Deep Anchoring Question

[Bash]

Marvelous Mark, my hypothetical friend, has been recruited to serve as a Marshall boat at the Americas Cup competitions in SF Bay in August. He has been instructed to be prepared to anchor in water as deep as 100' in up to 30 kts of wind.

Marvelous Mark, who is more a racer than a cruiser, has two rodes. His primary has 40' of chain backed up by 200' of nylon, and his secondary has 30' of chain backed up by 150' of nylon. He wants to combine these two rodes to serve for his Americas Cup lunch hook, but he's wondering whether it would be best to attach them nylon-to-nylon, thus reversing the secondary rode, or whether it would be better to attach the secondary's chain to the primary's nylon so that it serves as a kellet.

Marvelous Mark has a lovely electric winch, by the way, a vertical Maxwell.

What says the forum?

[Paul L]

If the connection is not complicated, I'd go with the built in kellet. It should stop a lot of drifting around if it is light out. Then, on second thought, even if the winds are light, there's always the current to deal with in SF.

[djmarchand]

Bash:

420' of rode (with most of it being nylon) in 100' of water with 30 kts of wind will be marginal whatever you do. But for best holding power and ease of retreiving with a windlass I would connect both lengths of chain together with a hammer link and then splice both nylon rodes together. I realize that this is a lot of work to rig it up, but think about how you are going to retreive a chain/nylon/chain/nylon rode with the windlass in 30 kts of wind.

And stuffing 350' of nylon rode in the anchor locker as the windlass pulls it up (assuming you have a chain/nylon gypsy) won't be a picnic either.

David

[phorvati]

lol, newport RI was a **** show too, I am just talking about 1000s of spectator boats running into each other, boats anchoring in 150' of water, dragging in currents, etc. At least Narraganset bay is not as treacherous and the winds were on the light side. And racing was very fun to watch from a near by rocks.
How often r u gouing to be recruited for something like that. i'de say splice it and do it right. Hopoefully the chains are both of same type and size. i.e BBB or HT. As gipsy is usually for a specific type of chain.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Paul L

....I'd go with the built in kellet...

I like the "built in kellet" approach too (chain section in middle of total rode).

[Cheechako]

If he doesnt mind scarring up the windlass the kellet would be good. I assume he's going to be just pulling rode off the Vert windlass and stacking it on deck....?

[redsky49]

Either approach appears marginal, and with no clear advantage I would take the easier choice - connected end to end.

I hope you have a big anchor, suitable for the bottom conditions!

[Bash]

Originally Posted by redsky49

I hope you have a big anchor, suitable for the bottom conditions!

I have already recommended to my friend that he ditch his 45 lb. CQR as well as the Delta that came with his boat and invest in a 25 kg Rocna.

Still, the question of the combined rodes is perplexing. Has anyone ever tried using a rode that goes nylon to chain to nylon to chain on something like a Maxwell winch? I'm hard-pressed to give advice in this regard because I've had all-chain rodes on the last two boats.

[rgscpat]

How much is it desirable to reduce swing so as to avoid having to re-anchor as the current and wind change? Too much swing and either the course area is impinged upon or the spectator and safe transit areas. And re-anchoring in the middle of the race with ACs traveling at high speed, spectator boats milling around, and commercial and recreational traffic transiting in close proximity doesn't sound too good. It would almost seem worth wondering about whether the AC folks should have installed temporary moorings for the marshal boats.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by rgscpat

How much is it desirable to reduce swing so as to avoid having to re-anchor as the current and wind change? Too much swing and either the course area is impinged upon or the spectator and safe transit areas. And re-anchoring in the middle of the race with ACs traveling at high speed, spectator boats milling around, and commercial and recreational traffic transiting in close proximity doesn't sound too good. It would almost seem worth wondering about whether the AC folks should have installed temporary moorings for the marshal boats.

As I understand it, they're going to use stake boats because they may have to adjust the course at the last minute because of wind shifts. They wanted the stake boats all to be larger sailboats with tall masts.

[KEG]

Originally Posted by Bash

I have already recommended to invest in a 25 kg Rocna.

Boy I'm sure glad I don't hate my friends like that!!!!!!




Anchor thread.

[FrankZ]

A good friend would let his friend borrow an all chain rode for a day or three, especially to be able to sit right in the middle of the action.

[micah719]

Vertical windlass, wasn't it? Shouldn't be that hard to put the snubber on and switch rode/chain/rode if that's what he ends up doing. The scope is what worries me....can he borrow/buy some extra rode, and tandem anchor himself and swing off a swivel? That way he'd take up less real estate....

[Bash]

Originally Posted by FrankZ

A good friend would let his friend borrow an all chain rode for a day or three, especially to be able to sit right in the middle of the action.

Thanks, Frank. Speaking of good friends....

Actually, that might not be a good solution. It takes a pretty hefty windlass to grind that much chain up vertically. Back in my scuba instructor days, we dropped several hundred feet of chain off a charter boat in 100' of water, and had to pull it back up hand-over-hand after the dive because the windlass couldn't handle the weight. Not fun.

[xeon_tsd]

Sounds like a good time for "Mark" to invest in some more chain. or as Frank said, "rent" some chain from friends for space on deck.