stuck anchor

[disorderly]

I had an unusual occurence last weekend.
Dropped a reef pick in around 200 feet of water overnight on the edge of a steep dropoff around 60 km's out.
The usual deal...did the full circle due to tidal movement overnight.
Tried pulling up in morning with the anchor retriever.. no go ..tried pulling up the slack and pulling it off with the boat.
It wouldnt budge and as it was my light gauge anchor I suspected that the chain or rope had wrapped around some structure .
My inexperienced deckie was absolutely freaked out as I tried this way and that in an effort to free it .I actually had to stop at one point and try to explain what I was doing in an effort to waylay his fears that the boat would be dragged under water.At some points it was pulling the nose down and swinging it around rather quickly in about a 1.5 meter swell
Cutting it was my last option.
Eventually it popped free and it appeared that it was just the anchor that had stuck fast.

My question is... at what stage would you people cut the anchor rope.I honestly didnt think this anchor was going to pop but I just kept trying for about 15-20 minutes and it finally just popped out of the blue.But my deckie was white as a sheet.

scott

[deadbeatloser]

I had an unusual occurence last weekend.
Dropped a reef pick in around 200 feet of water overnight on the edge of a steep dropoff around 60 km's out.
The usual deal...did the full circle due to tidal movement overnight.
Tried pulling up in morning with the anchor retriever.. no go ..tried pulling up the slack and pulling it off with the boat.
It wouldnt budge and as it was my light gauge anchor I suspected that the chain or rope had wrapped around some structure .
My inexperienced deckie was absolutely freaked out as I tried this way and that in an effort to free it .I actually had to stop at one point and try to explain what I was doing in an effort to waylay his fears that the boat would be dragged under water.At some points it was pulling the nose down and swinging it around rather quickly in about a 1.5 meter swell
Cutting it was my last option.
Eventually it popped free and it appeared that it was just the anchor that had stuck fast.

My question is... at what stage would you people cut the anchor rope.I honestly didnt think this anchor was going to pop but I just kept trying for about 15-20 minutes and it finally just popped out of the blue.But my deckie was white as a sheet.

scott

do you run a mooloolaba pick anchor. having the retrieval at the pionty end and use zip tie to fasten top of anchor. works everytime. so far anyway. last resort to cut rope i reckon ,never done it my self . must lie done it wth the prop once. lol

[Shanoss]

I dont know Scott, I cant say i have ever had one that stuck. Have had one buggered rope, but still got my pick back.. More importantly, did you get any fish?


Shane

[disorderly]

DBL,
Never tried the zip tie method.Though I can see the advantages.A reef pick usually does the trick where I fish.(apart from this particular time,lol.)

Shane,
Mate ,we worked pretty hard for our fish.Just a half a dozen nanny's and a few trout,and the usual suspects(sweeties,moses.stripeys)
The large tides made it pretty hard to fish the deeper water and we had no luck at all on the spanish despite putting in a few hours of trolling.
Got a feed but a bit disappointing really.

scott

[Vindicator]

I'm with deadbeatloser, the only time I've cut one is with the prop. But I could see the steam coming out of my ears after the 15-20 mins that you hung on for

Cheers
Kezza

[Shanoss]

I gotta admit the tides turned me right off. Makes me wonder how i managed all those years in Darwin. Hoping this weekend may be a goer.

[FNQCairns]

Yeah it happened to us once anchoring near/over a wreck, in my minds eye I imagined we must have bulls eyed the port hole

If anchoring overnight the thought of doing it on zip-ties would induce insomnia, but happy to do it during the day.

cheers fnq

[snelly1971]

I had an unusual occurence last weekend.
Dropped a reef pick in around 200 feet of water overnight on the edge of a steep dropoff around 60 km's out.
The usual deal...did the full circle due to tidal movement overnight.
Tried pulling up in morning with the anchor retriever.. no go ..tried pulling up the slack and pulling it off with the boat.
It wouldnt budge and as it was my light gauge anchor I suspected that the chain or rope had wrapped around some structure .
My inexperienced deckie was absolutely freaked out as I tried this way and that in an effort to free it .I actually had to stop at one point and try to explain what I was doing in an effort to waylay his fears that the boat would be dragged under water.At some points it was pulling the nose down and swinging it around rather quickly in about a 1.5 meter swell
Cutting it was my last option.
Eventually it popped free and it appeared that it was just the anchor that had stuck fast.

