On the chart
Good conditions
Shelter
Anchorage Score
A 72-hour lookout for every cove
The score is a comfort reading for a typical cruising boat. It follows the weather as it changes — so you are not guessing from a guidebook that never updates.
Most of its value is the next 72 hours, not only this minute. Use it to decide where to spend time, which nights look inviting, and which stretches to skip until the sea lays down.
Open the chartPlan the next couple of days
Slide through the hours on an anchorage. A green now can still be a poor tomorrow — that is the point of the forecast, not a snapshot.
This hour
Would you drop here this afternoon? The live reading answers that first.
The night ahead
Conditions often turn after sunset. Check the evening before you commit.
The next couple of days
Plan where to linger, where to hide, and which coast to leave alone until it settles.
What shapes the reading
Wind
Breeze and gusts at that hour — a quiet lunch can still be a restless night.
Sea
Swell and chop rolling into the bay, even when the wind looks friendly on paper.
Shelter
How well the land wraps you from the conditions of that hour — not a generic “protected” label.
Holding
The bottom under the hook, and whether anchors tend to set there.
Other boaters
Shelter and holding notes from people who have already spent a night there.
How to read the bands
Comfortable overnight in current conditions.
A solid choice — settle in with confidence.
Fine for a short stop; keep an eye on the forecast.
Rough or exposed — only as a last resort.
Do not anchor here right now.
A lookout, not the skipper
The score is the same for every boat. It does not know your draft, your tackle, or local rules. Confirm with the chart, the sky, and what you see on deck before you drop.