward again a bit due to the weight of the chain.
This is normal.

Check it out!

Always gauge directly where you are lying.
Take some fixed points on shore and estimate the distance and direction.
Keep doing this regularly and check if it remains the same.
This way you can determine if your location is changing.
Another option, of course, is to record on the plotter (or even in Google Maps) your location and see if you move relative to that location.
In many bays, you can use a snorkel to check if your anchor is properly dug in.
This will give you a lot more peace of mind, should you want to spend the night here.
If the anchor is dug in just a little bit, you can try to throttle back a bit so that the anchor is dug in deeper.
In most plotters you can set an “anchor alarm.
This will beep when you have moved further than, say, 30 meters (this can be set, but 30 meters is a good distance) from your spot.
If you are closer to the rocks or quay than 30 meters, then you obviously set a shorter distance.
Last but not least, make a clear plan for when the weather does change.
After all, a bay looks very different in the dark than it does when it is light.
Therefore, find out in advance what your fallback options are and write down the course to take and any lights you should see.
When the wind picks up, you won’t be the only yacht leaving the bay.
A clear plan in advance, so you know what to do, will certainly help you at such a time.

PS.
so the anchor in the photo is not properly buried, as the turtle also points out