Marking your anchor location

[a64pilot]

Take your trip line and tie the end of it to your chain when you let that much chain out, for me that would be 50’ dock line, as I am almost always anchoring in shallow water I can easily pull in enough chain to get the end of the trip line, then just use my windlass on the trip line.
But every time I’ve needed one, I didn’t have it set.

Depending on the bottom, you may need 7 to 1 even in less than severe conditions, and you never know for sure when that squall moves though at 3am, then you’ll be glad your at 7 to 1.
I have a vastly oversized anchor, an 88lb Rocna on a 40’ boat, and I’ve gotten so that I don’t anchor at less than 5 to 1, even in clean sand, cause you never know. If I can’t get at least 5 to 1, I go find somewhere else.
Yes to the French boat, in Black sound in strong wind I had a Chartered power cat drop anchor right in front of me, they happened to be French and ended up on top of my anchor so I couldn’t move if I had to. I spent the whole night watching them to see if they were dragging, cause if they did they were going to drag into me.
I knew they were leaving the next morning as they were all wearing the cheap orange life preservers, never seen that before either.

[singlespeed]

Saw a boat in LeMarin pull up his anchor with a location float attached. Once the anchored lifted off the bottom, the float and line drifted past the man on the bow, who was spraying the mud off the chain when it was coming up.
The float line promptly got wrapped around the prop. We used our dinghy to tow him to a safe spot and he cut the line away.

The next day, I purchased one of those very large diameter (6"") stainless steel rings that are similar to a "circling". Just pull apart the "eyes" to slip the ring over your chain, attach a long heavy line and use your dinghy to tow it toward the anchor, where the large diameter allows the ring to pass over the anchor shaft and acts as a trip line.

Saved us lots of grief along the ICW, where murky waters and natural and manufactured trash litter the bottom.

[MAJICDAN]

After cruising the Caribbean for the last five years I have learned to always use a bouy or chance loosing your anchor and chain. The hurricanes of the last few years have deposited all kinds of debris in the anchorages and harbors. I recently got caught on a mast and rigging in the BBI. I caught a refrigerator in the Bahamas. I have gotten caught on rock shelves and coral in the BVI. I set it so I can pull the anchor out backwards when I get caught. My bouy will show everyone where my anchor is so they do not fowl my chain or position their boat over my anchor.

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by steve77

We are now in the Caribbean and I expect to come across some crowded anchorages. I would like to use a float and some polypropylene line to mark the location of my anchor. A question for those of you who do this - do you move the float along the line each time you anchor so that it is at the proper depth? Do you just use 50 foot of line and not bother with it as long as you are anchored in less than 50 feet of water Steve

Steve, it seems to me a crowded anchorage is where you would NOT want to bouy your anchor for lots of reasons- pissing people off, clueless skippers trying to moor to it, getting tangled with nearby boats as they swing, etc.

If you simply want to know where your anchor is you can mark a waypoint when you drop it. A good, new gen anchor won't stray far from that point. We always do this and our MFD is always on when we are at anchor so we always know our boat position. Also, I use my radar to identify and create waypoints for nearby obstacles such as mooring bouys, etc, so I can visually track our location relative to my surroundings in addition to using our anchor drag alarm.

(when I raise anchor I always double check to see how far away the anchor moved from the drop waypoint, and it's almost always dead on, very reassuring)

I do use an anchor bouy occasionally, usually in a very small, remote anchorage where I'm the only boat and I do want to discourage other boats coming into the anchorage from anchoring too close. I use lightweight floating line and I tie a weight to keep the slack far below the surface but above the anchor. I use a small orange ball fender with my boat name written on top with permanent marker along with the words "Keep Off."

For close quarter anchoring in a crowded anchorage a waterline snubber is a wonderful thing if you can rig one up on a bow eye or in my case, a bobstay connection near the waterline. Then you can use less rode and swing in a smaller area.

Another use of an anchor bouy is for a trip line as I loathe a separate line going from the anchor to the boat, a big tangle hazard.

For this reason I "invented" use of "hidden trip line" described below-

Step 1: Attach sturdy SS carabiners to each end of a strong floating line (dyneema floats and is stronger than polypro).

