What was my mistake?

[gathem]

TL;DR kinda-new sailors dropped the hook for lunch, could not get the hook back up. What did we do wrong?!?!?!

My wife and I are in the process of easing into cruising full time before we move on to the boat full time. We spent a few days on our boat, and sailing in rough conditions on San Francisco bay.

We sailed ourselves over to Angel Island, pulled up the charts on navionics, found an "anchorage" ideal for lunch. We motored up, and observed a boat a little smaller than us anchored so we figured all was good (no visibility in SF Bay water). We dropped the hook 30-50 yards away from the other boat in about 14 feet of water. I put out 100 ft of chain, and a danforth anchor. It was blowing 20 knots, but we were on the leeward side of the island and fairly comfortable. I monitored our situation and concluded we were not dragging (there was about 5 knots of current at the time pulling us out towards the golden gate bridge).

I went to pull up the anchor, and got all but 20 feet back up, and could not get the last 20 feet up. I tried motoring over the anchor to get it to pull up. I tried motoring around in every direction to free it. I tried getting right over the top of it, and tieing it off and letting the force of the waves lifting the boat unset it. Nothing I did helped.

I didn't have a hacksaw or anything to cut the chain, so I had to let 250' of chain and an anchor go. I can only assume it was a rocky bed, and the chain/anchor got wedged in good.

The thing is... How in the hell should I have known that? I couldnt see it, navionics marked it as an "anchorage", there was another boat nearby.

Loosing an anchor + chain is an expensive mistake. From now on, I will carry a tool to cut chain, but I am wondering if I made a mistake here which I can learn from?

[MarkJ]

Hell! Thats well over $1,000!


I dont know that area, but if you know its a rocky bottom you tie a line through the top of the anchor so you can pull the top up first.

Its certainly worth it to hire a diver.

Next time u chuck the whole lot overboard tie a fender to the end of the chain, then rush home and phone a diver.


Also buy a guide book for your cruising area that details all the anchorages. But even if its sand you may hook space junk... Old wrecks, cars etc.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Hell! Thats well over $1,000!


I dont know that area, but if you know its a rocky bottom you tie a line through the top of the anchor so you can pull the top up first.

Its certainly worth it to hire a diver.

Next time u chuck the whole lot overboard tie a fender to the end of the chain, then rush home and phone a diver.


Also buy a guide book for your cruising area that details all the anchorages. But even if its sand you may hook space junk... Old wrecks, cars etc.

You probably snagged a mess of cable or junk on the bottom.

What to do?
Putting a marker buoy (fender) on the bitter end of your chain before dropping it over the side would have been the thing to do. Recovery could be possible in such shallow water (20 feet) and would get you back the anchor or the 200+ feet of chain. Also, noting the GPS location when you were directly over the anchor would be good in order to direct a diver, in case the fender is lost.

Good luck on exploring the Bay.

[gathem]

several mistakes, several lessons learned.
Thanks everyone for your input. I wont make the mistake again

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by gathem

several mistakes, several lessons learned.
Thanks everyone for your input. I wont make the mistake again

I don't know the area, but for areas I don't know, I don't anchor. I second the tying of a marked fender or two to the chain for future retrieval. Even if you made a waypoint of where you hit 1:1 on the rode, you are going to have a hard time in murky water finding that ground tackle again.

It's the lack of bolt cutters, hacksaw or other tool that gets to me. I have both, plus grinders, sabre saws and even a Dremel I could use in a pinch, which would give me 230 feet of that chain back.

Another thing that occurs to me is the other boat in the anchorage. Odds are pretty good that that boat was a local familiar with the ground and talking to that person boat-to-boat or over the radio might have given you the critical point, which may have been that Local Boat was in the only clean holding in that inlet, and that junk and cables and rocks with Danforth-fluke-sized clefts were everywhere else.

But that's my sailor's paranoia. If I see a beautiful anchorage with only one boat in it, I assume first that it's a tricky place to get a hook down, and I lack critical knowledge. If I can't satisfy, through a fishfinder looksee, direct observation or the sharing of local knowledge that the place is golden for hooks, I would move on, unless my need to stop was worth more to me than an anchor and 20 feet of chain. Good luck in the future.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

................. Next time u chuck the whole lot overboard tie a fender to the end of the chain, then rush home and phone a diver.....................

