Anchor tripping

[ghostlymoron]

I'm considering a bareboat charter in Greece this summer. From past experience, some anchorages are littered with junk (chains etc) so I will be setting up a trip line in known troublespots. What's the best way to do this? I thought a seperate line left slackish shackled to the anchor tip.

 

[macd]

I will be setting up a trip line in known troublespots. What's the best way to do this? I thought a seperate line left slackish shackled to the anchor tip.

Shackled to the anchor tip? How?
Trip lines are normally fastened to the forward end of the shank, so that tension on it will rotate the fluke ;backwards' . Some hooks have a hole there to facilitate this. If the anchor has a roll-bar, a line can be made fast to this.

You'll need a line comfortably longer than the depth of water tied to a small buoy. You lob this overboard when you drop the hook. Recover it with boathook when retreiving anchor, obviously taking great care the line doesn't get round keel or prop. Write 'anchor' on the buoy in 17 languages, than marvel at the illiteracy of your fellow boaters. Sooner or later someone will think it's a mooring

Some boats seem to use a tripping line almost all the time, some almost never. Some folk hate 'em.

 

[Seajet]

The line needs to be something which will sink, not float on the surface to trap passing boats, as if they pull it in it would be a Bad Thing re. your continued anchoring prospects.

I take it by 'tip of the anchor' you mean the stock at the opposite end to where the chain attaches ? That will pull the anchor out backwards from any junk fouling it.

Top Tip; use a tripping line buoy without a handle - plastic spherical fishing floats with an eye underneath for the line are ideal.

It's amazing how many idiots will grab any buoy with a handle thinking it's a mooring !

I also mark mine with a 'skull & crossbones' as an international symbol, with ' Trip line - do not moor to ! ' in permanent magic marker.

 

[billcowan]

Some Germans use a tripping line 2M shorter than the depth of water.
Idea is, it wont get run down by a Spanyard or used as a mooring by an Italian.
If the anchor fouls you only have to dive down 2M to attach a line, if it doesnt you just pull it up with the anchor. The defect of this method is that a Frenchman doesnt know where your anchor lies so when arriving at 04:00 will put his down on top.

One toip though, whatever method, dont use string. If the anchor fouls it is likely to be under a heavy chain or hawser, so you will need at least 8 or 10mm line to have any hope of pulling it out.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Macd, yes I meant the end of the stock not the tip of the anchor. http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTsO6u0785Svge8ZPHny6DGvrn9Ds6IlCRxqTgtIIBw3OVoWG44kA
Others, I was wondering whether buoying an anchor in a crowded harbour was going to be practical. I wonder if there is any way of bringing a seperate tripping line back to the boat.

 

[cmedsailor]

Some Germans use a tripping line 2M shorter than the depth of water.
.

I am not German (!) but I have used this method a couple of times. Though the line was slightly deeper than 2 meters from surface (probably 3).

 

[RupertW]

I'm considering a bareboat charter in Greece this summer. From past experience, some anchorages are littered with junk (chains etc) so I will be setting up a trip line in known troublespots. What's the best way to do this? I thought a seperate line left slackish shackled to the anchor tip.

We've chartered in Greece and now have a boat in Croatia and find the sailing habits similar. If it's visible then people will moor up to it.

 

[homer]

I put 2 floats on the trip line - one at either end and one larger than the other. The line is simply led through a shackle on the anchor. If the line length is somewhere between water depth and twice water depth, the larger float rides on the surface and the smaller one somewhere between the surface and the anchor and, in so doing, keeps the line taught and vertical.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Some Germans use a tripping line 2M shorter than the depth of water.
Idea is, it wont get run down by a Spanyard or used as a mooring by an Italian.
If the anchor fouls you only have to dive down 2M to attach a line, if it doesnt you just pull it up with the anchor. The defect of this method is that a Frenchman doesnt know where your anchor lies so when arriving at 04:00 will put his down on top.

I can't see the point of this method. I thought that one advantage of buoying your anchor was that people would know where your anchor is and drop theirs elsewhere.
Thanks for your tips tho. I had in mind bringing both main and tripping line together back to the bow roller so that, if the anchor was (hopefully) not fouled, I could retrieve in the normal way and, if it was fouled, I stood a chance of retriving via the tripping line. I seem to recall a method of fixing a tripping line to the anchor using breakable tie-wraps or similar or perhaps it was a single line shackled to the tripping point and tie-wrapped to the main shackle point.