Anchor Trip-Line Techniques

[b_rodwell]

More thoughts:

When to use
There seems to be a majority against using trip lines routinely. One commenter said it should only necessary 1% of the time. I think that might depend on where you are cruising. Over the next year I will be in Italy and Greece. There are lots of little ports where everyone ties stern to the quay and anchor in the middle. I suspect the middle of these ports has lots of old stuff that would foul an anchor. Some way to free a fouled anchor seems desirable and the frequency would be a lot more than 1%.

I have found that the loop of chain does not always work. It will not easily go past the shank of the anchor


What to use
Anything floating would be quite unworkable and unsociable in this context - let alone dangerous. The only options would seem to be a second retrieval line attached to the chain (say 10m long) or a short floating loop (say 3m below the surface) that you could dive down to to attached a retrieval line.

What do you think of this approach?


Thanks
Brian

[goincruisin]

Originally Posted by b_rodwell

More thoughts:

I have found that the loop of chain does not always work. It will not easily go past the shank of the anchor


What to use
Anything floating would be quite unworkable and unsociable in this context - let alone dangerous. The only options would seem to be a second retrieval line attached to the chain (say 10m long) or a short floating loop (say 3m below the surface) that you could dive down to to attached a retrieval line.

What do you think of this approach?


Thanks
Brian

Hi Brian

For every problem there is usually a solution. Yes, a line attached to the chain and then to the crown of your anchor is a viable solution. There are also commercial products that solve this problem. Anchor Witch is one which works quite well. Another is Anchor Rescue, which we like and are testing right now.

The Anchor Witch has a steel cable attached to the anchor crown with the other end connected to the rode. If the anchor is fouled, you run a special messenger down the rode. this connects to the cable and you can then reverse out the anchor.
The Anchor Rescue has a chain attached to the crown. this goes to a stainless steel collar on the chain. again you send down a messenger which connects to the collar. You then pull on the messenger rope to retrieve the anchor.

you could also use an anchor with a slot along its shank. This is normally something we advise against, but would be quite suitable in a med moor situation, as there is no chance of an inadvertent reversal.

for more on this check out: Happy Hooking - the Art of Anchoring.

[svHyLyte]

While we use it rarely, in any circumstance where a trip-line might be needed, we use 1/4" spectra line with a loop around the crown of our anchor (45# CQR). This line is attached to our chain at 6 to 10 foot intervals with "small stuff" that is easily broken if placed under load. Our line is long enough that with the chain/rode vertical, we have access to it over the bow roller. With that, we wrap the trip line around the capstan on our windlass and ease the chain. Powering the yacht forward takes up a strain on the crown pulling the anchor back, in the reverse of the direction it came from when it became ensnared. Once freed, we just ease the trip line and recover it side-by-side with the chain as that is hove in. The foregoing is pretty simple, avoids all the complications of mechanical recovery devices, avoids the possibility of the line becoming fouled on the yacht's appendages or by other boats, and is a very old method I learned from Don Street (of Iolair fame) in the mid-1970's in the BVI.

FWIW...

[Tedd]

I frequently sail on a lake that has many sunken trees on the bottom. When there, I use a trip line unless I can see the bottom I'm anchoring into. The trip line has freed the anchor from a sunken tree many times--probably at least half the time I've dropped anchor. In a few cases I might have been able to free the anchor some other way but sunken trees are a bitch and techniques that free the anchor in other situations tend not to work with them.