Anchors are a Drag... Waking Up On a Beach in Our Boat

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Hairball?

It really did look like one, thin, dense, dark purple weed, tripled the wieght of the anchor and doubled its size! YUCKY.

[Tx J]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

It really did look like one, thin, dense, dark purple weed, tripled the wieght of the anchor and doubled its size! YUCKY.

Fresh salad!

On a serious note, does anyone around here actually harvest and eat any seaweed?
After all the Japanese and others partake often, many kinds are edible*. We might be overlooking some tasty vittles...

Hmmm...next time I get in some clean water...been meaning to dredge some fresh oysters too, this could get downright culinary.

*
Edible seaweed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Seaweeds are used extensively as food in coastal cuisines around the world. Seaweed has been a part of diets in China, Japan, and Korea since prehistoric times.[4] Seaweed is also consumed in many traditional European societies, in Iceland and western Norway, the Atlantic coast of France, northern and western Ireland, Wales and some coastal parts of South West England,[5] as well as Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The Māori people of New Zealand traditionally used a few species of red and green seaweed.[6]"


OK. This was another anchor thread, weren't it?

[sy_gilana]

I don't like all those electronic anchor alarms. If we set one, we use our trusty old fashioned one. Its a diving weight on a long line wound around a double cleft board of plywood. Once we are in, I throw the weight over near to our cabin hatch, and hand out a few extra metres of line for swing room, then put the rest of the wound line on the board through the hatch onto the floor next to our bunk. If you do move, the board will be clunking on the floor. No I don't tie the end to a body part, but it has been suggested. Glad you got out with no damage, and yes, no matter what anchor, how much chain, its going to happen to everyone one day...

[Amapola]

Sometimes we need a wake-up call lest we become complacent.

[Prairie Chicken]

Oh, ain't cruising fun?

I'm glad you escaped unscathed Ken.

[weavis]

Another one for the book........

[JPA Cate]

Kenomac,

Glad everything's okay. We had something similar happen once, many years ago, and it really is a super shock when you look out and are not where you were. In our case, we silently drifted out of the anchorage, across the deep water which lay between us and the land, then the anchor snagged on the rising coral bank astern, and kept us off. But it was night, no moon, and we could see the lighthouse wasn't where we'd left it! This was before chartplotters. We had to work out (a) where we were and (b) where did we want to go to. Someone in the anchorage had turned on their anchor light, and that served (as they intended) as a guide. Extremely unsettling. We have dragged a few other times, but the soundless drag is just creepy!

We use the anchor alarm on our Northstar GPS when we think we might need it, but do not use it routinely.

Ann

[DumnMad]

Thanks ++ Ken.

[MarkJ]

I see what the problem is! The chartplotter shows the water is blue, but the photo shows the water is grey.

Come to the Caribbean where they match!

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Here's a couple of pictures to help put things into perspective. The first one is of the shoreline with the rocks taken from where we anchored the second time, we ended up in between them. The second picture is of our Ipad chartplotter showing where we first anchored (bottom set of tracking lines). We drifted directly east (to the right) into the small crescent shaped area with the rocks. The second set of tracking lines at the top are from where we anchored the second time closer to the "A" in the word anchorage).

Our boat draws 2.3 meters, the chart scale is in meters. No pictures were taken during the actual event for obvious reasons and the Ipad was turned off at night, so no track lines showing where we drifted.

This is the main reason why I only want boats with more than one head...

[Sea Frog]

And they say Ultras never drag...

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Sea Frog

And they say Ultras never drag...

We've used them all except for a Bruce... Ultra, Rocna, CQR, Danforth and one of the grapple types. All of them can drag in weed or a rock bottom covered with a thin layer of mud or sand.

We anchored just three days ago during the daytime in an anchorage that was entirely a weed bottom. The wind suddenly changed by 90 degrees and picked up by 20 knots. Everyone dragged including us even though we'd properly set the anchor with reverse rpms to over 2000. Within an hour, all 20 or so boats had either exited the anchorage or dragged to the other side. The only difference was that some dragged faster than others. We moved 75 meters and my wife discovered the issue in plenty of time while I was down below rebuilding a toilet. A powerboat anchored next to us, dragged 300 meters before people on the beach alerted them, as they were below having lunch.

None of the anchors seem to be able to reset in this thick Med weed mixed with a very hard rock substrate.

[CarinaPDX]

Scary story but a happy ending - glad everything came right in the end. I hate rocky bottoms because the anchor can catch on a small step, hold well against a strong setting reverse, and then release with the least provocation. Second most hated is the thick grass, which can also be deceptive. Most of my bad experiences in the Med were with grass.

I do set anchor alarms. Sometimes the GPS/chartplotter alarm is appropriate, with the initial waypoint set as close to the anchor as possible in tight conditions. Sometimes the best choice is a depth alarm, setting both upper and lower limits as needed. I don't drag often, but it does happen so when I am even the least nervous I set alarms.

My old instruments were separate so I could run either the depth sounder or the GPS without anything else powered up, which worked a treat. With the new N2K sensors I have to keep the chartplotter powered up to run the alarms, which is going to consume a lot of power. So I'm considering a separate small MFD for use when the full radar/chartplotter isn't needed. More complexity...

Greg

Edit: BTW I lust after the Ultra anchor but can't justify the expense. I'm happy with the Spade, and agree my old CQR can't compare.

[OldFrog75]

What a nightmare. Glad it worked out for you.

Based upon the chart you provided it looks like you might have anchored a little south of the recommended anchorage. Is that correct?

I get the impression from the comments very few people take the time to set two anchors - not that I would have either but this seems like a good reason to consider it.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by OldFrog75

What a nightmare.

Based upon the chart you provided it looks like you might have anchored a little south of the recommended anchorage. Is that correct?.

The entire area is an anchorage. It just appears that way on the chart because of the color settings I use, which are based on a 2.3 meter keel depth. I always like to see at least 2 meters of depth below the keel.

Ken