Don't drag your anchor!

dulls said:
I agree with you but insurance companies are about making a profit. If you do do anything to help dont broadcast it. One of the marine rescue units about 15 years ago was involved with the insurance coming after them. You also have to remember there are nasty boat owners out there as well. We left the gentle age of politeness and helping ones fellow man 50 odd years ago. I have helped in situations like that but it leaves me wondering about future litigation. If you were the last person to say reset their anchor and then the boat goes onto do further damage you may wish you had never bothered.
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Fortunately for me, in the area where I sail, most people are still civilised, and help one another. I don't recognise your problem.
 
Neeves said:
Neither do I - and I live in Australia.

Jonathan
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Good for you. ‘Volunteer liability put to the test’ google is your friend. I did over 10 years in a VMR there and it was an issue. We often liaised with the water police so liability could be passed to them.
NormanS said:
Fortunately for me, in the area where I sail, most people are still civilised, and help one another. I don't recognise your problem.
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‘Volunteer liability put to the test’ google is your friend. (17 years in Australia) Again it is an observation and it is a problem. Pretending you live in utopia is your problem.
 
dulls said:
If you were the last person to say reset their anchor and then the boat goes onto do further damage you may wish you had never bothered.
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As a full time cruiser usually on the hook absolutely not, and thankfully he vast majority of cruisers are the same. If a fellow cruisers boat is in trouble then you go and help. That's it. There are some things to worry about in the real world, watching a boat go on the rocks and not lift a finger to help because of some unsubstantiated fear mongering on the Web would be a very difficult thing to live with. Thankfully all the cruisers I share a beer with at various happy hours will never have to live with that, everyone helps. That's just what you do. The right thing.
 
GHA said:
As a full time cruiser usually on the hook absolutely not, and thankfully he vast majority of cruisers are the same. If a fellow cruisers boat is in trouble then you go and help. That's it. There are some things to worry about in the real world, watching a boat go on the rocks and not lift a finger to help because of some unsubstantiated fear mongering on the Web would be a very difficult thing to live with. Thankfully all the cruisers I share a beer with at various happy hours will never have to live with that, everyone helps. That's just what you do. The right thing.
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Completely agree. The world is not perfect.
 
sailaboutvic said:
You need to stop jumping from the firing pan into the fire before you get burn .
The reply your getting are from long term salt of the earth cruisers with good morals not armchair sailors who only morals are I'm ok jack
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I assume you think i am an arm chair sailor? Burned by what? This is a forum where things are discussed. I have stated reality. Going out on the water makes no difference to your morality. Why would you assume that I am in the all right jack crowd? I have never advocated the litigious world out their and am frankly appalled by it. Unfortunately it reality and i have fallen foul of the self righteous.
 
If the titor
dulls said:
I assume you think i am an arm chair sailor? Burned by what? This is a forum where things are discussed. I have stated reality. Going out on the water makes no difference to your morality. Why would you assume that I am in the all right jack crowd? I have never advocated the litigious world out their and am frankly appalled by it. Unfortunately it reality and i have fallen foul of the self righteous.
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If the title of this thread didn’t contain the word “anchor”, this post after eight pages would be enough to show what the subject is.

Alas.
 
sailaboutvic said:
You need to stop jumping from the firing pan into the fire before you get burn .
The reply your getting are from long term salt of the earth cruisers with good morals not armchair sailors who only morals are I'm ok jack
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I sent you a message so we could have a private conversation.
 
Neeves said:
The simplest way to test the concept that the chain holds the yacht and the anchor is simply a decoration at the end of the rode is easy.

Take the anchor off the rode, deploy all you chain and see what happens.

The trouble is the member who mentioned this stupid idea (that chain is a major contributor to hold) - and I use stupid as I cannot think of anything more polite) - is that someone might read those few posts and think there is science attached to the concept.

Chain does contribute to hold, but its contribution is simply not significant.

