Caught someones anchor this morning whislt anchoring

[Haywoods]

You guys should try cruising around the Ionian islands of Greece. In the small town quays there are crossed anchors every day. Stay calm if possible !!, then raise your anchor with their chain attached to it, lift their chain off and drop it in the water. If the chain is too heavy, tie a rope to it and lower your anchor free, then release the rope letting their chain fall back to the sea floor.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

It's pretty unlikely any current will be running towards the shore.

And most likely in an anchorage, the breeze will be offshore.

Not sure about your area but usually around here it start to swing round to a sea breeze by 0900.. onshore.. till maybe 1900 in the summers/autumns.. unless there's a stronger predominant blow happening.. offshore breeze's come after sunset.

[noelex 77]

Pelagic has described the solution. It should not be a big deal.

The secret is to to support the weight of the other boat's chain with a seperate rope. When this is done your anchor can be lowered and will drop free of the chain. You can buy (or make) special chain hooks for the purpose. One rope holds up the chain, pulling the second rope tips the hook and the chain falls away. This is not my photo, but illustates the sort of hook that is sold:



These are not essential, but helpful if you Med moor a lot. They are also great if you regularly use two anchors, as these inevitably get tangled up with each other sooner or later, usually at the worst possible time.

Having a design of anchor that sets rapidly will greatly minimise your risk of hooking someone else's anchor. It also reduces your risk of hooking debris like old mooring chains. An oversized powerful anchor windlass is also good insurance for these sort of situations.

[Cafe Racer]

Happens in Greece on a daily basis .

One point not mentioned above - in case you catch an anchor of a med moored boat her chain is usually pulled very tight to keep her off the wall of the pier. In this case you can not pull the chain up, so the other boat should lets some chain out. But before doing that they should have her engine started and put in forward (assuming two lines keep her to the pier) so that it stays in a position. Charter boats have people not aware of this so may be hesitant at first.

Hope that helps somebody

[Tetepare]

I've been caught a number of times.

Around here it's easier because chain is typically only used for four or five meters, after that it's rope rode.

The solution depends on the situation. Often some nasty looks and both boats re-anchoring is the solution.

Once I did have to tell a skipper to untie his rhode and drop it over, or I was going to pull it up and cut it.

The worst event was when some kids came into a busy anchorage with high winds. They threw the anchor over and went ashore. Short while later we noted they dragged, and had caught a friend's anchor, which had disengaged from the bottom, and both boats were headed toward a wall. They were also going to collide.

I got in my dinghy and hit the offending boat at a good clip, avoiding the impending collision. I then got into the victim boat and started the motor. Then I was able to pull the victim boat's anchor, disentangling the rodes (while watching us close in on the wall.) Once that was done I took command of the victim boat, and re-anchored. When the owners returned and heard the story they were extremely thankful.

The offending boat I just let drift. Fortunately for them their anchor must have caught on some debris, and held the boat a dozen meters off the wall.

Since then, if I leave the boat while anchored I leave the keys in the ignition. Everyone knows I do, and others do likewise.

[SqPeg]

We snagged an anchor line in a very crowded anchorage with our keel. The boats that get there first, back up to the shore and anchor off the bow.The next boats form another row and so on. We were looking for someone and were moving down the first row. All was going well until I thought I had grounded and then realized what had happened. The woman had 100ft of rode out for 6ft of water. She began screaming that I had to go down and undo the rode. Sorry, but I don't dive in the Chesapeake. Several jet ski guys pulled us around until it dropped off the keel. It was her fault, no?

[catsketcher]

If you guys were at Fly Point with another 4 or so cats then don't concern yourselves too much about your seamanship. The currents around there are pretty varied and this may have happened to anyone.

Just try and look for where the rodes will lie next time and in areas with significant tide remember that the tackle may not lie to windward of the boats.

Thankfully this hasn't happened to me but I did have to help a tri owner who snagged a mooring. That was hard work. We winched the old chain up till we could see his anchor and then slipped the rope around the mooring and then I was in the dinghy pulling the (secured) anchor as the CQR had gotten its point stuck into the large chain links. A few bangs and it dropped clear and we could let the mooring go.

You can also mooch around in your boat and ask where other owners have their anchors in tidal rip areas. This shows you know your stuff and is considerate. In most areas all boats lie the same way but we once had a breeze come in against the significant tide in Mourilyan Harbour and had to leave right away. The mono we had sat next to for a day or so was not behaving the same way as our cat in the wind against tide conditions after a change.

One guy I know who sailed around the world (in a very modest boat) used to swim on his anchor every time he anchored. Just to be sure it was dug in. Good practice if you can.

cheers

Phil

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Not sure about your area but usually around here it start to swing round to a sea breeze by 0900.. onshore.. till maybe 1900 in the summers/autumns.. unless there's a stronger predominant blow happening.. offshore breeze's come after sunset.

Sounds like a pretty uncomfortable place to be anchoring. The usual choice is to anchor somewhere sheltered - ie. where the predominant breeze is offshore.

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by SqPeg

We snagged an anchor line in a very crowded anchorage with our keel. .... It was her fault, no?

No.

That's like saying a car was sticking too far out of the parking spot and you hit it, so it's their fault.

[yeloya]

As someone said, this is a very common issue in the Med, particularly in Greece. The first thing is to avoid the problem to the maximum extend. I hate the people who are laying 100 meters of chain at 3-4 meters of water in over crowded bays..If someone comes nearby when I am on anchor, I get out and point him where my anchor is or vicea versa if I come later nearby another boat, I am asking him to show me where his anchor is. If this is not possible my wife is checking the buttom before dropping the hook. (I never anchor anywhere deeper than 8-10 meters where I can dive in the worst case) I am avoiding as much as possible problematic anchorages. The worst to me is Simi. The richiest guy in the island is a diver who is untangling the anchors every morning for 100 €
If you cannot avoid it, my process is the one that Mark J has explained. It seems complicated but unless it's very windy with choppy seas , etc. it's very easy and safe.


Cheers


Yeloya

[senormechanico]

We saw a couple of different boats lay about 300 feet of chain out sideways across a very popular and crowded anchorage in Desolation Sound Canada (Roscoe Bay) where the hook was in about 30 feet depth.
Their hooks were dropped in the exact middle of the bay and they stern tied to a tree.
Most boats anchor like that around the edges, which leaves room for single hook anchoring in the middle.
We expected to see all kinds of disasters unfold during the usual daily 180 degree wind shifts, but in the next three days nothing happened.

[Nikki S]

A Turkish Gulet can disentangle In about 30 seconds. I kid u not.[/QUOTE]

I guess that's why the Turkish Gulet crew didn't blink when we pulled up their anchor with ours..... they did appear to have 100 odd m of chain out in 10m of water.... Anyway, Dave just "f"ed around with the mooring hook up at the bow for about 10 mins, stressed, but eventually detangling. Then he put their anchor in the dingy and drove it back out a ways and just dropped it while the Turks gave us the thumbs up and then asked him over for a Rakı

[Nahbrown]

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Haywoods

You guys should try cruising around the Ionian islands of Greece. In the small town quays there are crossed anchors every day. Stay calm if possible !!, then raise your anchor with their chain attached to it, lift their chain off and drop it in the water. If the chain is too heavy, tie a rope to it and lower your anchor free, then release the rope letting their chain fall back to the sea floor.

This thread may be relevant.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...is-176721.html

[Moontide]

Agree