Picked up an electrical cable with our anchor

[teneicm]

We were anchoring in Bimini near Alice town yesterday and picked up a really heavy electrical cable with our big Mantus. Tripped our windlass breaker and slow blow fuse at the same time while trying to get the cable off. Maybe that's why no one else was anchored there.

Blowing really hard here last night. All the locals are bundled up with winter hats and such--60s is cold for down here.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by teneicm

We were anchoring in Bimini near Alice town yesterday and picked up a really heavy electrical cable with our big Mantus. Tripped our windlass breaker and slow blow fuse at the same time while trying to get the cable off. Maybe that's why no one else was anchored there.

Blowing really hard here last night. All the locals are bundled up with winter hats and such--60s is cold for down here.

Where were you trying to anchor? Just northeast of the Big Game Club? I don't see a cable area warning anywhere on the chart but would sure like to know where not to try anchoring.

[teneicm]

Matt says I got the facts wrong on this. I guess it's actually north of Bailey Town, up the channel south of the Bimini Bay Resort. It's also possible that it wasn't an electrical cable, maybe some other kind of hose.

Anyway, our windlass is working again and the wind has died down. So we have that going for us. Cheers!

[David M]

Was this cable on the chart? If not, someone should have at least put a sign up on the shore that says Cable Crossing.

[FSMike]

Originally Posted by David M

Was this cable on the chart? If not, someone should have at least put a sign up on the shore that says Cable Crossing.

LOL. Welcome to the Bahamas mon.

[AnchorageGuy]

We're sitting at the Big Game Club. Thinking we will head to the Berry's Tuesday or Wednesday. There is lots of junk on the bottom both down here and up where you are. We checked out the anchorage at the north end and the water is not as clear as down near Alice Town so it's hard to see what's down there. There is a lot of construction debris and it's also deeper where you are. Chuck

[JonJo]

This was an example of where a tripping slot, Supreme, Boss, SARCA, comes into its own? Maybe there should be a formal thread on tripping slots after all - serendipity

[chrisjs]

We did the same thing near the entrance to Gun Cay a couple of years ago. A sudden squall with 40-50kts and 6-8ft seas came out of nowhere. We appeared to be getting too close to the wall and decided to move. Retrieving the anchor caused the boat to drag a bit and we caught a main power cable on our Rocna. Pretty scary to be in a storm with a heavy duty cable attached to your boat. Luckily, dropping the anchor back allowed the cable to fall off. No harm done except a shredded bimini from the wind. In future the "correct" approach is to tie off the cable while backing off the anchor then release the cable. Learn something every day!!!

[Group9]

I did that one time, under the bridge over Baltimore Harbor, in a 42 Wellcraft Portotino, when we anchored at night.

Later, when we were ready to go, the windless groaned, but kept coming up until it exposed a black cable about the size of my wrist. It scared the crap out of me, and we let it hang there for about ten minutes while we came up with a plan to get it off the anchor.

There was a sign that said cable crossing we saw the next day, but in the dark, we didn't see it.

Some of the underwater power lines in the Bahamas are marked in the Explorer Charts, but it wouldn't surprise me to find anything, anywhere, in the Bahamas.

[twistedtree]

Put a hazard mark on Active Captain to warn others.

And I'll bet you had good holding

[Kettlewell]

I dove on my anchor in Nassau harbor once and discovered it was entangled in the remains of a giant Junkanoo costume, and nearby was an old stove.

[Group9]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

I dove on my anchor in Nassau harbor once and discovered it was entangled in the remains of a giant Junkanoo costume, and nearby was an old stove.

Anchoring in Nassau, the chances of hooking an old anchor chain or other debris, are about 50/50.

[teneicm]

Wasn't on any of the charts. Still not certain if it was an electrical cable or a hose/flexible pipe of some sort. It was about 2.5 inches in diameter and black. Now that we have wifi again, I'll be updating Active Captain.

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by teneicm

Wasn't on any of the charts. Still not certain if it was an electrical cable or a hose/flexible pipe of some sort. It was about 2.5 inches in diameter and black. Now that we have wifi again, I'll be updating Active Captain.

How deep was the water?

Could you have put the anchor back down with an anchor float tied to the roll bar?

Then you could have just drove upto the anchor float an pulled it up to release the anchor from the cable

[rognvald]

Originally Posted by David M

Was this cable on the chart? If not, someone should have at least put a sign up on the shore that says Cable Crossing.

In the Bahamas?