A Guess at how Quick you can Drop your Anchor in an Emergency?

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

how timely! i did just that a few days ago. ......................

Your the first on this thread to refer to such an actual event. What were the circumstances?

[onestepcsy37]

going up the ditch off titusville florida, under engine, when the oil pressure took a precipitous drop (from 65 to 25). it's a narrow channel with shallow water on both sides, but i knew i had to stop that engine and get out of the channel, quickly.

so i shut down the engine immediately and coasted toward the shallow, not knowing if i would ground or not (but fortunately it's all mud and soft grounding). then i ran forward and, checking wind and current direction, put down the anchor.

happy ending, sort of. it turned out to be a leaking oil hose (perkins 4-108 has a hose running to the oil filter) and only cost me $57 for a new hose. not even one boat buck....

[GILow]

I'm not sure how long it took exactly, but when I was a much younger sailor the engine died (again) on dad's boat as I was reversing into his pen with a 20 knot wind on the bow. I was about 60 feet from the pen the when the engine died. I dashed below, threw open the forward hatch, heaved up the 40lb anchor with one hand, grabbed a handful of anchor chain with the other, tossed the whole lot over the side.

THEN I discovered he had not attached the anchor to the chain.

I rig my boats VERY differently to how dad rigs his boats.

I think it would take me more than a minute to deploy our anchor, this thread has me thinking, thank you, I will find out if that can be improved.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by onestepcsy37

going up the ditch off titusville florida, under engine, when the oil pressure took a precipitous drop................. it's a narrow channel with shallow water on both sides.............fortunately it's all mud and soft grounding .............

All good choices by Onestepcsy37 and by GILow; however, neither seemed to be in a situation of emergency. Soft mud with "onestep" and no anchoring occured with GIlow. I still think such emergencies are very rare. Still, I see the possibility, but I'll not bet my safety on the one contingency when priortizing risk management.

[svHyLyte]

BTDT... Flip one switch in the cockpit, run forward, pull one pin on the anchor and kick it forward, suspended by the chain from the gypsy, flip open the anchor locker lid and grab anchor controller and release. The foregoing took longer to type up/describe than did the event. Scared the poop out of us at the time.... Hope it never-ever happens again.

FWIW...

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

..................... Scared the poop out of us at the time.... Hope it never-ever happens again.............

Please share! We're still looking for an account when there was a dire need to anchor quickly! What was the "it" that you hope not to happen again?

[wsmurdoch]

The Atlantic Avenue Bridge in Florida opened. We started through. Under the open spans the boat started to shake. A quick look showed the engine about to jump out of the engine compartment. I shut it off. We stopped, anchored 50 yards south of the bridge dead center in the ICW. Three of the four bolts that held the propeller shaft coupling together were in the bilge. The one remaining bolt held the two coupling halves in the spectacles position. Thirty minutes later we were back underway.

My guess is that it took maybe a minute to anchor the boat.

Bill Murdoch
Irish Eyes
1988 PSC 34
Irish Eyes to the Bahamas: February 2009
(see the Feb. 26, 2009 entry for my wife's side of the story.)

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by wsmurdoch

The Atlantic Avenue Bridge in Florida opened. We started through. Under the open spans the boat started to shake. A quick look showed the engine about to jump out of the engine compartment. I shut it off. We stopped, anchored 50 yards south of the bridge dead center in the ICW.......................

'still looking for the event where there was an emergency to anchor quickly. Sure, there is a worry in this case with the mechanical problem, but... soft bottom, no draft problem, no current problem, all bulkheaded shore in still protected water, option to drift for long term and easily fending off any approch. I'm still looking for that rare case where there is an emergency requiring a fast anchoring!

[conachair]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

I'm still looking for that rare case where there is an emergency requiring a fast anchoring!

Having sailed solo a while with a very grumpy engine, getting a roller reefing headsail out in a few seconds was a step above the anchor.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by RainDog

Turn to my right and pull the stern anchor out of the holder - 2 seconds.
Throw it overboard (Danforth style, light enought to toss) - 1 second.
Feed rode out as needed until set - ??

