Anchor got stuck!!!!!!

[seatime]

Most boats that are flooded over the stern when retrieving fouled anchors off a stern cleat are powering away at the time. They aren't flooded because of stored energy in the rope (elastic potential energy).
As suggested, with the rope fixed to a stern cleat on the deck edge, and the propeller driving down and away, the deck edge is pulled down and immersed.
Helm position can exacerbate the situation.

[ped cairns]

i know 3 guys that have sunk boats and not one salvaged from hooking anchor to rear of boat not a good idea

wondering if anyone was told or read about this accident waiting to happen when doing boat license should be in there some where

Ped

[tenzing]

i know 3 guys that have sunk boats and not one salvaged from hooking anchor to rear of boat not a good idea

wondering if anyone was told or read about this accident waiting to happen when doing boat license should be in there some where

Ped

Mate what a good Idea.
Son will be doing his course/test in the next few weeks. He sh#ts himself everytime we anchor after a few offshore pick incidents( never from the stern mind you). I'll get him to ask about anchoring and retrieval techniques. It would certainly seem that these are fairly basic boating skills .
Brendan

[littlejim]

I've left a couple of anchors behind. Worked out that it was the chain that got caught round the rocks. When that happens the knife is the answer.
Agree with all the comments on not pulling from the stern.
One of the fishing magazine gurus swears by it, but musn't have had an anchor get stuck.

[The_Tub]

Hi

I think it should be part of the boat licence,to be aware of the dangers of anchoring,i have'nt lost an anchor [yet] but have seen a couple of incedents with them

[finding_time]

Oh you doubting thomas 's !!! With regards to Kenetic energy, here's the senario. You drive off at speed , the anchor wont budge, so you increase the power and the back of the boat starts to go under!!! Now unless your a total moron you cut the power right, you dont just keep the power on till the boat completely goes under do you seatime?

Now you have cut the power , are you safe?? No way your stuffed !! You have streched all that nice silver rope and stored a lot of kinetic( elastic potential energy as you put it) in the process, as soon as the power stops the boat springs back and under very quickly sinking your boat! If there was no kinetic energy involved seatime, as soon as you cut the power you would pop right back to the surface if not to much water entered the boat but this doesn't happen does it? The only way you could save the situation is as soon as you noticed the boats stern going under, CUT THE ROPE, but you would have to be very very quick . That is the only ay you could release the elastic potential energy stored in the rope!
Could you tell me seatime, how this doesn't happen?????????????????????

Ian

[tunaticer]

Maybe we should all have a house brick living in the boat somewhere for the occasions where we have to cut an anchor free. Tying the brick to the boat end of the cut line will sink it well clear of anybody's props in the future.
Just a thought.

[FNQCairns]

Oh you doubting thomas 's !!! With regards to Kenetic energy, here's the senario. You drive off at speed , the anchor wont budge, so you increase the power and the back of the boat starts to go under!!! Now unless your a total moron you cut the power right, you dont just keep the power on till the boat completely goes under do you seatime?

Now you have cut the power , are you safe?? No way your stuffed !! You have streched all that nice silver rope and stored a lot of kinetic( elastic potential energy as you put it) in the process, as soon as the power stops the boat springs back and under very quickly sinking your boat! If there was no kinetic energy involved seatime, as soon as you cut the power you would pop right back to the surface if not to much water entered the boat but this doesn't happen does it? The only way you could save the situation is as soon as you noticed the boats stern going under, CUT THE ROPE, but you would have to be very very quick . That is the only ay you could release the elastic potential energy stored in the rope!
Could you tell me seatime, how this doesn't happen?????????????????????

Ian

Silver rope is not a real big stretcher I understand but nylon is horrible it stretches like a bungie, the account i gave earlier the engine power was cut too fast and we where pulled backwards against the current, a sharp knif is what saved us...serious lesson learnt...2 actually just because the skipper is the skipper feel free to speak up loudly no matter what....no-one will respect your life and limb as much as you do.

cheers fnq

[Mr__Bean]

I have had my anchor (tripped plough) stuck hard on many occasions.

But never yet have I had to cut it off.

When it is stuck hard I always let out a heap of rope, and i mean a heap. I then power up slowly until it goes tight (tied to the bow cleat). Power is inceased until there is a fair bit of load on both the boat and the anchor rope.

Turn the wheel slightly so that the boat starts to move sideways slightly as it still powers against the rope. Keep the power firm and keep control of the steering so that it just moves slowly sideways, don't let it start to turn too hard just slowly work your way around the stuck anchor on a slow arc.

There have been times when I have gone around complete circles 3 or 4 times doing this but on every occasion the anchor has been freed.

Like I said you ned to use quite a reasonable amount of power and keep control, but you can feel it start to break free on the turn as the chain and anchor slowly uncouple from the reef etc.

Done properly it is quite safe an very effective.

- Darren

[White Pointer]

G'day,

Lots of lessons learned in this thread but no solutions on how to do it properly. I've been out with a few people who have shown me how and each retrieve has been successful. Now to the why.

Matching boat to anchor seems critical. Too little anchor won't hold. Too much anchor won't come up and you put the boat at risk. Getting it just right seems critical.

Deploying the anchor in the first place seems critical. The total weight of chain may sink faster than the anchor, so snatching the rope every few seconds to make sure the anchor hits bottom first helps to ensure that the anchor is the anchor - and not the chain, which will help with retrieval. After that, when rope stops playing out, secure the rope with slack and hold very firm tension on the rope while the boat drifts. If it pulls up tight you can release the slack, otherwise you are dragging the anchor and may need to start over.

Now to retrieval. Somebody can correct what I have written so far and write the next bit.

If nobody does I'll have a crack at it over the wekend.

Thanks to Col, Scotty and Brendan for teaching me. But I'm still learning.

Regards,

White Pointer

[Mr__Bean]

G'day,

Lots of lessons learned in this thread but no solutions on how to do it properly.

Pfffft!

Sorry Sir.

- Darren

[finga]

G'day,

Lots of lessons learned in this thread but no solutions on how to do it properly. I've been out with a few people who have shown me how and each retrieve has been successful. Now to the why.

There is no real 100% fail safe solution for a stuck anchor.
If you take all the precautions in the world they can still get stuck.
In the method you described an anchor can still get stuck really hard ie a sand anchor or similar stuck between 2 huge rocks.
You could always lose an anchor but the cable tie method I described earlier seems to limit the number of really stuck anchors on smaller type boats (less then 5.5m) as the stuck anchor is pulled from the opposite direction that it got stuck in.
But even this may allow for a lost anchor or two.
If there is a fail safe method then I'd like to know about it.

I mean that's their job isn't it...getting stuck.
Sometimes it's just a lot better than other times.

[foxx510]

Isn't a smaller reef pick the answer here? Or don't they work up north ;-) We've just sized the reef pick to match our boat, and worst case is that we'll have to pull it real hard under power and take a small arc around it until one of the prongs bends out. You then just bend it back ready for next time.

[Noelm]

that is correct, untill the chain gets snagged, then no amount of power will straighten the prongs! fairly common with guys who use a very long chain.

[foxx510]

Ah true, didn't think of the chain getting caught.