Date: 14.12.2020
Author: Paul
Position: Antigua
Nautische Position: 17°00,75 N; 061°46,34 W
Etmal: 10 Nm
Harbour watches
Maybe someone already explained the Harbour Watches but if not here’s a short explanation: If we are in a harbour or marina or whatever, someone always has to be on deck.
For that we have Harbour Watches in the night. You can sign in for two hours in a group of three. Then you have to look that nobody comes on bord or check the fenders and stuff like that.
When we check all the stuff we have to check (fenders, mooring lines, etc.) we write it all down in a table. This we have to do every half an hour for the whole night. After two hours the next three persons come and this goes from 8 o’clock in the evening until 8 o’clock in the morning.
Anchor watches
But not every time we reach land when we go straight into a harbour. Often we anchor in the evening and then get into port in the next morning. So for that we have Anchor Watches and they are a little bit different from normal Harbour Watches.
First of all, there is something new: The anchor. So that is something more that we have to check. Now we have to control the pressure, water depths and some other things every 15 minutes.
Then every half an hour we have to go to the anchor on the Fordeck and hold one feet against the anchor chain. Sometimes it vibrates and then you have to write it down. It’s nothing particularly bad. It’s just that we recognize if we drag the anchor.
That would be very, very bad. So if the anchor chain is still, its very good. If there are light vibrations it´s also okay. Just if there are very heavy vibrations it’s not really good.
So when we wrote down if the anchor chain is vibrating we move on. Also if we are faster than 1 knot, we should inform one of the officers. That would mean that we move and and we drag the anchor and that means we have a problem. Next point on the list is the distance between us and the anchor on the ground. It should not variate too much. If it happens there is probably something wrong.
If we checked everything now, we can chill for the next 15 minutes until we have to do it again.
