What did I do wrong anchoring in this scenario?

So this happened a few months ago and I have been trying to figure out what I did wrong. We approached an anchorage that is made by a man made artificial island in a crescent shape (Redfish Island in Galveston Bay) and wanted to anchor. There was already a boat anchored there, a larger vessel than ours and he was at a very leeward position in the anchorage. As I recalled from my training the correct thing to do was go far upwind of him to clear his possible swing area. He was far enough leeward that trying to go astern of him would have put us aground. So we went to the opposite side of the anchorage and dropped anchor and backed down. The dude starting yelling at us. He motored forward and pulled anchor than pulled alongside and said he was having to move because of what we did. We apologized and said sorry, we're new and still training. He said he wasnt mad at us but reiterated that he was moving because of us. He left the anchorage and we didnt see him again. I drew a picture to illustrate the situation and to this day do not understand how I upset him so much. What did I do wrong? There was no room leeward of him, we were a healthy distance a beam and I was having to guess his anchor location but seemed we all had plenty of swing room.

First edit:The only thing I can think of is we would have swung across his anchor rode, since I didnt know where his anchor was but almost no matter what with his position that seemed likely. But shouldnt his rode have been along the bottom, and being a larger vessel it was probably chain as well whereas mine was line with 10 ft chain splice. Shouldnt that have been fine?

Second edit: Ive anchored in this anchorage many times. Many times with other boats and followed the general guidelines I was taught. I remember my first time anchoring for my first overnight was an almost identical situation with two other boats, also larger than mine, leeward of me. And I got no complaints, that I knew of at least, those times. So I just really dont know what I did that pissed this guy off and now he has me questioning everything I know about anchoring etiquette.

Anyways, its been bothering me and I really want to know so I can avoid it in the future.

https://imgur.com/a/1eAQmzv

Posted Jun 18, 2022, 1:48 AM UTC · edited

610
jzwinck•

Nothing you did sounds wrong. Probably best to forget about it, maybe the guy was confused or being unreasonable.

13
moreobviousthings•

Or maybe he just didn't want to share the area. "He said he wasn't mad at us ... but was moving because of us." Forget about him.

12
ChalupaCabre•

You just came to his private space and he wasn’t happy about sharing.

10
MadtownV•

Likely he just didn’t want another boat upwind from him. If you dragged at all you’d foul his line.

Next time he should pick the upwind spot.

I don’t see how you did anything wrong. But when you have the place to yourself it’s never fun to have someone anchor upwind from you. That said, it’s totally acceptable imho.

9
RaygunWizzleOP•

So thats what I didnt get... why did he anchor so leeward? I was taught first in sets the rules and its considered rude to anchor upwind. But there was no other room... ANYONE would have to go upwind of him.

6
FunClothes•

From your sketch he possibly dropped the pick more or less central in the small anchorage with expectation of staying overnight, where if you've got diurnal winds (onshore sea breezes during the day) that will usually turn to offshore breezes or die completely at night. Boats will also wander randomly or with the tide at anchor when there's no breeze. So you really do need to give full swing circle clearance.

That's assuming he knew what he was doing and the above applied, if the above wouldn't have been a concern, then he was just being pedantic.

2
uthyrbendragon•

You did what you could in response to HIS poor decision to not anchor furthest to windward.

Ignore it and carry on, you’re good.

5
HeWhomstDealtIt•

He was a jerk. You did nothing wrong. If he was able to pull up anchor and you didn’t have to move out of the way for him to retrieve his anchor, then he was wrong.

5
drphillovestoparty•

If it was a one off experience and you haven't had other issues in anchorages, sounds like his problem not yours.

Around here some anchorages get pretty busy, not a whole lot of room. Buddy would probably lose his mind lol.

3
waterloowanderer•

I don’t understand either, but following.

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1