Your dink needs an angel, chum

It seems a bit churlish to mention it when old timers will point out that dinghy docks barely existed in the Caribbean twenty years ago. And of course many get an annual hammering from passing hurricanes (docks that is, but I guess the old timers too). Yet the fact is that, for those of us who have got used to skipping on and off dinghy docks in Europe or the States, many Caribbean dinghy docks are a bit ropey, to say the least - glad though we are to find them.

One of the main hazards of dinghy docking in these parts is avoiding the ‘under and up’ syndrome when the wind changes, or someone simply ties up alongside with too short a line (don’t you just hate them!) and your dink gets pushed under the dock at low tide, all ready for the outboard to receive a tremendous thumping from above when the tide or swell comes in.

To avoid this prudent mariners will, of course, set a stern anchor. Like all anchoring escapades it has to be done properly but all too often one sees stern anchors which are ineffective because they were set on too short a scope.  Worse ‘crimes’ are tilting the outboard to enable effective laceration of your neighbours’ tubes and the use of floating line for a stern anchor, which may be handy for the user but is a sure and menacing hazard to any passing dinghy, especially at night. Some fool’s bit of dark blue polypropylene cost me a hundred dollars for a new prop returning late at night when I was last in Barbados. This time last year in English Harbour we again fouled a floating line at night 30 yards from the shore. We were trapped but our good friend Catherine was kind enough to swim ashore and ask a night watchman for a knife. Quite what he thought when he saw this bikini-clad female emerging from the sea at 11 at night and asking for a knife I don’t know, but he handed it over. By the time Catherine got back to the boat we’d managed to undo the tangle but, being English, I was too polite to tell her, so made a big show of pretend-cutting and retying the rope before giving her the knife back for a return swim.

I reckon a dinghy’s stern anchor line can be any old bit of string as long at it’s going to sink and is strong enough and long enough to do the job. As to the anchor, there’s plenty of choice and much to be said for different types. I favour the good old folding grapnel, because it stows without pointy bits and throws well, but baby Danforths have their adherents too.

You can deploy your prepared stern anchor by dropping it and feeding it out as you come into the dock. If you’ve got extra crew on board that usually works fine, but I find there’s too much risk of tangling the prop, so here are five simple steps to make a good job of it.

1. Go up to the dock and disembark your stuff and any crew. Tie off the painter at maximum length, or have a crew member ready to pay it out.
   
   
   
   
   
    
2. Back the dinghy away from the dock to the extent of the painter. Leaving the motor in slow astern, chuck the anchor out and away as far as you can, taking note of the direction of any other lines which may be about. Be careful not to throw the anchor with a tumbling action as the line can wrap and foul it. I find it useful to give it a little tug as it’s about to hit the water, to keep the end of the shank towards the dinghy.
   
   
   
   
   
    
3. Return to the dock paying out the line and tie it off as short as possible. Haul in on the anchor line until it’s tight without dragging it. Stick on your chain or other security device.
   
   
   
   
    
4. This is where your angel comes in. You need a leadline weight, or one or two dive belt weights, depending on the size of your dinghy. Have the weight attached to a yard or more of line with a snap shackle right by the weight. Secure the end of the line to the dinghy and snap the shackle onto the anchor line so that the weight can run down the line as an angel or chum – just like some people use on main anchors.
   
   
   
   
    
5. Hop onto the dock and pay out some painter. The tension in the anchor line together with the weight of the angel will pull the dinghy back comfortably away from the dock. And, for a bonus, that angel will keep your stern line deeper than any passing outboard thus saving its prop and your line. Once you’ve rigged it, it’s just a snap to fix.

Enjoy your day, knowing that your dinghy isn’t going to get hammered, tangled or yanked. Probably.

Words and pictures by Jeremy Shaw, SY Zingano, January 2005