Quote:
Originally Posted by smj
I think that powering full speed at a closed bridge then relying on a stern anchor to stop you is insane!  Do you consider the people who told you this friends? :-)
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Utterly insane. But perhaps you misunderstood them.
While waiting 59 minutes for an hourly opening bridge and jealously watching another
boat drop their anchor from the
cockpit using a powered
windlass, I realized I could do almost as well. I keep a
Fortress on my stern rail, and deploying and retrieving it is almost as easy as using a powered
windlass. Well, what do I know, I don't even have a
manual windlass. But I can drop and retrieve my 15 lb
Fortress by hand in seconds. With the
wind or
current pushing me down, the stern anchor often holds me right in place until the bridge is ready to open, allowing me to shut down the
engine, attend to chores, or just sit and relax. A few minutes before the bridge is ready to open I pull the stern anchor and start motoring in circles. Easy-peasy.