Length is determined by typical anchoring depths. I created two of these lines, one 30 feet for shallow anchorages, one 60 feet for deeper anchorages, and the two can be combined for really deep anchorages.

Step 2: When anchoring attach line to the shank nearest the head of anchor (most have a hole for this purpose. I installed a shackle on mine for this purpose). I usually know the depth where I will anchor ahead of time and have this line already attached before arrival so it's ready to go.

Step 3: Deploy rode (chain, of course) and attach the other end of the hidden trip line a couple of feet ahead of its length (for a 30 foot trip line, attach to the rode at 28 feet or so) so it will float above the chain but far beneath the surface. It only takes a second to snag a chain link with the carabiner as the rode goes by. My chain is marked at 30 foot intervals, which makes placement easy, but it's also easy to see that you're reaching near the end of the trip line length as it gets deployed.

And that's it. The trip line is out of the way and hidden below the surface. If raising anchor and it gets stuck, it's usually the anchor getting fouled and the trip line can be easily unhooked from the rode and attached to a line to free the anchor.

If the rode gets wrapped around something this trip line will probably be inaccessible, but that's much rarer than the anchor getting fouled.

We are full time cruisers in the PNW who anchor 90+% of the time. In the past couple of years since "inventing" this strategy I've used the hidden trip line more than 60 times without a problem. Thankfully, I haven't needed it yet, but it gives me peace of mind to know I won't get stuck and lose my valuable anchor if it gets fouled.

[steve77]

Thanks everyone. There have been some very helpful suggestions given.

[billknny]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

For this reason I "invented" use of "hidden trip line" described below-

Step 1: Attach sturdy SS carabiners to each end of a strong floating line (dyneema floats and is stronger than polypro).

Length is determined by typical anchoring depths. I created two of these lines, one 30 feet for shallow anchorages, one 60 feet for deeper anchorages, and the two can be combined for really deep anchorages.

Step 2: When anchoring attach line to the shank nearest the head of anchor (most have a hole for this purpose. I installed a shackle on mine for this purpose). I usually know the depth where I will anchor ahead of time and have this line already attached before arrival so it's ready to go.

Step 3: Deploy rode (chain, of course) and attach the other end of the hidden trip line a couple of feet ahead of its length (for a 30 foot trip line, attach to the rode at 28 feet or so) so it will float above the chain but far beneath the surface. It only takes a second to snag a chain link with the carabiner as the rode goes by. My chain is marked at 30 foot intervals, which makes placement easy, but it's also easy to see that you're reaching near the end of the trip line length as it gets deployed.

^^^YES, YES, and YES!!!^^^

I have done a version of this anytime I needed to use a trip line. I am baffled by why people think they need a trip line attached to a buoy. More hassle for ALL involved.

I imagine that early in the last century Eric Hiscock wrote about doing it that way and everybody keeps doing it, just because.

[SaltyMetals]

On the rare occasions when i use one i have a different solution. Not cheap but it solves a lot of the problems. A specifically designed anchor buoy which has a high strength tape on a sprung roller inside the buoy. It keeps a small tension one the tape down to the anchor so rides almost directly above the anchor all the time. Also serves as a trip line.

I would absolutely not recommend a floating polypropylene line on the anchor buoy.

Yes, a prblm is that someone might pick up my anchor buoy thinking it is a convenient mooring. I did happen to me last year bec the small power boat had problems to anchor in 15-20m (45-60ft) depth so started to use my anchor buoy! It is now marked with high viz and X-ray type warning sticker. As well as my boat name.
Andrew

[Argyle38]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

For this reason I "invented" use of "hidden trip line" described below-

Step 1: Attach sturdy SS carabiners to each end of a strong floating line (dyneema floats and is stronger than polypro).

Length is determined by typical anchoring depths. I created two of these lines, one 30 feet for shallow anchorages, one 60 feet for deeper anchorages, and the two can be combined for really deep anchorages.

Step 2: When anchoring attach line to the shank nearest the head of anchor (most have a hole for this purpose. I installed a shackle on mine for this purpose). I usually know the depth where I will anchor ahead of time and have this line already attached before arrival so it's ready to go.

