What's The Strangest Thing Your Anchor Picked Up?

[Senojev]

Other than a few logs, the worst experience was when we were doing the Downeast Circle in 2016 and had anchored in a small isolated anchorage in Nova Scotia with two boats we were cruising with. We left the next day but once outside the weather was snotty with headwinds an 4-5 footers. They went on and paid for it while We went back and re-anchored for the night.

Next morning, the weather had abated so we went to pull up the anchor but when we were over the anchor the chain went bar tight and a combination of high rpm and maxing the windless did not budge the anchor. After many attempts, we were at the point of getting the angle grinder out and cutting the chain and losing a brand new Rocna 25 when I figured give it one more go. Backed away from the anchor and took a run pulling chain in as quick as we could. The bow platform groaned and suddenly we were free but not quite the chain was still bartight so we knew we were into something big.

The windless, a Lofrens 1500, was slipping so we tightened the clutch as hard as possible and eventually an old fisherman style anchor broke the surface. The windless struggled to lift it and finally the bottom broke the water.

It was made of wrought iron with a wooden cross piece that was still partially intact and the shank was 7’ long. Removing it from the anchor was a long job as it was solidly jammed.

Our destination the next day happened to be Halifax and we talked with the historian at the Maritime Museum and he dated it based on its construction as somewhere in the late 1700s. We have the exact coordinates in case we go back and anchor there again.

[Timryl]

In Myora, Moreton Bay, Queensland, I weighed my anchor with some difficulty, only to see a huge white apparition coming to the surface.
It was a stainless tubed deck awning, complete with white marine canvas cover - virtually brand new!
Dragged it to the beach, unlaced the cover, the locals scarpered down and hightailed off up the beach with the frame!

[Oceanride007]

A Outboard engine, think it was a Mercury about 10hp. In Cooktown Qld Harbour, bet someone disappointed to lose it.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Oceanride007

A Outboard engine, think it was a Mercury about 10hp. In Cooktown Qld Harbour, bet someone disappointed to lose it.

.....But given the resident croc, one wouldn't have wanted to dive for it, either!




One time we snagged the fiberoptic phone cable that crosses the Hawkesbury River off Brooklyn, NSW, and it was my fault. There was a sign, but it was defaced by graffiti, and I looked away from it, as I really dislike graffiti. During the struggle to get free, we noticed two men on shore, waving their arms, and figured they wanted to talk to us. Yes, they did. They told us it was the basic of all land based phone coverage north of there, and there would be a quarter of a million dollar fine if we broke it. They advised us to cut loose our anchor, which we did, buoying it.

Jim and another cruiser friend went back at high water slack, the next morning, but on a tank, took a 1/2" 3 strand line with him, and found the anchor by the Braille method, attached the line, and pulled it out from under the cable, so we got it back OK, but the visibility in the water was terrible, and Jim felt concerned about sharks the whole time. Not a fun thing.

Another time, we didn't get the anchor back. What we think we were snagged on was a tree, on the wrong side of a bend in the Gordon River in western Tasmania. So for the cost of a new Manson Supreme, over Easter weekend, we got to consider the river anchoring at some length..... Some Australian friends said we should expect to have problems if we got off the beaten track. Not what I wanted to hear at the time, but they were right.

Ann

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by David Mathis

Retrieving the anchor shouldn't have been a problem but the windlass was grunting then stopped just as the Bruce reached the surface. We could see something black but a closer exam was needed before we determined we had hooked a telephone cable. A trip line was then attached to the anchor which let us pull up the other end of the anchor to allow the phone cable to go back to the bottom. The "Do Not Anchor" sign was later located behind some bushes where, due to the posts rotting away, it was laying in a position where it could have been see from an aircraft but not by boaters. As of last summer, about ten years after the incident, the "Do Not Anchor" sign had not been replaced.

Power or data cables can be a problem for anchoring boats. I imagined these cables were significantly buried under the substrate, but having seen a few underwater this does not appear to be the case, at least near the shore where sailboats are likely to encounter these obstacles. See the photo below:

[Wotname]

AFAIK, all undersea power / data cables are simply laid on the on the surface of the bottom. They are buried in the littoral zone only. They are heavily armoured (think many steel wrappings) and quite difficult (but not impossible) to damage with a sailboat anchor and chain.