My question is... at what stage would you people cut the anchor rope.I honestly didnt think this anchor was going to pop but I just kept trying for about 15-20 minutes and it finally just popped out of the blue.But my deckie was white as a sheet.

scott

The ones that usually get snagged in my opinion...plus mates have seen it time and time again by diving ...are caused by the chain getting fouled.

But i personally would myself just keep trying to either the anchor came free or i broke the rope....

Mick

[Simmo2]

Wouldnt a light guage pick just straighten a 'leg' as their supposed to?

A mate of mine has 'downgraded' his anchor to a lighter steel because of this I think.

This thread has made me realise something...I threw the anchor today, then threw out the length of rope I thought I would require to get back to the mark....
That is probably the wrong thing to do as it could lead to rope foul ups eh?

I think I will keep 'tension' on the rope as I drift back from now on!

[leezor]

Would highly recommend cutting your rope before this happens....

[deadbeatloser]

Yeah it happened to us once anchoring near/over a wreck, in my minds eye I imagined we must have bulls eyed the port hole

If anchoring overnight the thought of doing it on zip-ties would induce insomnia, but happy to do it during the day.

cheers fnq

i have to say that the small zip tie can take a real big effort to brake

[Noelm]

hhmm I guess how long to try really depends on the conditions, if it is good and little current, then I guess you can almost try untill you get sick og it, but if it is really rough and dangerous, then you have to decide if $40 or so is worth your Boat/life and do what needs to be done, OH and a cable tie will certainly break with the weight of a Boat if it pulls the right/wrong way, and for over nighting I would certainly NOT use a light or a "tripped" anchor.

[Timfishin4fun]

You could always increase the amount of zip ties to increase the level of force needed to break free. That may give some more confidence over night.

Tim

[disorderly]

As simmo2 suggests ..in most every cases when a cetain amount of pressure is applied the lighter gauge reef pick tynes just straighten and the anchor comes free.but not this time...simmo I also have problem with the chain fouling the anchor if I dont keep tension on it as it heads to the bottom.
I have also lost 2 anchors due to not replacing old worn out rope..but that was due to my own slackness.(No prop chopping though..lol)
I now have new12mm rope and I doubt that I would be able to break this(despite the fierce power of the E-tec ).

FNQ, I'd say that anchoring on any wreck involves some element of risk regarding anchors lost..lots of solid structure to get caught up on.

Snelly,it did feel to me like there was some fouling of the chain which was my dilemma as I was trying to free the anchor and I knew the rope was not going to break but at some point as I kept giving it more and more I was a little worried that the nose would go down as a swell came through and get us into some strife.

Noel .I would have lost around $100 if i cut it.I'm a cheap b@stard hence my question on when people would cut it.

As for the zip tyes I,'ve never had a problem before with a reef pick and as mentioned I wouldn't be able to sleep a wink with this method.

Leezor,mate thats a real interesting look .Cant even blame the deckie when it was you at the helm.BTW I just joined the offshore lightboard club last weekend.(and launched without bungs..) .

Shane,hope you get out this weekend ..just keep an eye on the storms/squalls.

Scott

[Shanoss]

As simmo2 suggests ..in most every cases when a cetain amount of pressure is applied the lighter gauge reef pick tynes just straighten and the anchor comes free.but not this time...simmo I also have problem with the chain fouling the anchor if I dont keep tension on it as it heads to the bottom.
I have also lost 2 anchors due to not replacing old worn out rope..but that was due to my own slackness.(No prop chopping though..lol)
I now have new12mm rope and I doubt that I would be able to break this(despite the fierce power of the E-tec ).

FNQ, I'd say that anchoring on any wreck involves some element of risk regarding anchors lost..lots of solid structure to get caught up on.

Snelly,it did feel to me like there was some fouling of the chain which was my dilemma as I was trying to free the anchor and I knew the rope was not going to break but at some point as I kept giving it more and more I was a little worried that the nose would go down as a swell came through and get us into some strife.

Noel .I would have lost around $100 if i cut it.I'm a cheap b@stard hence my question on when people would cut it.

As for the zip tyes I,'ve never had a problem before with a reef pick and as mentioned I wouldn't be able to sleep a wink with this method.

Leezor,mate thats a real interesting look .Cant even blame the deckie when it was you at the helm.BTW I just joined the offshore lightboard club last weekend.(and launched without bungs..) .

Shane,hope you get out this weekend ..just keep an eye on the storms/squalls.

Scott

Thanks God there is a club for driving off with the lightboards. I dont feel half as silly now.