Most people who rent bare-boats, and rather a lot of boat owners in general, don't know how to anchor, it seems. A feature at the London Boat Show 2007, Anchor Watch, aims to put this right.
Complete with a platform for “anchoring” and a long pool, so that visitors can see exactly what is happening under the water, Anchor Watch aims to show them everything they need to know about anchoring.
It will cover situations such as freeing your anchor if someone else has laid their chain over yours, and anchoring without a windlass.
It may include memorable anchoring tales, like the one where the captain of a huge and famous charter J class yacht came in stern to in Cannes, and had forgotten to tie the end of the chain on after a refit and the whole lot went over the side!
Anchoring in a quiet spot, away from the bustle of the marina is one of the great pleasures of cruising and it is a pity if lack of confidence is denying some yacht crews that enjoyment.
It's one of those things that traditionally you learned by trial and error, but if Anchor Watch can save anchor novices from some of those potentially expensive errors, it will be worth the admission price to the Boat Show for that alone.
The London Boat Show 2007 is at Excel in London's Docklands from Friday January 5th to Sunday January 14th. For more information visit www.londonboatshow.com
