Anchoring nightmare this week

[Izikalvo]

Use chain only, and if for some reson you cant, use at least 75ft of chain and then rope.

[Jim Cate]

Re prop turning while in strong currents: why on earth would you not put it in gear? This will stop the prop (unless it is an hydraulic tranny) and eliminate the chance of winding the rode around the prop and shaft.

Jim

[5BTM]

You are familiar with the anchorage and local conditions.

I would have kept an anchor watch, or at least wake up for the current shifts.

Fifteen feet of chain on a 38 footer is an example of the boat manufacturer saving money.

[bensolomon]

To prevent this from happening again, use more chain before the rope rode starts. At least a boat length, as I have read to be the standard minimum. I use 50 ft of 5/8" chain and 250 ft of 5/8" nylon rope rode connected by a 5/8" anchor shackle on a 50 lb danforth. I do NOT have a windlass. I hand pull the anchor up. Slow, and deliberately. I put out 7:1 scope, routinely. I have a hunter legend 37.5 in the Chesapeake, too.

With the added weight of the leader chain, the rope rode doesn't rise.

What you could have done differently: get a spotlight out and full assess what is happening. Once you realized the anchor rode was malpositioned, perhaps get in the dinghy to sort it out at water level, and perhaps push the mother ship around to untwist, or at least get the rope to come off the bow roller.

Thank you for having the equipoise to publish an adverse event so that we can all learn from each other.

Ben

[Sailor Sailor]

If you anchor in the Chesapeake, you do not need all that chain. Also, a regular Danforth-style anchor works well in our sandy or muddy bottoms. I carry 2 25 lb. Danforths, each with 10' of chain, and 200' of 1/3" three-strand nylon.

I have wrapped my line around the keel a couple of times. I will pull in enough for some slack, walk it back to cleat the line in the stern. Now, stern to the wind, I uncleat the line in the bow. You now be able to see the anchor line underwater streaming behind the rudder in the direction of the wind. Pull on it with an extended boat hook for some slack, and re-cleat the extra slack on another cleat. Uncleat the line from the first cleat on the stern, allow the line to drop deeper in the water under the boat, and you can then pick up the tail of the line from the second stern cleat and pull it through whatever it is tangled on.

My rig held me in gale conditions on the Great Wicomico River - video on Youtube. https://youtu.be/S_0VKySNHF4?si=u7UeG6wLd__T6py2

On my previous boat, a 15' Danforth on short chain and three-strand nylon held me during the Derecho of 2011, with hurricane-force winds.

Three-strand nylon is like being on a rubber band, but it holds well.

[donradcliffe]

Wind against current is the ultimate test for an anchoring system. A Danforth style anchor will not always reset. A rope rode can catch on the keel. A two anchor system will wind up in knots. Most of my system failures have occurred with wind against current.

A Bruce has notoriously low holding power in soft mud, and has no business in the Chesapeake.

A GPS based anchor alarm is a good investment.

[Knotical]

Agree with others about an adequately sized ground tackle - like you, my boat also came with 15-16 lbs Danforth style anchor when we bought the boat; while Danforth style is ok for our muddy bottom that thing looked really undersized for anything more than the most benign conditions.

Once our boat got wrapped in the mooring line, noticed when we were about to cast off, I did what the above poster suggested - walked the line around several times to untangle it, took me ~30-40 mins in benign conditions during daytime to free it, can’t imagine what you may have gone through.

I am surprised however that your rode tangled in gusty conditions, how fast does the current flow there? And despite my undersized Danforth it does not seem that it can get easily twisted, the forces on yours would have been crazy - can you post a photo if you still have the anchor?

[Montanan]

Originally Posted by Rohan

Interesting solution, although I doubt it could cut chain.

Absolutely! What I'm wondering though is how I would have cleared it. I just don't know. Diving in was not really an option. It was at night, in cloudy water, and rough conditions.

"Indeed, a line cutter will not cut your chain rode. It will cut your rope rode and any other line it comes into contact with such as a crab pot line, or your nearby anchoring neighbor's rope rode.

If a rode is entangled with say a wing keel or a propeller it will typically require getting wet to resolve. One has to await proper conditions to enter the water.

