Northeasterly, 3-4, sea state slight

[Danny Jo]

The Met's inshore forecast for St David's Head to Colwyn Bay, relayed by Holyhead Coastguard, had me and my crew rolling around laughing today. Well actually, we were pitching around laughing, and getting the decks nice and clean too. We cleared the notorious Carmel Head at the start of the flood to find the wind almost due East blowing 17 knots. The spring tide flows at 3 knots or so along the North Coast, so we reckoned that stopping for breakfast in Llanbadrig bay would allow time for the wind to ease.

Lost the anchor in Llanbadrig bay (fancy swivel pin sheared - stainless, rustless, gutless, useless), found that the wind stayed firmly in the East and increased to 19-22 knots. Sea state slight, my eye. Wished I stowed the stuff below a bit better and had one of those "we do this for fun?" moments. But did manage to get Freestyle going a full knot through the water over her hull speed through Puffin Sound.

Advice on recovering anchors would be appreciated. It was a devil of a job to get the Bruce to dig into the sand, but thought it just as well I didn't replace it with a Rocna.

 

[Jobs_a_ good_ un]

Get a delta much better than a bruce at digging in on sand
Bruce seem to be good on mud and very soft sand
Ive had them drag on compacted sand ,weed,but the delta especially the 16 kilo i can get a good nights sleep with
if you know what i mean /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Twister_Ken]

You must be mistaken. It can't have been a Bruce. I have it on very good authority they never dig in, and even when they do they drag. Sure it wasn't a Sp•de?

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Convince a local trawler to tow over the spot, or pay a diver.

 

[Bajansailor]

Oh dear, the anchor boys are going to wander along now, and this will develop into another anchor thread, with the usual punch ups and slanging matches......
Some things never change! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Edit - did you get a good fix on where you lost the anchor? What depth of water? Reasonably clear water? Would it be worthwhile going back with a wetsuit and snorkelling gear, and seeing if you can find it? The cost of getting a professional diver out might be the same as the cost of the anchor.....

 

[Sixpence]

Don't see what all this fuss about anchors is about myself , I've got danforths and I'm assured they're perfect for round here

 

[Danny Jo]

[ QUOTE ]
Edit - did you get a good fix on where you lost the anchor? What depth of water? Reasonably clear water? Would it be worthwhile going back with a wetsuit and snorkelling gear, and seeing if you can find it? The cost of getting a professional diver out might be the same as the cost of the anchor.....

[/ QUOTE ] We got quite a good visual fix, but I didn't think about using the "Mark" button on my Garmin until too late. We dropped the anchor in 2.7 m near low water, but I dragged it about a bit before getting it to set.

It's not the end of the world - I've seen Bruce's in boat jumbles for not much more than a lifejacket rearming kit - but I might try a bit of snorkelling in a fortnight.

Has anyone managed to recover an anchor with a heavy duty magnet?

 

[Richard10002]

Do you have any friends, or friends of friends etc., who scuba dive. It would probably be a fun exercise to do a search and recovery from a yacht. Or maybe the local dive club/shop will know someone who would do it for fun?

I dropped my weight belt in about 7m of murky water a couple of weeks ago.... went back in, found them after 2 sweeps, and felt a great deal of satisfaction.