There is a pertinent reminder as introduction on this forum - that seems apt:

I quote

Any content, information, or advice found on social media platforms and the wider Internet, including forums such as YBW, should NOT be acted upon unless checked against a reliable, authoritative source, and re-checked, particularly where personal health and liberty is at stake. Seek professional advice/confirmation before acting on such at all times.

end quote

But Dulls - try your chain without anchor and report back.

Jonathan
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You must love your self. I was on about the scope being important. I did not advocate anchoring with out an anchor. Feel free to quote where i did? The weight of the chain matters as well because if affects the curve. If you note i used the term subjective a lot. Someone even provided a picture of an anchor set up with the boat not laying to the chain. I t was of interest in a very subjective way how much effort was needed to drag a chain along the concrete. Please feel free to rubbish any opinion other than your own. I presume you need the serving suggestions picture on tin of beans to help you interpret what was said. If you want to take this in the spirit of what was meant to be an all round discussion about anchoring that would be nice.
 
@ Dulls I will reply to your PM later ,
But please just leave it , people like Neeve, Noelex GHA Norman and many others are very experienced cruisers who have a lot of experience in anchoring and I will include myself it that as for the last 11 years we lived full time for nine month a year and before that 6 months each year for 20 years .
Can I suggest we move on .
 
sailaboutvic said:
@ Dulls I will reply to your PM later ,
But please just leave it , people like Neeve, Noelex GHA Norman and many others are very experienced cruisers who have a lot of experience in anchoring and I will include myself it that as for the last 11 years we lived full time for nine month a year and before that 6 months each year for 20 years .
Can I suggest we move on .
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I have sailed all my life but unlike you and other top notch experts i dont consider myself a moderator. Please feel free to post what you like. I may disagree but i so far have never resorted to calling people out. Hence why i went to pm and you could have as well with your last post.
 
Kukri said:
Sorry. I wasn’t having a dig at you. I was just trying to make a joke about the way in which all threads on this dreaded topic degenerate into name calling - you were just responding to having your name called.
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I fell foul of the self appointed moderators.
 
Interesting.

  • I think it is obvious that chain contributes virtually nothing to the straigh-line holding capacity of the anchor. First, I have tested pulling only chain (in the water--not concrete) and it never held more than 1-3% of the anchor holding capacity. Second, when the anchor really loads up, at the limit, not enough is on the bottom to matter at all.
  • Chain does reduce twitching at the anchor. It's hard to pull sideways on some bottoms (variable).
  • Chain can help with setting. Also obvious.
  • Chain helps with swing. So do other things.
  • Chain is easy to handle with a windlass. So are combination rodes IF set up correctly. Chain is pretty awful without a windlass.
But when people talk about the need for 100 meters of grade 30 heavy chain for holding, I wonder if they think it helps more than, say, another 100 pounds in the anchor? Probably not.

Which will hold more. 300 feet of 3/8" grade 30 chain (414 pounds) with a 35 pound anchor, or the same amount of 1/4 grade 70 chain (192 pounds) with a 45-pound anchor? Or for equal weight, a 257-pound anchor? Or we could compromise with a 100-pound anchor and save 157 pounds, since the 257 pounder would be hard for the windlass. Obviously a silly exaggerations, but where is the crossover point? Probably the first example, with 10 pounds of anchor offsetting heavy chain.

Or I could use half rope and save another 100-200 pounds. Would it affect holding? You would not be able to measure the difference. Cutting past the 150-foot mark? Most will never deploy that much and when they do, it won't be near the bottom. But I would pay attention around coral and rocks. But most of us don't sail around coral, or at least we can compensate for this.

My last boat was all-chain, but with shallow water, all I needed was 100 feet backed by rope (the rope didn't come out every year). My new boat uses only 6 feet of chain and an alloy anchor. Really light. For shallow water and mud bottoms it is secure and efficient. I have a steel anchor for rock and stubborn bottoms. But not the right rig for another boat, another place. I know that.

Interesting. Clearly, there is more than one right answer.
 
I not sure what your problem is , my last posting was to try and Clam the situation down in the sprit of this forum and move it on as politely as I could .
I wasn't moderatoring any thing .
But please carry on without me .
 
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