easy way to pull up well set anchor

[Happ]

Originally Posted by seandepagnier

I discovered over the last few weeks something obvious... I'm sure many are well aware already.

If the anchor is well set from a good blow, it may be difficult to retrieve if there isn't much wind to use the sails, or swells to break it free. I have no windlass, but even with one I imagine it could strain it. Windlass are also quite slow, and judging by other's comments can fail for various reasons or not be viable for lack of power.

The technique here, is to drop a second anchor (counter intuitive bit), then pull the first anchor until it's nearly vertical or as tight as you can without injuring yourself and lock it off.

Now, I pull the second anchor, and the first one comes free. The second anchor also comes free easily as it is not so stuck. The total amount of effort is really tiny compared to trying to pull the first anchor using the winch, sweat it up, jump up and down on bow, dive in the water and dig it out, and many other tactics I have tried and compared (and all of those do work too).

Anchors are easiest to break from the bottom when pulled straight up. So get the bow right over the anchor and pull it up. Personally if it was me I would have an electric Windlass with a wireless remote. Then break everything loose on deck then get straight over anchor and hit the remote. That way you are at the helm and can get the anchor up. Once you are clear of all boats or obstacles you can go up to the bow and secure the anchor on deck.

[Dieseldude]

If you are desperate and nothing else works, and if you are in tidal waters, you can put the tide in your favor. But you might be waiting hours on the tide, so this might not be practical if you need get under way quickly. Start pulling anchor on a rising tide. Get rode vertical. Tie it off to samson post or cleat. Wait while tide rises. As boat is raised by tide, anchor should pull free.

[joezzz]

Unless you have a very small boat, you should have a windlass. If no other purpose than to retrieve your anchor(s).


If your boat has a motor, the simplest method is to haul the anchor up as far as you can, so that the anchor rode and boat are directly as close as you can get it) over the anchor.
By motoring forward the anchor stock should flip to the opposite direction as to the way the anchor was set, and thus by moving the boat forward should break the anchor out.
Lets work smarter and not harder.

[sailorladd]

The method I used to use, which I learned from the old veteran, Eric Hiscock in his bible of a sailing book called "cruising under sail", was to either sail over the embedded anchor thus pulling it free, or as you mentioned, if there is no wind, motor over it, but you definitely do need a crew member up front to be gathering in the rode, especially in the latter situation.... this method worked for me 99% of the time.

Once while anchoring with a fisherman 30 pounder at the entrance of a pass in Tonga I could not break free my anchor with either of these methods, and eventually I broke free, literally as I broke the stock off the anchor! Later I dived on the site and retrieved the rest of it, and I saw that it had lodged within some large boulders !!

[Bluechart]

I always dig my anchor in with the wind and reverse to make sure it’s set every night.

To break it loose I take up all the slack until the chain straight up and down and then just wait.

The movement of the boat is enough to lift the shank off the bottom, and then the anchor will come loose , I usually just hear a little click and the anchor is loose.

If it’s not I just wait another minute and the job is done

[jo_sail]

Originally Posted by Don C L

…
Also, if you want to use a little buoy, it helps to rig a little block to the bottom and run the trip line through it and down to a fishing weight so that the buoy stays above your anchor while minimizing the chance someone will snag the line. Buoy can rise and fall with waves and tide.

DIY little anchor buoy / float with block and heavy shackle as weight, 3 m below surface. The instruction is in German, but illustration is self explaining:

https://www.skipperguide.de/mediawik.../Ankerboje.pdf

Light weight and small enough for air luggage and use on charter yachts, where such equipment is missing.

Paint an anchor sign on it, so that there will be no doubt about its purpose.

Cheers Jo

[jo_sail]

Also: Using the trip line for reverse extraction out of the seabed and lifting the anchor has minimum impact to the environment at the seabed e.g. if any plants or animals are there. Of cause you try to stay away from seagrass with your anchor as good as you can. Still sometimes its difficult or comes close or you don‘t even see the seabed. Then it matters to use the trip line for anchor lifting with minimum impact.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by jo_sail

DIY little anchor buoy / float with block and heavy shackle as weight, 3 m below surface. The instruction is in German, but illustration is self explaining:

https://www.skipperguide.de/mediawik.../Ankerboje.pdf

Light weight and small enough for air luggage and use on charter yachts, where such equipment is missing.

Paint an anchor sign on it, so that there will be no doubt about its purpose.