Damaging or even breaking one could ruin you day though!

[Be Free]

Originally Posted by Enfant Du Vent

Post #12 in this thread ends with, "The entire adventure took most of all day, with some 20 odd sailors involved."

Do you suppose it wouldn't have taken "most of all day" if the sailors hadn't been "odd"?

I suspect it would have taken much longer. It would have take several days just to find 20 "non-odd" sailors if they could have been found at all.

[skipperpete]

Manta rays seem to get hooked up on anchor cables reasonably often, I’ve not actually seen it happen (other than YouTube) but the thought crossed my mind while we were anchored near Hayman island with a lot of em swimming gracefully past our chain...... how can one be released if it does hook up and lift the anchor?

[Searles]

Anchored in the Whitsundays Keswick st bees channel late 1970s ,verry carefull to avoid coral heads ,looked like a clear spot ,anchor down ,all chain with a couple of floats to keep chain wraps to a minimum ,next morning trying to lift the anchor, no go ,finally got the anchor partly up ,over the side with a outher heavy line ,we had part of an aircraft wing ,verry corroded ,with the anchor hooked on one edge,tied off with second line , freed anchor ,cut line ,no idea where the wing came from ,probable Second World War .

[JPA Cate]

^^^^^^
That's it, it is that you really want to get rid of the "it" that snagged or got snagged on, your anchor!

Ann

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Senojev

Other than a few logs, the worst experience was when we were doing the Downeast Circle in 2016 and had anchored in a small isolated anchorage in Nova Scotia with two boats we were cruising with. We left the next day but once outside the weather was snotty with headwinds an 4-5 footers. They went on and paid for it while We went back and re-anchored for the night.

Next morning, the weather had abated so we went to pull up the anchor but when we were over the anchor the chain went bar tight and a combination of high rpm and maxing the windless did not budge the anchor. After many attempts, we were at the point of getting the angle grinder out and cutting the chain and losing a brand new Rocna 25 when I figured give it one more go. Backed away from the anchor and took a run pulling chain in as quick as we could. The bow platform groaned and suddenly we were free but not quite the chain was still bartight so we knew we were into something big.

The windless, a Lofrens 1500, was slipping so we tightened the clutch as hard as possible and eventually an old fisherman style anchor broke the surface. The windless struggled to lift it and finally the bottom broke the water.

It was made of wrought iron with a wooden cross piece that was still partially intact and the shank was 7’ long. Removing it from the anchor was a long job as it was solidly jammed.

Our destination the next day happened to be Halifax and we talked with the historian at the Maritime Museum and he dated it based on its construction as somewhere in the late 1700s. We have the exact coordinates in case we go back and anchor there again.

I'm sure you have to be thinking that if is a ship wreak from the 1700's, what cargo might be down there.

[ullar]

Few years ago when we stayed for a night in Omaha Bay, New Zealand we managed to hook up a boat trailer. It was quit a puzzle to untangle. A bit heavy it was too.

[fxykty]

Our anchor has brought up a 1200gph Rule bilge pump and 2m of 3/4” hose. We cleaned it up, put new terminals on the electrical wires and it turned out to work. We use it as a portable bilge pump - fits nicely under the engines and gets the bit of water that the installed pump doesn’t get.

[JPA Cate]

Neat story, fxykty. We sure as heck didn't have a use for the sink we caught! Recycling at its finest!


Ann

[Piratenorm]

A better anchor than I was using with over 100 feet of chain, all I had to do was hacksaw it from the boat next to me…kidding, it had been abandoned already. But worse, I could hear the windlass struggling to pull up something and when I looked it was a 55 gallon drum with axe holes in it. I wrestled it off with a boat hook, marked where it sank and notified the authorities, then got out of town. I did not want to know what was in it. My imagination was bad enough! In Ontario waters, Georgian Bay, near Midland.