Step 3: Deploy rode (chain, of course) and attach the other end of the hidden trip line a couple of feet ahead of its length (for a 30 foot trip line, attach to the rode at 28 feet or so) so it will float above the chain but far beneath the surface. It only takes a second to snag a chain link with the carabiner as the rode goes by. My chain is marked at 30 foot intervals, which makes placement easy, but it's also easy to see that you're reaching near the end of the trip line length as it gets deployed.

Great idea! Thanks for the thorough description.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by singlespeed

Saw a boat in LeMarin pull up his anchor with a location float attached. Once the anchored lifted off the bottom, the float and line drifted past the man on the bow, who was spraying the mud off the chain when it was coming up.
The float line promptly got wrapped around the prop. We used our dinghy to tow him to a safe spot and he cut the line away.

The next day, I purchased one of those very large diameter (6"") stainless steel rings that are similar to a "circling". Just pull apart the "eyes" to slip the ring over your chain, attach a long heavy line and use your dinghy to tow it toward the anchor, where the large diameter allows the ring to pass over the anchor shaft and acts as a trip line.

Saved us lots of grief along the ICW, where murky waters and natural and manufactured trash litter the bottom.

If you have gotten that ring to work, more power to you! I have my doubts about it working every time but I have not tried it so I should test it before being critical. But to the retrieval process, if you are lucky enough to be doing this in a calm anchorage then I am not sure why that person got his line out for his prop to snag. No matter what you do, you have to be careful of course. But if you retrieve the buoy from the bow, you don't need to pull the anchor all the way up unless you are sure it has not become free of debris. Once the anchor is off the bottom though someone needs to be bringing up the rode as fast as possible either by hand on a smaller boat or by windlass, and while this is happening the trip line is hanging straight down, even if it is (God forbid) polypro, holding the anchor off the bottom from the bow, probably from a chock, and the slack should not be allowed to fall off the deck of course. So under the water you'd see a giant loop of chain or line hanging off the bow. And, when I have done this with a Downeast (or Downeaster) 38, I did not engage the engine until all lines were up or I was absolutely sure nothing could be back by the prop. Clearly, if you have a loop of chain hanging off the bow that is still being retrieved, you can be reasonably sure you can give it a little thrust to clear the anchorage. So in a tight, rocky anchorage, you need to be aware of three things at once, where is the anchor and rode, where is the trip line and where is the boat drifting once the anchor is free of the bottom?

Now, And I don't want this to sound critical but I'd like to see a diagram of how the hidden trip line works when you motor up on the anchor, remembering you have to pass over the anchor and pull forward on it. The anchor rode will be sliding along the hull as this proceeds, no? There may be a danger of a nylon rode being slack enough to get to the prop, so I am guessing the engine is in neutral and only boat momentum forward is employed to pull the trip line forward, right?

Now can this be done without an engine, or an engine that is not strong enough to push the boat ahead in a strong breeze? Yes, if you have a decent breeze and you are used to sailing in close quarters and you know your boat's responses well. It takes planning. I did it a few times in my youth just for practice, but the one real time I did it my anchor was snagged and it was a very breezy day and choppy anchorage, and I could not get the boat up ahead of the anchor enough. So I dropped the entire rode figuring that if it didn't work I could go elsewhere until the weather calmed down and still come back and retrieve it. I then sailed out and came back into the anchorage, tacked and came up on the buoy and snagged it with the boathook. I had to cleat it, from the stern, fast and fortunately the line was strong enough that the boat's momentum yanked the anchor out right away and the boat continued sailing on out of the anchorage dragging the anchor and rode.
So that worked, but I'll be the first to admit I was lucky that it didn't snag on something else in the process! And if my trip line had snapped then I would have had to come back with diving gear on another day to reattach a trip line and retrieve the rode and anchor. Once clear of the anchorage I just hove to and went through the process of putting everything back where it belonged. That was a windy day and I was concerned about being on a close lee shore, otherwise I would have stayed there until it calmed down. This was quite a while ago when I was younger and foolisher, and if it happens again... well hopefully I won't anchor in the same location/conditions again... but if that happens again I'll just leave the rode and come back for it later. May sound extreme to some, but I think it's wise to have at least one equal secondary rode and anchor on a boat for a situation where the anchor just will not come up. Oh, and be able to release the rode from the boat in an emergency. I know most folks have the bitter end attached to some super strong point for obvious reasons, but it makes sense IMO to be able to release that in a second when needed.

these are lessons I learned from making dumb mistakes and being extraordinarily lucky, to the point of being convinced of divine intervention

[waterman46]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

Steve, it seems to me a crowded anchorage is where you would NOT want to bouy your anchor for lots of reasons- pissing people off, clueless skippers trying to moor to it, getting tangled with nearby boats as they swing, etc.

