How to Stern Tie Without Drama

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I was looking at my WordPress stats and noticed that there were a number of visitors looking for advice on stern tying.  Based on the myriad of techniques we’ve seen – some good and some really bad – this is a great question…how do we stern tie?  This might sound flip, but for the most part, we don’t.  We much prefer to swing free and avoid tying ashore if we can.  We dislike (hate?) tying a line ashore for a few reasons:

• It’s extra, usually unnecessary, work.
• We think it is often less secure than swinging free due to the potential of having wind on the beam.
• Wind or current can make tying back difficult.

That said, sometimes a line ashore is a necessity.  In tight or crowded anchorages a line ashore keeps you from swinging into the shore or your neighbours.  In deep anchorages such as Teakerne Arm in Desolation Sound, , a stern line might be the only thing keeping your hook attached to the bottom.  And for a great raft-up, tying ashore is the easiest way to minimize the possibility of fouling each other’s anchors when setting multiple hooks.

Over the years, we’ve developed the following system that works well for us and requires only two people :

1. Get your stuff ready.  You’ll need a way to get ashore and a long floating line ready to go.  We use an SUP about half the time, and find a dinghy without a motor is a bit easier to deal with than one with a motor.  Our line is 200′ of 1/2″ polypropylene (floating – very important) single braid, flaked into an IKEA bag.  Flaking your rope instead of coiling it is a climber’s trick – if you flake the line into the bag, it should come out tangle free, BUT, this only works with braided line.   200′ is a bit on the short side for a stern tie line, but it works most of the time.  Being ready means that your dinghy is in the water and your line is in the cockpit ready to deploy tangle free.
2. Pick your spot with care.  Preferably, you are looking for a spot with fairly deep water right up to the shore, with plenty of room on either side.  A good spot will put you in a protected little nook that will shelter you from the worst of any strong winds.  The perfect spot will put you in a little nook AND line your boat up with the prevailing winds.  Perfect spots are hard to come by, especially in the Gulf Islands where many of the anchorages are lined up with prevailing SE and NW winds, but are too skinny to permit tying ashore with your bow facing in either direction.
3. Identify a suitable shore anchor.  The best anchor is a purposely placed stern tie ring.  Second best is a dead tree or large log that is firmly attached/stuck in it’s current location.  Third choice would be a live tree – pulling a line around a live tree can kill it by removing bark around the tree’s circumference so we avoid doing so if at all possible.
4. Line your boat up with your stern pointing at your target stern tie anchor and your bow over your desired anchor location.  For us, this is the hardest part: judging the distance to the shore isn’t easy, and the fact that the depth decreases as you near the shore complicates scope calculations.  Usually, we would prefer a scope of at least 4:1, and in a typical stern tying situation where you are just trying to limit your swinging room, this calculation is easy and identical to a calculation that you’d make if you were swinging free.   But in an anchorage where the depth increases rapidly, you might drop your anchor in 70′ and be lying in 20′.  The thing to remember in these locations is that it isn’t the scope that is important, it is the angle that the anchor shank makes with the bottom – a lower angle is better.  In almost all anchorages, the slope of the bottom works to your advantage when your butt is pointing at the shore, and against you when it’s not.  A stern tie in a rapidly shoaling anchorage makes sure that the slope of the bottom is always working to advantage, and in some cases, might be all that keeps the hook engaged.   Judging the best place to drop the hook in these more extreme cases can be challenging.  Generally we avoid these anchorages, but when pressed, we look for to drop at least 2:1, and back down hard to make sure we are well set before running the line ashore.  In the above example (70′ deep at the anchor location with the boat lying in 20′), we’d want to drop the anchor at least 225′ from the shore, and we’d put out at least 150′ of rode.
5. Drop your hook.  This should be the easiest step.
6. Back down on your hook.  Set your anchor as you would if you were going to swing free.
7. Keep some tension on your rode.  Lower the engine RPM to idle, but generally speaking, do not take it out of gear.  This step is our secret sauce and makes the rest of the process as painless as possible.
8. Take the line ashore.  When you get ashore, be sure to secure your ride back to the mother ship – watching your dinghy float off while you are running a line around a tree will be unpleasant at best.  If you have 3 aboard, the third crew can help by piloting the dinghy and standing off the shore while you work.  This makes the whole process a little bit easier and is a great job for a child.  Steps 6, 7 and 8 need to be done as quickly as possible.
9. Run your line through or around your shore-side anchor point.  If you have any doubt about the quality of your anchor point, give it a good test first.
10. Pull enough line to make it back to your vessel.  Be generous here as it’s easier to straighten up extra line later than it is to let out extra line so that you can reach the mother ship on your way back.  Have the crew fasten their end of the line to a cleat.
11. Pull your boat into line with the anchor.   On our boat, prop walk moves her slowly to port, and if it takes too long for me to climb ashore and put the line around / through the anchor, she’ll need a little tug to get her back where I want her.   This is an important step important as it will minimize the amount of line needed to get back to the boat.  It is better to do this step after running the line through or around the anchor point – the extra friction that the shore-side anchor provides means that once you’ve re-positioned your boat, it’s not that hard to keep enough tension on the line to keep her in position.  Having the crew take the boat out of gear at this time will help pull the boat into a straight line, but once the boat is lying where you want it, be sure to put the boat back into reverse – it makes the next step easier…
12. Throw the line you’ve pulled into your dinghy and get back to the boat.  You can row or you can just pull your self back using the line you’ve just run.  If I’m using a SUP, I just let the extra line I’ve pulled float and only take the end back with me.  Sometimes, you won’t have enough line to reach all the way back to the boat.  If this happens and depth allows, move the boat closer to the shore by putting the boat into neutral, letting out more anchor rode, and then putting the boat back into reverse.  If you can’t move the boat closer to shore, you’ll have to tie the stern line off to itself.  In these cases, we always pull out all of our line so that the knot you’ll have to tie will be as close to the boat as possible.   Most of the time, our line is long enough to make to the shore and back.
13. Hand the end of the line to your crew and have them cleat it off.  The boat can be taken out of gear now and the engine shut down.
14. Adjust your lines and set your snubber.  In the absence of wind, we like to have our stern line slack enough that it is floating.  Sometimes we let out more scope, sometimes we put out more stern line, and sometimes we do nothing.  If the wind pipes up, a line with slack is far preferable to a tight line as the system will put less load on your gear.
15. Check your work.  It’s like a high school test – you’re not done till you check your work, only this time the results really matter.
16. You’re done.  Go ahead and celebrate.

