What was my mistake?

[osirissail]

Maybe the first mistake was not having an adequate chart of the area and/or not being aware that the northern half of that area south of Quarry Point is shown as a "Cable Area."

You do not anchor in a "cable area" for obvious reasons - you most likely hooked your anchor on or around a cable and the least of your potential problems is losing the anchor and chain. The more serious problem would be cutting or damaging an underwater utility cable which could bring some serious consequences from various authorities.

If you were south of the "cable area" then "no foul," but having a chart that adequately displays bottom conditions and restrictions like "cable areas" can save you lots of grief, not to mention an anchor, etc.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Roy M

Thanks, Ann. What do you folks do for this situation?

1/2" polyester double braid, part of an old jib sheet, iirc. Have no fear, if it is under strain, it will be easy to cut.

Ann

[125Miles]

I would come back and try recover as much chain as I can. Make a grapnel hook out of large nails attach some weight to it plus cheap paracord and drag device across the bottom. Its very likely you will hook up your chain with it. Lots of ground can be covered this way. Could be fun mission for weekend. That is how they recovered bodies off the bottom before scuba days.

[downunder]

Originally Posted by clownfishsydney

As a scuba diver I have collected dozens of anchors over the past 25 years. Some have been huge, with almost 100 metres of chain. We never leave a good anchor and chain on the bottom. We made some good money out of anchors, also swapping for anchor rope on a regular basis.

As someone said, find some interested divers and take them out. For a couple of cartons of beer I am sure they would be happy to get a dive and help you out.

Very good reason for a cruiser to learn how to dive. You end up collecting anchors rather than losing them.

Your anchor and chain will be exactly where you dropped it so you simply need a diver on board to collect it. An experienced free diver may even be able to get the job done in 15 ft of water..

However from the sound of it you might need an experienced dirty water diver who can run search patterns to find it if the water is low viz even if you marked the coordinates on your plotter.

Good luck retriving it.

[CapnBazza]

G'day Cobber, this has nothing to do with your anchoring technique but you might like to keep this in mind. Anchoring 30 to 50 yards away from a boat already anchored would be considered downright unfriendly where I sail. It is possible that yours was a crowded anchorage and you had no choice but I have been the sole yacht in an anchorage 2 miles x 1 mile and some prick nearly splashed my boat when he launched his anchor. I did invite him to drop it in my dinghy but fortunately he got the hint and moved a couple of hundred yards further on.

[gathem]

It occurred to me last night, that I had used an app to monitor anchor dragging. I opened the app up and got the GPS coords of where I had anchored. I had made sure to get a really good gps loc the day of. I plotted the coords and it looks exactly like where I expected the anchor would be. Going to see what I can do about either hiring a diver, or spend a day trying to grapple the chain.

[Cormorant]

Cool! Let us know how it turns out.

[charliehows]

starting to see this more frequently lately - might be a response to the arguments seen here occasionally that you should 'buy the biggest anchor you can handle' - not such a good idea if you have no winch or your winch is underpowered for that monster anchor. Might be smarter to have a couple of appropriate sized anchors and run them out in train or tandem when conditions are severe - I used 2 danforths in train as a permanent mooring back in the 90's - never had a problem. The other thing i see is that maybe people arent really responding to the claims made by modern anchor manufacturers and going lighter where the anchors are claimed to have more holding power - it must be hard to trust that a lighter replacement will still have the same holding power.

[gathem]

It was a big mistake to chu k the whole thing overboard. I knew anchors weren't cheap, but I had another one, and lost my least favorite of the two. I had thought the chain would cost ~$250 to replace. At the time conditions were pretty rough and I just wanted to get out of there quick.

I called divers but they quoted $1000. I went out with a rope and 100 pound strength magnet but had no luck. I monitored craigslist and just picked up 250' of chain and a 66pound bruce anchor for $300.

Turns out it was only a $300 lesson after all.

I'm glad the lesson is over. It will be one I will not make again.

[Paul Annapolis]

At least one anchor--the Fortress-is not magnetic--and there may be others. Anyone else know?

[Red Sky]

Originally Posted by alx

Clipper Cove is excellent for anchoring, also you can stay overnight in Aquatic Park if you get a permit.

As Sailorchic said, pay attention to to the chart, the tide and her advice, concerning Clipper Cove.

I've stayed overnight many, many times at Aquatic Park, including multiple 2 night stays during Fleet Week, never had or been asked by the park rangers for a permit. Use absolute minimal speed and a very sharp lookout for swimmers. It's a great place to stage for an early morning exit out of the gate.

[markpierce]

Clipper Cove has shallow waters. Anyone have local knowledge how deeper-keeled boats can approach where they should anchor? My only experience was docking overnight at the marina, and approach had its "shallow" moments even staying near the south-end of flat Treasure Island as recommended.





Clipper Cove Anchorage Permits | Treasure Island Development Authority