If you simply want to know where your anchor is you can mark a waypoint when you drop it. A good, new gen anchor won't stray far from that point. We always do this and our MFD is always on when we are at anchor so we always know our boat position. Also, I use my radar to identify and create waypoints for nearby obstacles such as mooring bouys, etc, so I can visually track our location relative to my surroundings in addition to using our anchor drag alarm.

(when I raise anchor I always double check to see how far away the anchor moved from the drop waypoint, and it's almost always dead on, very reassuring)

I do use an anchor bouy occasionally, usually in a very small, remote anchorage where I'm the only boat and I do want to discourage other boats coming into the anchorage from anchoring too close. I use lightweight floating line and I tie a weight to keep the slack far below the surface but above the anchor. I use a small orange ball fender with my boat name written on top with permanent marker along with the words "Keep Off."

For close quarter anchoring in a crowded anchorage a waterline snubber is a wonderful thing if you can rig one up on a bow eye or in my case, a bobstay connection near the waterline. Then you can use less rode and swing in a smaller area.

Another use of an anchor bouy is for a trip line as I loathe a separate line going from the anchor to the boat, a big tangle hazard.

For this reason I "invented" use of "hidden trip line" described below-

Step 1: Attach sturdy SS carabiners to each end of a strong floating line (dyneema floats and is stronger than polypro).

Length is determined by typical anchoring depths. I created two of these lines, one 30 feet for shallow anchorages, one 60 feet for deeper anchorages, and the two can be combined for really deep anchorages.

Step 2: When anchoring attach line to the shank nearest the head of anchor (most have a hole for this purpose. I installed a shackle on mine for this purpose). I usually know the depth where I will anchor ahead of time and have this line already attached before arrival so it's ready to go.

Step 3: Deploy rode (chain, of course) and attach the other end of the hidden trip line a couple of feet ahead of its length (for a 30 foot trip line, attach to the rode at 28 feet or so) so it will float above the chain but far beneath the surface. It only takes a second to snag a chain link with the carabiner as the rode goes by. My chain is marked at 30 foot intervals, which makes placement easy, but it's also easy to see that you're reaching near the end of the trip line length as it gets deployed.

And that's it. The trip line is out of the way and hidden below the surface. If raising anchor and it gets stuck, it's usually the anchor getting fouled and the trip line can be easily unhooked from the rode and attached to a line to free the anchor.

If the rode gets wrapped around something this trip line will probably be inaccessible, but that's much rarer than the anchor getting fouled.

We are full time cruisers in the PNW who anchor 90+% of the time. In the past couple of years since "inventing" this strategy I've used the hidden trip line more than 60 times without a problem. Thankfully, I haven't needed it yet, but it gives me peace of mind to know I won't get stuck and lose my valuable anchor if it gets fouled.

Sounded like a good idea until I thought about it. The trip line, since it wants to float, should avoid any fouling with the anchor while being lowered and setting into the bottom.

But consider this: your "hidden" but floating trip line may not be hidden during the night as the wind and/or current changes and the boat drifts right over the anchor on it's travels while you sleep. Perhaps you anchored in 16' of water at high tide, and the tide goes out 4' and your trip line is 30' long then a loop of it that is 6' long is floating on the surface, and may float up into your prop or snag the rudder.

So, why not attach some small fishing weights spaced along this "floating" line? Weights to be spaced about 10' apart to keep line maximum 5' above the bottom. Of course, if trip line snags on junk on the bottom, it might trip your anchor by itself, just like any non-floating trip line might.

[PuttingDoctor]

Perhaps I’m just different but I like to mark my hook. It combined with my anchor alarm is a good safety.
Check out Elastatether available on Amazon.