The meat of this system is that it is methodical – we always do this job the same way.  This consistency means that we are efficient.  The secret sauce is to keep the engine running and in reverse for most, if not all, of the operation.

Weighing anchor is usually pretty easy.  Start the boat, and then let the stern line go.  Often there is no wind and we can pull in the line, flaking it into the bag as it’s pulled, and then haul the anchor as per our normal routine.  If its blowing on your beam, these jobs will need to be done somewhat simultaneously, but a floating line will buy you a little breathing space as it can be trailed behind you while you weigh anchor without fouling the prop as long as you don’t get crazy with the reverse.  Beware of the line getting caught in rocks or a branch ashore as you retrieve it – you might have to jettison the whole length and retrieve it with the dinghy once your have navigated to a safe location.

What not to do…

We’ve seen people try some crazy stuff in an attempt to stern tie.  More often though, we just see people working inefficiently or without a plan.  Here are a few things that we’ve seen that don’t work.

1. Dropping the anchor before you have everything ready to go.  Just don’t do this…it’s silly and usually doesn’t end well.
2. Tying ashore in a strong cross breeze or current.  This is possible if you’re both practiced (fast) and have everything ready before you drop the hook.  But, it’s really hard to do, especially in a crowded spot where you might be trying to slot yourself between two boats that are already settled.  Our own biggest stern tying dramas have resulted from attempting to do this.
3. Using the outboard to pull the mothership into position.    This is a regular thing for some people, and with the rope trying to pull them out of the dinghy as they hang on to it for dear life with one hand while controlling the dinghy with the other, it always looks difficult, uncomfortable, and dangerous.  Pull on the stern line to put your boat where you want it while your are standing firmly on the ground – it’s easier and safer.
4. Tying the line ashore before dropping the hook.  I’ve read that this is a real technique and have seen people pull it off.  We’ve also seen a couple of disasters, including one that required efforts from multiple boats in the anchorage to get the newcomer settled.  Drop your hook first.
5. Yelling complex directions at each other.  This one usually works, but at what cost?  Having and executing a plan will minimize the need to communicate as you complete the steps.

Tips for being the second anchor down in a rafting situation:

1. Anchor as you would’ve if you were the first to anchor, but be very careful that you are not dropping your gear on top of your rafting partner’s tackle.
2. Put out the scope you think you’ll need and back down on your anchor to set it.
3. Once your anchor is set, let out 40 or 50 more feet of rode to give yourself some slack in you system.  This will allow you to maneuver into position far easier than if your rode is tight.
4. If possible, back up a little too far beside your rafting partner.  If you’ve done a good job of positioning yourself, you should be able to drift forward and alongside fairly easily.  If you haven’t, power forward and try again.
5. Once you’ve got your boat secured with bow, stern and two springs, haul in the extra rode you let out and snub your anchor.  Ideally, you want the load shared equally between the two anchors.

