First embarrassing anchoring fiasco

Scenario....Going to seaside concert in the park/bay. One of the first boats in. Big crowd following no one giving you a chance to get set and anchored before they drop the hook in front of you.

First attempt bow anchor (Bruce) hooks up stern anchor (danforth) breaks loose boat swings perpendicular to the world.

Pulled up to re-set got crowded not too much room to move about. Dropped the hook Bruce pulled (slime soup mud bottom) tight quarters boat drifts close to the next boat.

Pulled forward about 70 yards dropped the hook. Again could not hook up. this time 1/2 rope jams on the windlass gypsy and freezes up. Drifted up close to large boat while dragging with a jammed anchor line. Put the boat back in gear to move away from large neighboring boat and fouled prop on their stern line.

All stop. Side tied to big boat. Got a loaner mask, went in the drink and cleared the anchorline/prop. They were quite nice. "It's happened to all of us".

Wet and embarrassed headed back to our slip and went home.

One thing I found out. Recently rigged my Bruce fishing style with the chain on the front eye and a tye wire at the rear of the anchor to the chain. Must change the angle enough to where I was not getting the right angle to set firm in mud. First time ever for my Bruce.

Need to find out why my rope is jamming in the gypsy.

That sucks.Better luck next time.


Jamming in the gypsy.I can't decide if that needs a three x rating or a dirty hippy singing it.

Like the guy said....It's happened to all of us. Embarrassment is a lot easier on the wallet than damaged boats.

GFC said:

Like the guy said....It's happened to all of us. Embarrassment is a lot easier on the wallet than damaged boats.

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I was relieved FlyWright didn't have someone foul his anchor west of Alcatraz Island during Fleet Week.

Congratulations. You survived without a scratch.

Whenever I am in a jam I remember that I made it out of worse without a scratch. Now you can so remember as well.

I am unfamiliar with "fishing mode" anchor hook up. I thought those forward holes were for buoys and retrieval lines???

bayview said:

I am unfamiliar with "fishing mode" anchor hook up. I thought those forward holes were for buoys and retrieval lines???

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You can shackle your chain end to the eye on the crown then run the chain back to the normal attachment point on the shank and secure it to that eye with some light seizing wire through a chain link and the eye. I would not use wire ties.

Then if the anchor gets hung up on the bottom you can power over it and past it which should cause the chain to break loose from the wire which then changes the pulling force to the crown of the anchor so you can pull it out of the obstruction backwards.

This setup is what the slot in the shank of a Manson Supreme anchor is for.

The "fishing" anchor rig is used extensively in SE AK by the charter guys. It's effective but almost always the maximum holding power of the anchor is greatly reduced. Either that or the fwd tie never comes into play and of course then you'd be better off rigging the anchor in the usual way. Tie it too light and you'll not be able to set your anchor. I've never used the fisherman's rig. Predictability and dependability is golden.

Sounds like a real anchoring fubar! At least you were able to stabilize the situation, correct the fouling and return home without damage to your boat or others.

It's good that the folks in the area were reassuring and helpful. Throw a belligerent drunk into the situation and it changes everything.

There might be nothing wrong with the windlass. Sometimes a twisted rode can cause jambs going in or out. It might help to lay out all your rode on the dock and untwist as needed. It's also a great chance to survey your rode for wear and corrosion.

Maybe you can head back to the same place and re-anchor without the crowd. You might learn what technique works best there. No two anchorages are exactly the same.

You've been onboard for 4 years and have 29 posts. Tell us a little about your boat and yourself. Don't you own a Californian?

at the 4th of July fireworks up in the CA delta there is always tons of anchoring drama.

Last year we were sound asleep at 2am in a raft up with about 15-20 boats when someone pounded on our door. Come to find out a LARGE sailboat with a LARGE power boat rafted to each side of it had dragged anchor and was dragging down the front of our raft up, perpendicular to our boats, snagging anchors and dragging boats in our group along with it (which was slowing it down at least). The three boats were on ONE anchor and it was WINDY... definitely poor planning!

People in our group starting honking, lighting them up with search lights, someone got on the bull horn... finally woke them up. the two powerboats untied and were gone in a flash. Not standing by to make sure all was ok... GONE.... I thought that was kind of rude to their friends but I concede there is nothing they could have done.