Elastatether™ - Elastatether Anchor Marker

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by PuttingDoctor

Perhaps I’m just different but I like to mark my hook. It combined with my anchor alarm is a good safety.
Check out Elastatether available on Amazon.

Elastatether™ - Elastatether Anchor Marker

Interesting. I wonder what they mean by "sacrificial design?"

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by Don C L

I'd like to see a diagram of how the hidden trip line works when you motor up on the anchor, remembering you have to pass over the anchor and pull forward on it. The anchor rode will be sliding along the hull as this proceeds, no? There may be a danger of a nylon rode being slack enough to get to the prop, so I am guessing the engine is in neutral and only boat momentum forward is employed to pull the trip line forward, right?

Don, no diagram needed, it's pretty simple. A line a bit longer than the depth, floating a foot or two above the rode, attached the the anchor and rode with carabiners.

We are currently anchored in 26 feet at low tide and my "hidden trip line" is 30 feet, which means if my anchor gets fouled at high tide I would have to wait before retrieving the trip line. I could have put my 60 foot trip line out, but I made a judgment call that the 30' line would be fine.

Motoring up to the anchor? I haven't done that in years. I only would need to do that in a blow, and as a full time cruiser, it's usually safer to stay put in those conditions. If you have a schedule or your anchorage has become unsafe (dragging, etc) and have to leave in a blow, motoring up while bringing in the rode is fine unless you have a nylon rode and go too far. I use chain so the risk is small, and if worried about it, don't motor too far!

I agree that you should be careful and concerned with a nylon rode, but I don't use a nylon rode and wouldn't recommend it for a serious cruiser.

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by waterman46

Sounded like a good idea until I thought about it. The trip line, since it wants to float, should avoid any fouling with the anchor while being lowered and setting into the bottom. But consider this: your "hidden" but floating trip line may not be hidden during the night as the wind and/or current changes and the boat drifts right over the anchor on it's travels while you sleep. Perhaps you anchored in 16' of water at high tide, and the tide goes out 4' and your trip line is 30' long then a loop of it that is 6' long is floating on the surface, and may float up into your prop or snag the rudder.
So, why not attach some small fishing weights spaced along this "floating" line? Weights to be spaced about 10' apart to keep line maximum 5' above the bottom. Of course, if trip line snags on junk on the bottom, it might trip your anchor by itself, just like any non-floating trip line might.

Waterman, I appreciate your comment because this hasn't occurred to me and in thinking about it, let's say we are anchored in shallow water using our 30 foot hidden trip line and the boat goes over the anchor and the floating line is 15 feet off the bottom, it could catch the prop. As I raise the anchor and discover the situation, knowing it's the trip line (most of the time we don't know what is fouling our prop), I can follow the anchor rode until finding the connection point and disconnect it or cut the line and it should easily pull free unless I've put the engine in gear (I never motor over the anchor, BTW).

Here in the PNW, most of our anchorages are deep with no chance the trip line will float high enough to foul on the boat or prop.

Another common phenomenon for us is that after a few days the chain sinks into the mud and it's amazing how firmly it holds, becoming our "new" anchor point, decreasing the odds of that happening. Washing that mud off with our deck wash hose takes up most of the time needed when raising anchor (typically 15-30 minutes are needed to wash the mud off, while it only takes a few minutes for the windlass to raise the anchor).

Fun stuff to think about all the possible scenarios! For me, I'm happy to take the low risk of my hidden trip line catching on my prop in exchange for the peace of mind knowing that I can retrieve my anchor if it gets fouled, and I will be mindful of the scenario you suggest in the future. Thanks!

[SV__Grace]

Originally Posted by PuttingDoctor

Perhaps I’m just different but I like to mark my hook. It combined with my anchor alarm is a good safety.
Check out Elastatether available on Amazon. Elastatether™ - Elastatether Anchor Marker

I was curious about the Elastatether so I purchased it to check it out. The "tether" is a plastic line intended to easily break when fouled. When that happens, you lose the bouy unless you witness it happening and are able to rescue it.

The manufacturer sells replacement tethers ($30 bucks on amazon.com) and if you lose the bouy (the more likely scenario) you are out $45.00. Expensive!

Plus, it has all the problems of putting a bouy on your anchor, the biggest of which is restricting the anchoring of others as it is common and OK to swing over each other's anchor.