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Old 09-25-2018, 09:45 PM   #12
ghost
Guru
 
City: Anacortes
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 1,189
It’s pretty rare that I don’t have time to just pull the anchor at the bow and wash as you go. Bump in forward, walk up and then pull it up. While you don’t want to pull the boats weight with the windlass, you can pull the catenary up with little effort and then wait as the boat drifts forward as it establishes a new catenary, then repeat. I don’t like being in a hurry, so I usually won’t run back to bump in gear again. If you take your time, you will be aware of your surroundings. If you are aware of your surroundings, you will work efficiently and not cause unnecessary problems for yourself. Working single handed is mostly about being aware and working calmly. Plus it has the added bonus of pissing off the crews with multiple people, lots of ordered, misunderstood commands and general chaos disguised as some kind of important maneuver. Reducing the nervous energy is the key.

When the anchor is straight up and down, stop. Look around. This is the last moment before the boat is drifting. Pretty rare day that you won’t at this point take stock and know definitively that there is little to hurry for. If it’s the odd day when wind, current or that runt late arriving sailboat that anchored rudely within a boat length, then break the anchor free, pull it up just enough to get it away from the bottom and again, calmly walk to the helm and idle to a safe place. Then calmly pull it up the last few feet and stow. Again, no worries, no hurry.

Going slow, I guarantee, will not look slow to anyone but you. In fact, after a couple tries, you will realize that going slow by yourself is actually pretty darn effective.
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