The couple on the sailboat was valiantly trying to get their anchor up, it must have been so heavy with all the anchor rodes caught on it. I remember seeing the woman (it was just a man and woman on the boat) lying on the foredeck, half hanging off, trying to get the rodes off their anchor while the man was at the wheel. I think he ended up coming up there and getting them off with the boat hook. Once they were free they were gone in a flash also.

Our raft up had enough anchors out that even though some boats had moved a bit we were still secure. the real fun was the next day when we tried to leave. Five boats had anchors and rodes tangled together, including us.

We took well over an hour to get untangled. There were two really badly tangled that had to get friends in a ski boat to take the tangled mess on to the back of the ski boat and work the tangle free while the skippers kept their two boats apart (they had been at least five boats apart in the raft). We were tangled with the boat next to us that had pod drives, we kept ourselves tied side by side and had him control our location while we got the anchors untangled. They were not badly tangled, luckily.

For all that, nobody got hurt, no boats were damaged and now it is a story to tell. Happens to everyone at some point. I would prefer to not have another situation QUITE that dramatic though.

jclays said:

.............. Recently rigged my Bruce fishing style with the chain on the front eye and a tye wire at the rear of the anchor to the chain. ...........

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That just about guarantees you'll be drifting out to sea some night while you're sleeping.

Rig your anchor as the manufacturer intended and use a trip line in the forward hole if you're concerned about getting the anchor caught on something.

rwidman said:

That just about guarantees you'll be drifting out to sea some night while you're sleeping.

Rig your anchor as the manufacturer intended and use a trip line in the forward hole if you're concerned about getting the anchor caught on something.

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That was a temporary set up from fishing a reef the weekend before. Back to the original configuration. The one that sets well.
Jim

FlyWright said:

Sounds like a real anchoring fubar! At least you were able to stabilize the situation, correct the fouling and return home without damage to your boat or others.

It's good that the folks in the area were reassuring and helpful. Throw a belligerent drunk into the situation and it changes everything.

There might be nothing wrong with the windlass. Sometimes a twisted rode can cause jambs going in or out. It might help to lay out all your rode on the dock and untwist as needed. It's also a great chance to survey your rode for wear and corrosion.

Maybe you can head back to the same place and re-anchor without the crowd. You might learn what technique works best there. No two anchorages are exactly the same.

You've been onboard for 4 years and have 29 posts. Tell us a little about your boat and yourself. Don't you own a Californian?

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Day off Monday. Will head back in the evening and anchor. Another concert next Thursday night I want to come back and to this right.
Will have the rope out of the locker and run all of it thru the windlass this Sunday on the dock.
About the boat
She's one of the first Californians built by Jules Marshall. She's not a trawler but a 1966 twin screw express. I'm on this board to learn about the characteristics of various trawlers. I'm taking my time looking for a trawler for my retirement purchase. Right now I'm leaning towards a Californian 38 or 42 aft cabin.

manyboats said:

The "fishing" anchor rig is used extensively in SE AK by the charter guys. It's effective but almost always the maximum holding power of the anchor is greatly reduced. Either that or the fwd tie never comes into play and of course then you'd be better off rigging the anchor in the usual way. Tie it too light and you'll not be able to set your anchor. I've never used the fisherman's rig. Predictability and dependability is golden.

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The reason they call it a fishing anchor is because it is only used for temporary positioning. No one would want to use this as an overnight technique, unless they like nighttime excitement.

The Super Sarca also has the sliding slot attachment method, though mine came with a bolt so I could limit or prevent slot travel of rode attachment.
Nearly every anchoring is a unique event. So many variables, depth, bottom type, wind speed, tide, wind direction,wave action, other boats, etc etc...
With time you develop your anchoring expertise but, every now and then, something will go wrong, if only the consequence of another boat`s anchoring error. Jim, keep working on your technique and acquiring experience. Learning goes on, for most of us.
Great to see Jennifer (Pineapple Girl) posting!

YESSSSSSSSSS. My honor has been redeemed. Went back to the scene of my embarrassment for another concert. This time anchor rigged in its normal configuration vs fishing configuration. Windlass checked for proper operation. Pulled in to the area to anchor, dropped the hook, played out proper scope, drifted back to soft set the hook, tied off the line and set it with engines in reverse. Didn't budge an inch all night. A few around me kept having to reset several times during the evening.

Happened to us last week- although it was operator error (too short a scope). Even with the extreme short scope, the Manson Supreme kept us safe.

Indeed, it happens to all of us!

Not to drift the thread, but I recommend dumping the Bruce for a newer anchor (Manson, Rocna, Ultra, Sarca, etc).