It's going to take a pretty big fender to float a piece of chain!

Better to tie a line at least as long as the water's depth between the end of the chain and the fender.

Eventually, if you anchor enough, you will lose an anchor to the bottom. That's one argument against an expensive or stainless steel anchor.

[Stu Jackson]

Where on Angel Island? Tide pulling to the GGB? Were you in Racoon Strait?

If you were on the East Side of the island, there were mooring balls there for a few years, but were removed. Anchoring is frowned upon by experienced sailors because of all the crap on the bottom that eats anchors.

If you tell us where you were it might help.

Given your earlier posts about your limited experience, it might be wise to ask first next time. When it's blowing 20 in The Bay, only Ayala Cove is to be trusted and there are moorings there, it's not really an anchorage.

If you want anchoring experience, go to Clipper Cove. No currents, great holding.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ay-143271.html

Good luck.

[gathem]

We didn't want to go to Ayala Cove (we should have).
Just south of quarry point on the eastern side of the island.
It was pretty well protected from the wind, and I was monitoring dragging really closely, and we had only planned to be there for lunch.

I guess the tide was going out is more correct than pulling towards the GGB.

I will keep clipper cove in mind for the future.

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

...
If you were on the East Side of the island, there were mooring balls there for a few years, but were removed. Anchoring is frowned upon by experienced sailors because of all the crap on the bottom that eats ...

On the east side of Angel Island, in Ayala (Hospital) Cove there are still fore-and-aft mooring balls for day/overnight use, as well as docks for day use. (There we are: bottom row second from the left.)

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by markpierce

On the east side of Angel Island, in Ayala (Hospital) Cove ...

Yes, I meant the north side.

[Cheechako]

A) not checking the paper chart for that sunken wreck!
B) Not having a cutting device..
C) Not buoying the location with a fender or etc.

[gathem]

there's a sunken wreck there?
I didn't see any wreck markers on navionics. This leads me to a follow up question: How up-to-date is navionics charts vs paper charts?

[Steadman Uhlich]

It might not be a sunken wreck.

Angel Island had a lot of use over the years (immigration buildings and many boats) and it could be other marine/boating "junk" on the bottom. Or something as simple as natural sunken logs.

[Paul Annapolis]

Dear Gathem Lots of folks get anchors stuck and it can happen anywhere, so you asked "what did I do wrong"? Perhaps nothing to begin with, but then you did not have a bolt cutter or hacksaw on a 44' boat. Perhaps you did not have proper charts-but not everything is charted or up to date. Perhaps you were just unlucky, but you can always use a trip line. I was rather shocked that you did not tie a fender to it and retrieve it later. It might have been possible with basic snorkel gear in 14 feet or a commercial diver might have costs a few hundred dollars if you took him on your boat. Your second attempt to ask what you did wrong is a bit more worrisome as you asked if there is a sunken wreck there. Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know those waters but there are unmarked submerged objects everywhere. Perhaps there was a wreck from a year ago but it was never reported, or if it was, it was not charted, or if it was reported it was not marked, but maybe in was in the NTM...who knows? Every chart, no matter what kind is limited by the data. You can find the last years of datum on any chart. You should be able to determine updates to your navionics. You are on a 44' boat and planning to cruise and should know whether your charting data and NTM updates are current. Just because another boat was anchored nearby does nt mean his anchor was not stuck--but likely it was not--you just don't know what may be on the bottom, even with updated charts. See the article in the latest BOATUS Magazine about the Round the World Raceboat that grounded on a reef.

[Cheechako]

The "sunken wreck" was just an example... could have been "cable" "industrial debris" etc......
It is easy to forget to check a good chart for possibilities. I hooked an anchor on a sunken wreck once. Sure nuff... the next morning when it wouldn't come up I checked the chart and there it was! I could hear it banging on the steel wreck when I loosened /tightened the rode. Eventually got it off.