Boating in general has always been a social outlet. Seeing a 20-boat raft-up at Belmont Bay was pretty common. But in the days of the dreaded COVID and Social Distancing, we’ve had to get a bit more creative about how we get together! Recently the folks, in Belmont Bay especially, have been assembling a different kind of raft-up – the circle! This is a perfect way to get together and still maintain your distance from each other. You’ll want to do this on a calm day in well protected waters.
It works like this:
One boat becomes the “anchor boat,” and will be positioned at 12 o’clock in the circle. This would typically be the largest boat with the biggest anchor(s). While other boats may come and go, this “anchor boat” must remain for the duration. Initially, the “anchor boat” sets his main anchor, backs up, and then sets a stern anchor.
The next boat will back up to the 12 o’clock boat and become the 6 o’clock boat. He sets an anchor from the bow, and backs up to the “anchor boat,” leaving some space. He then throws a couple lines to the “anchor boat,” which get tied to the stern.
Additional boats may now start filling up the circle, starting at the 1 o’clock position, all around. Each boat must set a bow anchor before backing up to the raft-up and tying off at his neighbor’s stern. Here’s what it looks like:
This gets you close enough so you can still talk to people and huck bottles of vodka across to them, but far enough away from their cooties. Of course there’s no way yer gonna get it that pretty, but you get the idea!