If we’re the second both in a raft of two, we don’t usually put out a second stern line – having less gear out makes getting away in a hurry easier.  If it’s blowing enough that we’re worried about the stern line, we will sometimes add a second.  If it’s blowing enough that this is still not enough, it’s time to move.

I hope these tips make your next (first) stern tying experience the low stress routine experience that in can be.  If your experience isn’t routine or low stress, practice will improve your skills and confidence.  Fair winds!

Hanging out in the Discovery Islands

Anchorage in a nook in the Cordero Islands

A couple of years ago, I wrote about the different strategies for navigating the tidal rapids north of Desolation Sound.  In that post, I mentioned that we always time our journey to coincide with the ebb while going north, and the flood going south, even if it means leaving in the dark.  As entertaining as that sounds, leaving at 2am to catch the tide isn’t super high on my fun list.  Thankfully, there are alternatives.

Over the last 3 or 4 years, we’ve managed to approach our passage through the rapids on dates with no great morning departure times – they’ve either been crazy early, or a little too late.  This, along with our increasing desire to limit the early morning heroics, forced us to re-examine our passage planning for this stretch of water.  These ideas all work best on the inside route through the Yucultas, and are as follows…

Idea #1 – Arrive late.  Who said that you need to be in Forward Harbour by 2 in the afternoon?  We’re talking about summer travel here; the sun is out til after 9pm!  As ridiculously simple as this sounds, it took a few years for us to really look at this as an viable alternative to leaving early.  The key is that it’s only 30 miles from Yuculta rapids to Forward Harbour.  Even at only 6 knots, that’s only 5 hours; with the tide behind you it’s more like 4.  If you transit Yuculta Rapids at 3pm, that puts you in Forward Harbour at the still civilized hour of 7pm.

Idea #2 – Hang out between the rapids.  You don’t need to spend the night between rapids to make this one work, just patience.  The plan is to catch the last of the ebb through Yuculta, Gillard and Dent, and then relax as you poke your way north.  Go for a walk at Shoal Bay, fish at Hall Point or just bob along slowly and enjoy the scenery.   There really isn’t that much current to fight for the first 12 or so miles after Dent Rapids, and you will have about 6 hours to kill before running Greenpoint Rapids.  Besides, there is something really powerful about surrendering your schedule to the turn of the tide.  Be sure to time your transits so that you are at Dent at slack and are pushing through the last of the flood at Greenpoint.

Heading north

Idea #3 – The obvious one – spend a night at one of the many cool places in the Discovery Islands.  Some options that we have used (there are many that we haven’t):  Big Bay.  It’s always abuzz with activity, has a dock, reasonable anchoring, and a great walk to Eagle Lake.  Big bay is a little like a toilet bowl with a rock in it – watch both the shoal area and the currents.  Shoal Bay.  Also a busy place, but with a more laid back atmosphere than the bustle of Big Bay.  Thurston Bay Marine Park.  Quiet and a little off all of the the main tracks north.  Cordero Islands (Greenpoint Rapids).  A very pretty anchorage right on the main channel.  There is room for eight or nine boats in the two nooks between the islands.  Blind Bay.  An upscale marina (but not too upscale) with a great walk and a good restaurant.  The current at the dock can be tricky, but the staff are eager to help.  If you want to continue north via the inside route, you’ll have to time your departure for the end of the flood as the currents in Mayne Channel and Greenepoint Rapids run opposite to each other.

Despite the cold water, the channels north of Desolation Sound offer a laid back experience that is significantly different from the crowded waters in northern Georgia Strait.  If you’re not in a rush to get north and the tides don’t allow you to blast through, take the opportunity to slow down and explore.

Books on Board: Our Reference Section

We love reading, and during a typical summer, it is not uncommon for Lori and I to blow through 30 or 40 books.  Finding new fiction to replenish our selection is always a challenge, but we’ve been lucky to work with a wonderful librarian who is constantly keeping an eye out for stuff we might like.  There are, however, a few books that we insist on taking every year: our reference section.  Following is our list of favorite “how to” books.  We have no stake whatsoever in any of these publications, they are included because we like them:

Ports and Passes.  Easy to use tide and current tables that have daylight savings already included in the quoted times.  The government tables are excellent too, but they break the coast of BC into 3 regions and are more expensive if you are cruising more than two regions of them.  In addition, you need to remember to add daylight savings time to the times listed.  Ports and Passes is easier.

 

 

 

Any of the cruising guides by Don Douglass and Reanne Hemingway-Douglass.  We carry Exploring the North Coast of British Columbia: Blunden Harbour to Dixon Entrance and Exploring Vancouver Island’s West Coast .  These guides are short on destination detail, but cover most nooks and crannies, no matter how improbable.  Because they are so comprehensive, you’ll need to spend some time with them.

