Yes, mark it with a fender and do just that. I carry a spare main anchor and 10m chain and 90m anchorplait rode just in case of this scenario and I need to anchor elsewhere before getting it all back. I use Navily (app) and Navionics and most fouled areas will be marked. Obv you can always get unlucky or have no choice. I did get fouled nicely by lots of old pots and twine in the south anchorage at Syracusa and it took half an hour to cut it all away.
There’s a step before you call the divers. You can run a loop of heavy line around the chain and along the rode so that it engages the anchor at the blade/shaft junction and it can be pulled in a different direction.
There’s a common approach used on small boats (where carrying a bouy and tripping line is difficult) which is a modernised version of this - the chain is shackled to the place that a tripping line would normally be attached, then the chain is zip tied along the shaft of the anchor. In normal use the anchor works normally, but if fouled pulling the chain tightly will burst the zip ties and then the rode becomes a tripping line.
Thanks for that. Good to know it is a technique that is still in use.
Not sure I would rely on cable ties to keep my anchor in allingment in a blow or less than smoothe water.
No I didn’t.
Yeah the size of boat where the space issues with storing a tripping line and bouy aren’t usually staying over night in a gale. I’ve used it and set it with a good burst of reverse - it only breaks if the pull is near perpendicular to the shaft/stock. It’s easy to rerig as normal or add a shackle at the end of the stock if conditions / situation needs greater security - usually in those situations having to sacrifice an anchor afterwards is not the end of the world.
I doubt it, anchor and chain is nearly £2k.
No, and you’re only listing the inconvenience to yourself. You said nothing of the inconvenience to others such as the many small buoys in an anchorage making it effectively a field of pot markers. Nor did you mention the effective reduction in capacity of anchorages since boats can no longer swing over your anchor as they should be able to.
If it was that cold you’d have a job to sail through the ice.
As a safety light great. If you tie it to your anchor it’ll still foul either your or my prop and clutter the anchorage though
The light helps boats coming into the anchorage at night, but the sophisticated float does not fix the most annoying problem, which is the boat tangling with the anchor float when it becomes trapped in the stern gear, rudder etc. As the float is attached to the crown of the anchor, even a light force on the float can trip the anchor.
I’d have to disagree with that. Ruining my night vision with lights at the waterline while also reducing available space to anchor is not what I consider helpful.
I agree anchor floats are a nuisance and even a danger to other boats entering the anchorage, especially boats entering at night. If a boat entering the anchorage inadvertently runs over the anchor float of another vessel their engine may be disabled. Anchor floats also reduce the available anchoring room. These are some of the reasons I only very rarely use one.
A loop of chain attached to the lifting warp will sink better than a loop of warp. This has always been my intended strategy if I get a fouled anchor but I've never had to use it.