If the rode is moderately entangled with the keel one can simply release / detach the rode from the vessel and often its bitter end will pull itself free by the gentle tug of the suspended ground tackle. If one attaches a float to the rode between the anchor end and the entangled rode wrapped around the keel then one can more easily recover the released rode at a future date / time. It is not lost, it is just dropped.

Don't be afraid to abandon your rode and ground tackle if one can't recover it aboard, such as when it is entangled with something on the bottom.
If it is wrapped around the propeller or shaft well that can become a major task as it will often bind up tight and the rope has to be cut into many short bits removing sections. Not something one can contend with a night or during wavy or high current conditions.

Well at least you didn't swing and entangle with another anchored boat, that is when things can get quite interesting.

Good luck.

[barnab]

Did you consider two anchors - one from the bow and the second from the stern to keep the boat more or less stationary and prevent it from swinging around?

[Rohan]

So many good suggestions here. I can't respond to them all, but I promise that I have read them all and am absolutely going to take some of the suggestions to heart, starting with more substantial anchoring gear.

I suppose my gear was more intended for a day sailor out with friends fishing, then someone who routinely spends multiple nights on the water.

[Renegde_Sailor]

Originally Posted by Rohan

400' of chain on a 42' boat? Wouldn't that be like 400 pounds?? (182kg). Can your windlass even handle that? Could you manually handle it? Also, why do you need such a long chain? Do you regularly anchor in 60 ft of water?

Regularly no, but from time to time yes.

Up in the North West there are a whole lot of deep anchorages, having that extra chain will open up a lot of options.

Also on a 42' boat that weighs 26,000 lbs, you're not manually pulling anchor in any kind of a current.

I have had to do it before, and in that situation I ran a line with a hook to the chain, and used a winch in the cockpit to pull it up 12' at a time.

[cr180]

Many great comments. Would just add that appears cause is light weight rope. Totally agree all chain rode would solve problem.

By the way, tidal current reversal and wind against current is not unusual. If venture to Florida and Bahamas, can routinely encounter.

[CaptTom]

I'm with @cr180 and the others who suggested all-chain rode.

My reasoning is this: rope rode already snagged in the running gear once. Forget anchor type and bottom conditions, just the fact that currents and winds opposing, or even light currents and winds, can result in getting snagged would be enough for me. Sure less rope and more chain would help - in some conditions. But as long as there's enough slack in the rope section, you haven't mitigated the risk.

If it makes you feel any better, I recently had a 1" diameter pennant line from a mooring snag in my running gear. I did put it in neutral when I saw I was passing close by the mooring, but the current at a 90-degree angle to the wind managed to hook the eye of the pennant line right around one blade of my prop. Totally my fault, I didn't realize how long the line was, and it was windy enough that I didn't notice the strong current pulling the line horizontally across my path instead of dropping straight down like it usually does.

A few dives in the 68-degree water later, I was actually able to free it by hand. I got lucky; I hadn't put it in gear so the prop was only spinning from current. I got another line on the mooring ball to take the slack off the wrapped line.

I also agree with the recommendations to have a second anchor and rode ready. I've used mine as a kedge. In a case like the OP it could have been used to stabilize the situation. In my mooring fiasco, it would have allowed me to pull some slack into the mooring line if I'd been unable to get it another way.

[Rohan]

Originally Posted by barnab

Did you consider two anchors - one from the bow and the second from the stern to keep the boat more or less stationary and prevent it from swinging around?

I may try that, but that's not easy in my situation. That would require pulling it out in a dinghy, and I don't have one. I do have an inflatable kayak, but that takes awhile to set up. Plus part of the charm on the river was allowing the current to slowly swing us around, waking up to a different view as you've been turned around during the night. But I might have to give that up - sigh

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Rohan

I may try that, but that's not easy in my situation. That would require pulling it out in a dinghy, and I don't have one. I do have an inflatable kayak, but that takes awhile to set up. Plus part of the charm on the river was allowing the current to slowly swing us around, waking up to a different view as you've been turned around during the night. But I might have to give that up - sigh

You won’t have to give that up. Just get the good anchor and the chain and you can spin around to your heart’s content.

The only thing you’ll have to deal with is a twisted chain after that. It happens after a few weeks twisting in the same spot.