Hello Forum. Looking for some ideas on the following:
Yesterday we were anchored in a somewhat exposed anchorage in
Anegada, very good holding in sand bottom. 10 -15 ft deep.
The
wind was from the east but there was a swell rolling in from the SE so after
anchoring with the main
anchor (Mantus 125 lb all chain rode) we
dinghy out our
Fortress anchor perpendicular to the aft port quarter with 30 ft chain and the rest line. With
Fortress set, we then winched in the stern anchor
rode on a primary
winch pulling the stern of the
boat around so that we were facing into the swell and the
wind about 45 to port. Lovely night with no rolling!
This morning we prepared to leave with the intention of winching the stern anchor
rode in further until our stern was close to/over it, iand it broke free. Then we would haul it aboard, stow and then weigh the main anchor as usual. However when we winched in the stern anchor we got to the chain before the anchor broke free. We could not continue to
winch as the chain would jam and chew up ithe fair leads or if not in them would ruin the toe rail. No possibility to hand over hand the chain with 24 ton of
boat being pushed from the port side by a fresh breeze.
In the end one of us jumped in, and physically tripped the stern anchor by hand allowing us to haul it in by hand. But this was only possible in 10 feet of clear warm water!
How else might we have got ourselves off the stern anchor? We could have tied a tripping line to the stern anchor before deploying and tripped it with the dink when ready. But are there other ways that we have not thought of?
Your thoughts....