What was my mistake?

[MarkSF]

If it happens again, try this : a very sharp tug. Get the boat over the anchor, then get both of you, count to 3, and tug together as sharp as you can. The emphasis is on a sudden shock, not steady pressure.

[clownfishsydney]

As a scuba diver I have collected dozens of anchors over the past 25 years. Some have been huge, with almost 100 metres of chain. We never leave a good anchor and chain on the bottom. We made some good money out of anchors, also swapping for anchor rope on a regular basis.

As someone said, find some interested divers and take them out. For a couple of cartons of beer I am sure they would be happy to get a dive and help you out.

[markpierce]

As I said, sailboats motor on the Petaluma. Here gaining access though D Street Bridge. (Flat-bottom sailing scows, however, made it through by sail in the nineteenth century.)

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by markpierce

On the east side of Angel Island, in Ayala (Hospital) Cove ...

Yes, I meant the north side.

[Steadman Uhlich]

As I recall, that east side of Angel Island used to have extensive docks many years ago. That was where the immigration station was located. The posted chart shows submerged ruins.

An interesting fact: about one million immigrants came through that immigration station. So, lots of ships and boats used those docks.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Island_(California)

Angel Island (California) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Cthoops]

Sorry to hear this happened to you, but thank you for posting about it. Mr. Cthoops and I are going to start anchoring this year, and now I've picked up some very good advice for what to do if (or when) something similar happens to us.

[Stu Jackson]

More anchoring lessons: China Camp

https://www.catalina36.org/forum/sai...lesson-learned

[Stu Jackson]

Anchoring at China Camp

https://www.catalina36.org/forum/sai...lesson-learned

You now have my link to Clipper Cove and Sailorchic's input, plus this. Paradise Cove is easy and open, much like China Camp but I haven't needed a sentinel there, only at China Camp.

You'll sometime see folks anchored of Pt. Campbell, NE corner of Angel Island. It's just a lunch stop and not recommended for overnight. Note the submerged ruins there, too.

Clipper Cove, Aquatic Park, Paradise Cove, China Camp and Sausalito are the general anchorage spots on The Bay. Get Kimball's book.

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by gathem

several mistakes, several lessons learned.
Thanks everyone for your input. I wont make the mistake again

I don't know the area, but for areas I don't know, I don't anchor. I second the tying of a marked fender or two to the chain for future retrieval. Even if you made a waypoint of where you hit 1:1 on the rode, you are going to have a hard time in murky water finding that ground tackle again.

It's the lack of bolt cutters, hacksaw or other tool that gets to me. I have both, plus grinders, sabre saws and even a Dremel I could use in a pinch, which would give me 230 feet of that chain back.

Another thing that occurs to me is the other boat in the anchorage. Odds are pretty good that that boat was a local familiar with the ground and talking to that person boat-to-boat or over the radio might have given you the critical point, which may have been that Local Boat was in the only clean holding in that inlet, and that junk and cables and rocks with Danforth-fluke-sized clefts were everywhere else.

But that's my sailor's paranoia. If I see a beautiful anchorage with only one boat in it, I assume first that it's a tricky place to get a hook down, and I lack critical knowledge. If I can't satisfy, through a fishfinder looksee, direct observation or the sharing of local knowledge that the place is golden for hooks, I would move on, unless my need to stop was worth more to me than an anchor and 20 feet of chain. Good luck in the future.

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by gathem

Thanks everyone,

I just updated my navionics charts last week. I wasn't aware that Cheechako was using the term "wreck" for obstruction. I did check the charts before dropping the anchor. I saw nothing alarming on them.

I did most of my learning to sail in Monterey bay, and am new to the SF bay, and have 0 local knowledge or sailing friends in the area.

I actually had 2 anchors, and I still have the better of the two. I just need to buy some anchor chain now. I really should have tied a fender to it. I wasn't aware of how expensive anchor chain was... I was thinking $250. I had thought a diver would have cost more than the chain...

Nope! I would sacrifice an old Danforth pretty quickly, but that much chain is halfway to gold!

+1 on the tripping line, which is implied by the idea of an anchor marker. Dyneema or Spectra line, properly spliced for that slippery material, is a good choice for a tripping line because of its strength vs. weight.

[Terra Nova]

Besides having a paper chart, there may be something like Charlie's Charts available for your cruising area. These will go into great detail about specific anchoring conditions and bottom types.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

Besides having a paper chart, there may be something like Charlie's Charts available for your cruising area. These will go into great detail about specific anchoring conditions and bottom types.

There certainly are. I recommended one great book. The Mahaffey's Cruising Guide is also good, but there are less than a half dozen "good" anchorages in the Bay, as I noted above.

He just picked the wrong one to get started.

[Kenomac]

1. Trip line or system to pull the anchor out backwards.

2. Scuba gear.

[stevebein]

I have been diving for many years. IFyou have a friend who is a dive and can approximate where the anchor was lost, you will have an easy way to find it.
Once, in the Bahamas, my shackle came loose ( essentially my fault since I had recently bought the boat and did not verify that the shackle was siezed), but anyway, I set my second anchor for overnight. We then went into the port at Bimini as the weather was increasing and we had to meet someone flying in. Three days later, I mentally retraced my course and within two minutes of rounding the breakwater, on the remembered course, we found my 75# CQR as well as the shackle bolt. I was very lucky. I also had bolt cutters if needed. So, for cruising, you have learned some very good lessons from the above comments.

[Joe Brown]

A line - called a trip line - fastened to the crown of the Danforth and buoyed on the surface - might have saved your Danforth and chain. You just never know what's on the bottom if you can't see it. I lost a Danforth and some rode in a river years ago because I did not use a trip line. One of those hard-learned lessons.