Do you love anchor buoys?

[tudorsailor]

There a very easy answer to anchor buoy , if you using it as a tripping line as we do at times when anchored in an area where the anchor may get caught up , all you need to do is use a line that will sink once settled remove the buoy and bring the line back to the bow , in that way , no one going to run over it or use it as a mooring .

So how exactly do you do this? How much line do you have on the buoy? What line do you use - dyneema? Do you throw the buoy plus line out as you start to drop the anchor, or do you pay out the line as the anchor deploys? Do you go out in the dinghy to retrieve the line? When retrieving the anchor, do you need two people - one to do the anchor and one to retrieve the line?

Thanks

TudorSailor

 

[sailaboutvic]

So how exactly do you do this? How much line do you have on the buoy? What line do you use - dyneema? Do you throw the buoy plus line out as you start to drop the anchor, or do you pay out the line as the anchor deploys? Do you go out in the dinghy to retrieve the line? When retrieving the anchor, do you need two people - one to do the anchor and one to retrieve the line?

Thanks

TudorSailor

So many question .
You can do it both ways , we tend Anchor in the normal deploying the tripping line , once we settled and the anchor set , one goes out in the dinghy , remove the buoy and add extra line bringing back to the boat .
Retrieving the anchor just a matter of taken up the slack of the line at the same time , only takes one person for the job ,
No we don't use dyneema , any line that will sunk will do the job .
We only Ever use a tripping line if we think we may foul , so far this year from the first week of March we been on our hook every day and still on our to night , we used a tripping six times and we fouled twice , once luckily we was useing the line at that time , the other time we was in 7 mts and the diving gear had to be used ,
The anchor was stuck between two rocks even if we had a tripping line I dough we would had got it out without diving .
When you live on the hook as we do , at some point you will foul your anchor , I personally don't have a problem useing a tripping line if I think we may need to .
I have read the posting here where people say they sailed X amount of years and never needed one ,
that great and I hope you never will , but I assure you when the day comes that you do get fouled you wish you had used one .

 

[jordanbasset]

Was in Port Leone (Kalamos) a few days ago, Any one who knows this anchorage will know it has a clean bottom. Saw a boat anchor and tie back to the rocks. No problem, nicely done. Then some one swam out 50 m to where the end of the anchor was and drop an anchor buoy on a lead weight. I found it hard to believe at first, especially as they seemed to struggle as to exactly where their anchor was. Boats do come on there quite late, including fishing boats, it would have been very easy for one of them to pick up the anchor buoy around their prop, it took selfishness to a whole new level.
Next to Port Kalamos, again people who visit will know that people lay anchors from both sides of the harbour there and it is very crowded. Some one used an anchor buoy there, if we all had of there would have been 50 plus buoys in the harbour. The next morning some one else got tangled up in it, luckily 20 minutes later they managed to free themselves
As others have said anchor buoys have their place in foul anchorages but some uses of it just makes me scratch my head

 

[oldmanofthehills]

I hate anchor buoys. In any crowded anchorage you might run into them while passing happily 50m ahead of an anchored boat. On a highly tidal anchorage as in my beloved Bristol channel they will wrap round things such as keels or props as the boats move about and change position. The onetime I used one the anchor line fouled my boat in such manner as to tie the anchor chain to my keel such that I had to cut the anchor chain thus losing both anchor and buoy when the anchor was not even fouled.

A tripping line to the bows is fine and I have done that but even that can have issues. However the only time my anchor fouled and a line would seem have been useful, my anchor had wedged itself into a reef and the large RNLI craft who offered assistance started to pull their bows down before admitting defeat. So in my opinion a solution that's worse than the problem in most cases.

 

[Stemar]

So in my opinion a solution that's worse than the problem in most cases.

I'm inclined to agree. The only time I couldn't get my anchor up was because I'd hooked a trot chain, which was better than thumping the boats around me when my engine failed. I can see a case for a tripping line on foul ground, but I try not to anchor in such places.