The Herding Effect

     This October will be our first anniversary as full time cruisers.  We have learned very much in that time.  However, we do realize that there is more to learn.  You can never be a consummate master of anything.  Part of the learning curve is recognizing tendencies of other boaters.  This is especially true when it comes to anchoring, one of my favorite subjects.  While in the Bahamas, I paid special attention to our anchor and gear, learning how it reacted to different influences such as tides or winds.  It's surprising, when the water is very clear, to see how the boat is oriented into the wind because of your rode, in our case chain, and the relationship of the boat to the actual location of the anchor.  On numerous occasions I noted that although we were in a light breeze, enough to put tension on the rode, the anchor was actually resting to either side of the boat or under the boat.  On most occasions, the rode served more as an anchor than the anchor itself.

    When selecting an anchorage to drop the hook, the exact location can be dictated by tides (currents) and/or the winds for most boaters.  Some boaters select a very close, tight anchorage for absolute wind protection, as if they have an auto-defense mechanism to ward off the bugs laying in wait to suck out their blood.  We prefer, and it has been well documented in this blog, wide open anchorages, to allow for the slightest breeze to flush out any heat within the boat that has been generated by the sun.  Remember when I mentioned tendencies of other boaters?  We have discovered a tendency of boaters when they approach an anchorage with another boat already at anchor i.e., Big Run.  The new arrival, despite it being a very large anchorage, capable of holding many, many boats, will anchor right next to you, let's say 200 feet away or less.  Then as more boats arrive, they too will anchor next to you and any other boats that are already anchored.  It's like you know something special about the anchorage, and they want to be part of it too and anchor next to you despite the fact that you do not know them.  Never mind the other 20 acres that they could anchor in, they need to be next to someone.  We have dubbed this phenomenon the "Herding Effect".