Cruising the Secret Coast: Unexplored Anchorages on British Columbia’s Inside Passage  by  Jennifer and  James Hamilton.  While this book is by no means essential, it does contain a small number of out of the way places like those we are always looking for.  I believe that this book is responsible for much of the increased traffic in formerly remote destinations such as the Goose Group and Spider Group.  The authors are pretty brave, and outline many tight places that we are hesitant to go into.

Waggoner Cruising Guide is an excellent companion to the anchorage focus that the Douglass guides have.  The Wagonner Cruising guide covers the waters from southern Puget Sound to SE Alaska, including Haida Gwaii.  It has piloting information, anchorage information (somewhat limited north of Desolation Sound) and a comprehensive listing of facilities and towns.  Best of all, it is a free download.

The Dreamspeaker Guide Series by Anne and Laurence Yeadon-Jones. We don’t own any of these books, but we’ve cruised with people that do and really like them.  They cover the same ground as the Douglass guides, but are picky about the anchorages they include.  Because every stop listed is a worthwhile destination, the books are easy to use.  The excellent pictures and drawings make them fun to read.

Local Knowledge: A Skipper’s Reference : Tacoma To Ketchikan by Kevin Monahan.  A book of transiting notes that is particularly useful for understanding and using the tides and currents in the many passes on our coast.

Nigel Calder’s Cruising Handbook,  Marine Diesel Engines, and the Mechanical and Electrical Manual.

They all get used occasionally.  The Cruising Handbook is focused on buying and setting up a sailboat for voyaging, and at this point I read it mostly for enjoyment.  It is 15 years old, and you can tell, particularly the electronics section.  That said, the info on cruising sailboat design and layout is worth the cover price alone.  The other two books are very hands-on troubleshooting type books that are applicable to power and sail boats.

The Voyager’s Handbook: The Essential Guide to Blue Water Cruising by Beth Leonard.  The title speaks for itself.  Although it is written specifically for those intending to go offshore in a sailboat, it has information useful to coastal cruisers as well.  Plus, I’m a bit of a reference book geek.  Beth Leonard has circumnavigated twice, and has rounded all 5 great capes – she knows her stuff.

St. John Ambulance First Aid Reference Guide: Preparing for emergencies at work, home and play.  While any up-to-date First Aid book should be mandatory on board, we carry this one because it was the manual used in the course we took a year ago.

 

 

We carry a weather book that tries to explain how our weather works.  Although it is well written, the one I have is pretty general, and covers concepts that apply globally.  I’ve been looking for one with a local bias, and found Living with Weather Along the British Columbia Coast: The Veil of Chaos by Owen S. Lange.   Based on the description and review on Amazon, I think it is going on my wish list.

Lastly, we have two 3″ binders full of the documentation that came with our gear. All of it. Included in this is a shop manual for both the diesel engine and our outboard.  Unfortunately, this stuff is referenced constantly; fortunately, it’s easy to find.

If I’ve missed a resource you find indispensable or particularly well written, please leave a comment and share the title.  Thanks!

What’s that slimy gunk on the prawn trap line?

Party time in Desolation Sound

We used to do lots of prawning.  We had a few special spots that always seemed to produce, so I didn’t mind pulling up endlessly to retrieve the trap.  Usually, there were sections of line coated in a snotlike  slimy goo that always made me wonder about its origin.  I learned one beautiful day pulling the trap up outside of Prideaux Haven in Desolation Sound.

This particular day was a scorcher – swimming and sunscreen were the orders of the day.  I’d dropped the trap as we motored in at about noon, anticipating a prawny feast for happy hour.  When the time came to retrieve the bounty later in the afternoon, I enlisted my friend Al to help and set off in our dingy.  Our mood was joyful and playful.  Upon arrival, I sat on the pontoon of our inflatable, dangled my feet in the water, and proceeded to pull the slimy line up between my legs.  As the trap slowly made its way to the surface, we wondered aloud “What is that slimy gunk on the prawn trap line?”

Turns out that it’s jelly fish tentacle.  The waters of the north-eastern Pacific are home to the largest jelly fish on the planet.  They’re known as Lion’s Mane jelly fish for their deep red colour and large fringing mane of long tentacles. Like all jellyfish, these tentacles are covered in stinging cells meant to deliver a neurotoxin that paralyzes prey.  The stinging cells on Lion’s Mane jelly fish can – and on that day,  most certainly did – penetrate human skin.  Previously, I’d only contacted the slime with my hands, and the relatively thick skin on my palms prevented any harm.  Unfortunately, the soft skin of my inner thigh offered no such protection.  Reportedly, the sting of the Lion’s Mane jelly fish results in a painful rash that typically lasts for a few hours, but is rarely fatal.  Yup, that sounds about right.