Cheers Jo

Again though... this is not recommended for routine anchoring, and especially not in anchorages that are small, and/or busy. It produces a lot of problems. It occupies a lot more space in the anchorage than is needed, it creates a hazard for others trying to navigate and anchor, and it puts your own anchor at risk if someone should inadvertently hook onto it.

Floated trip lines certainly have their place, but they are unnecessary, and for all the reasons I just wrote, undesirable most of the time. If you must have a trip line, then use Don's method of running it back to the boat, sans-buoy.

I've never tried this method, but it sounds like it would work. You'd have to take care in laying out the trip line. And I've been wondering about the use of floating line -- you'd have to be careful to manage the line so as to keep it well below any passing keels.

[AKA-None]

None of these works when you catch a tree
Please don’t ask me how I know this

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

None of these works when you catch a tree
Please don’t ask me how I know this

+100 ! truly painful...

cheers,

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Again though... this is not recommended for routine anchoring, and especially not in anchorages that are small, and/or busy. It produces a lot of problems. It occupies a lot more space in the anchorage than is needed, it creates a hazard for others trying to navigate and anchor, and it puts your own anchor at risk if someone should inadvertently hook onto it.

Floated trip lines certainly have their place, but they are unnecessary, and for all the reasons I just wrote, undesirable most of the time. If you must have a trip line, then use Don's method of running it back to the boat, sans-buoy.

I've never tried this method, but it sounds like it would work. You'd have to take care in laying out the trip line. And I've been wondering about the use of floating line -- you'd have to be careful to manage the line so as to keep it well below any passing keels.

Many years ago I remember having to let my entire rode go on a badly stuck anchor and was able to sail up to the buoy, snag it and yank it out backwards as I went by with the trip line. But that was a Columbia 24, so it was relatively easy. There can be a benefit to a buoy but the method I mentioned doesn’t preclude putting a buoy on the trip line later if needed.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Many years ago I remember having to let my entire rode go on a badly stuck anchor and was able to sail up to the buoy, snag it and yank it out backwards as I went by with the trip line. But that was a Columbia 24, so it was relatively easy. There can be a benefit to a buoy but the method I mentioned doesn’t preclude putting a buoy on the trip line later if needed.

I know trip lines can be useful. I carry a pre-set rig with float and weighted block. And I've deployed it a number of times when I knew there was a significant risk of my anchor being fouled. These were in remote areas where there was significant debris on the bottom.

But most people don't routinely anchor in places where they expect their anchor might be fouled. And as mentioned earlier, there are significant problems with deploying a trip line attached to a float. This is why I think the method you mentioned, with the line coming back to the mothership, seems like a good idea. But it comes with challenges as well.

[ColIn Ferguson]

There is an old technique called the Alderney Ring. This is a heavy duty metal ring placed around the rode and attached to a buoy. The method is to motor or sail past the anchor at an angle of 45 degrees. The ring and float raise the rode vertically and the momentum of the boat under way breaks out the anchor.
Apparently used by fishermen in the Channel islands in the age of sail. I have one but never had to use it in anger. The only time I have not been able to retrieve an anchor using ordinary techniques it was caught in a rocky crevice and nothing would move it short of chisels.
I would also make a case for manual windlass which with a big lever can produce much more power than a motor.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by ColIn Ferguson

I would also make a case for manual windlass which with a big lever can produce much more power than a motor.

I can certainly attest to this. I've often been able to ratchet the anchor free, one notch at a time, using my manual windlass. I suppose you can do this with beefy electric, but the manual allows you to feel how the forces are operating. You can feel when to crank and when to stop.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by ColIn Ferguson

There is an old technique called the Alderney Ring. This is a heavy duty metal ring placed around the rode and attached to a buoy. The method is to motor or sail past the anchor at an angle of 45 degrees. The ring and float raise the rode vertically and the momentum of the boat under way breaks out the anchor.
Apparently used by fishermen in the Channel islands in the age of sail. I have one but never had to use it in anger. The only time I have not been able to retrieve an anchor using ordinary techniques it was caught in a rocky crevice and nothing would move it short of chisels.
I would also make a case for manual windlass which with a big lever can produce much more power than a motor.

While I am sure there could be a case where an anchor is inextricably jammed in rocks, the one time I did not have a trip line, and the anchor was
impossibly stuck in rocks, I dove on it (a CQR) and found, at least in that one case, a trip line would have easily pulled it out. It was after that I became a fan of trip lines. If I had kept cranking on the (manual) windlass (on a Downeast 38) I would have eventually done damage to something. If I was lucky only the pin in the CQR would have broken. But I think the roller on the sprit would have given out first.