Nothing wrong with the Bruce. Has worked every time except that one time described on my original post. Caused by changing the anchor setup to a fisherman's style for rocky bottoms.

Hard to imagine there being much wrong w the Claw anchor w so many of them on boats. The Claw is even the second choice of anchor in the fishing fleet in SE Alaska and most of those guys anchor a lot.

I bought a new Claw to try as a primary anchor on Willy when we finally get back into the water. It's oversized for Willy (30') at 33lbs so should be fine. I got out my grinder and sharpened the center part of the fluke quite a bit. I also ground a bit off the two OB tips as well but not much there. I coated the ground off spots w aerosol cold galvanize. That worked really well on another anchor. How the Claw works at short scope and it's legendary setting performance is the attraction to me. Also the fact that one dos'nt see much anchor from the helm decreases the chance of not seeing a log dead ahead.

Pau Hana said:

Happened to us last week- although it was operator error (too short a scope). Even with the extreme short scope, the Manson Supreme kept us safe.

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Just curious, do you shackle the chain to the slot or to the single hole? Seems to me, shackling the chain to the slot could lead to breaking the anchor loose when the tide changes.

manyboats said:

Hard to imagine there being much wrong w the Claw anchor w so many of them on boats. The Claw is even the second choice of anchor in the fishing fleet in SE Alaska and most of those guys anchor a lot.

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You mean other than the fact that they drag and have repeatedly been shown to have low holding power?

Capt.Bill11 said:

You mean other than the fact that they drag and have repeatedly been shown to have low holding power?

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That's in your universe, not mine.

markpierce said:

That's in your universe, not mine.

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Yes and the sky is also blue in mine.

That plus the fact that Bruce style anchors come in last or near the bottom in most every anchor holding power test in my universe as well.

http://fortressanchors.com/advantage/benefits/stronger

Well, we love our claws in the California Delta mud. My 15kg Claw had never failed me in literally hundreds of anchorings in the last 7 years. I'm hesitant to switch for something that can beat that 100% track record.

Maybe there's something about technique, type of bottom and accompanying ground tackle that makes a difference for some.

jclays said:

YESSSSSSSSSS. My honor has been redeemed. Went back to the scene of my embarrassment for another concert. This time anchor rigged in its normal configuration vs fishing configuration. Windlass checked for proper operation. Pulled in to the area to anchor, dropped the hook, played out proper scope, drifted back to soft set the hook, tied off the line and set it with engines in reverse. Didn't budge an inch all night. A few around me kept having to reset several times during the evening.

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Glad you jumped back on that horse and rode it to victory! Scope is your friend, especially when setting the anchor. If you need to reduce the scope later due to tight confines, the claw can handle that better than some.

FlyWright said:

Well, we love our claws in the California Delta mud. My 15kg Claw had never failed me in literally hundreds of anchorings in the last 7 years. I'm hesitant to switch for something that can beat that 100% track record.

Maybe there's something about technique, type of bottom and accompanying ground tackle that makes a difference for some.

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We sailed around 20,000 miles with a 44# Bruce on a 12 ton sailboat and dragged twice. Once in deep mud in Hospital Bay and once off Lahaina because I was too lazy to do a proper job of setting it. Delfin started with a Claw and it held her fine in an unexpected gale off the West Coast of Vancouver Island in 55 knots. Had it failed then, we would have been on the rocks. While I think our Ultra now is a superior hook, there was nothing to complain about in the performance of the Claw, so I take most of the pontificating from people who have never used one about what a lousy hook it is with a grain of uninformed salt. As they say, everyone has an opinion, just like a certain orifice.

Capt.Bill11 said:

Yes and the sky is also blue in mine.

That plus the fact that Bruce style anchors come in last or near the bottom in most every anchor holding power test in my universe as well.

Fortress Anchors – The World's Best Anchors! – Stronger Holding Power

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Never had a problem with mine either.

Is this Marin in disguise perhaps?

Nsail said:

Never had a problem with mine either.

Is this Marin in disguise perhaps?

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There do seem to be some interesting similarities.....

FlyWright said:

Well, we love our claws in the California Delta mud. My 15kg Claw had never failed me in literally hundreds of anchorings in the last 7 years. I'm hesitant to switch for something that can beat that 100% track record.

Maybe there's something about technique, type of bottom and accompanying ground tackle that makes a difference for some.

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As they say "YMMV"