Two Anchors Done Right

Different types of boat lie in different ways- the narrow tidal anchorage at Sapinho, Baia de Camamu, Brazil.

Some of my favourite anchorages are strongly tidal, a perverse eccentricity you may think. But I love the living feeling of the boat as she swings to the new tide, and the ever-changing view scratches my curiosity constantly and gives me a heightened sense of place.

Other than that, tidal anchorages only offer endless possibilities for trouble, especially those that are little more than tidal pools with steep banks. Swinging ashore, becoming all too intimate with your neighbours, pulling your anchor out and dragging as the tide turns—I've done them all. And so has virtually everyone else at some time or another, a fact that is widely recognized in Britain’s crowded harbours, where some, such as Dartmouth, insist that someone must always be aboard an anchored boat at the turn of the tide.