This is exactly why I always have a stern anchor rigged and ready to run free. It is my emergency plan in case of close quarters engine/steering failure.

'

Wow, RainDog -- that never occurred to me. Reading this forum for a month was worth that one bit of wisdom.

I would then go to the bow and deploy a bow anchor as I don't think I'd want to be anchored from the stern permanently, right? Or would you stay with bow and stern? But that would be a problem if the wind and esp. the waves shifted ... Can you talk more about this?

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

Please share! We're still looking for an account when there was a dire need to anchor quickly! What was the "it" that you hope not to happen again?

I had to do it quickly once on this boat too. Engine failed and I was in a narrow channel surrounded by shallows. I don't have a lot of extra gadgets on my anchor -- just released the safety and let her drop, although I control the speed she drops. I don't just throw her out there.

By the way, the first time your overheat alarm goes off, there are important steps to follow. First is to sit at the wheel and go "Eek! Eek! Eek!" (yes, that was my first step...) didn't help a lot, but it seemed necessary at the time.

[janice142]

Once in what I consider an emergency near river bend and the engine quit (clogged fuel filter) within 150' of same. I'd have ended up on the bank on a falling tide. Ouch. Deployed emergency brake anchor (Danforth knock-off, and 110' of line) and ALMOST lost the end of the line as the current was moving and the line went out so quickly. I was fortunate.

Now, my brake anchor at the bitter end has a loop which is fed to the top of the cat litter box tucked in the corner of the cockpit. If I ever have to lower it (upgraded to a Hydrobubble) again I'll put that end over a cleat first.

And, when underway I leave the wired remote on a hook just inside my hatch so that I can use it from the bow. The main up/down switch for my Lewmar is next to the wheel so dropping the anchor is immediate upon recognition of a problem. I still can't get used to setting the anchor from inside, thus the remote.

When at a fixed locale (like the past couple months here in Carrabelle) the remote is back in its box on the bulkhead as I like things tidy.

Time to anchor in 30' of water as experienced on the North River? Less than one minute. Lesson learned? Always have a way to secure the bitter end.

[sabray]

Pretty sure I could do something like this. Snag a line in the prop. Which kills the engine. Approaching the canal banks fast I quickly drop my anchor while still doing 4 knots. Thankfully the anchor grabs. Now chain is flying out I grab the chain with my right hand and major skin is removed. Next I grab with the left because the right hand is useless. Same result. The Cain snags up in a hockle bending the roller and dislodging a few fasteners. All is good. Except for the next week I can't use a can opener and I starve.

[Hudson Force]

I can imagine the emergency to anchor quickly. I would consider that place between Jupiter Federal Bridge an the Jupiter 707 bridge where the current is ripping and if you made it through one bridge then the current shifts at the Jupiter inlet and your careening toward one bridge or the other... , but the idea that it's an emergency to anchor quickly because I'm suddenly without power and the channel is narrow an I might spend hours sitting on the sand or mud during the low tide... That's not an emergency ,- that's an impending inconvenience or just plain good luck! In 1972 we were being swept out the Cape Fear River with a severed anchor line wrapped around our prop with our anchor left behind faithfully gripping the earth. We were thrilled to ground on a mud bank! If we had another anchor, it would have been the time to have a quick emergency anchoring event.
Attempt to grab a flying chain with my hands? No way!

[marujo.sortudo]

Can deploy drop either bower in 10 seconds or less, plus time to pay out and secure the (nylon) rode, including time to make my way from the cockpit to the bow. Stern is more like 20 seconds due to bagged rode and need to secure bitter end first. If I ever get to rig the stern like I have envisioned, could probably drop it in less than 5 seconds, but need to rig up a wind vane first to see what space is left for such a setup.

Had one emergency anchoring situation where the primary was fouled in Charleston and we were been driven by the current towards a bridge we might not have cleared. Could have let out scope on the fouled bower and hoped it held, but quickly dropped the stern, instead. Then threw out the kedge for extra insurance, and took the next couple of hours freeing the primary.