Run aground at low water? Put your anchor out!

[lustyd]

Whereas I would disagree. If the skipper thinks it’s a mayday or PanPan then s/he should not feel under any pressure

I agree it’s the skippers call. That was entirely my point. Many of us don’t consider that an urgent call so suggesting we’re unqualified is insulting what are probably more calm and measured skippers.

 

[shanemax]

Not everyone who goes to sea is clued up about procedures, or even normal precautions. I remember when, long before we started cruising, my wife and I hired a small boat from Mevagissey for an hour, something like a mini tosher. We had a delightful hour chugging round among the rocks and coves without so much as a chart, lifejacket or anchor in sight, let alone a radio, and I imagine that there are many people around with the same lack of concern around our coasts.

Did exactly the same when I was a boy at Looe. You forgot to mention the Mackerel line each boat had and it usually resulted in a fish. Marvellous fun and absolutely zero health and safety, in fact I do not think those words had yet been thought up

 

[shanemax]

I'd never really thought before and maybe it's.a stupid question but - how do you set the anchor when aground? Winch it in? Hope it digs in itself?

You couldn't. No point in dropping the anchor in shallow water and then piling chain on top That could end up as a birds nest of tangled chain wrapped around the anchor. You either row out with a dinghy or if no dinghy wait for the boat to float and to start moving, so you can feed enough chain out to set it.

 

[finestgreen]

You couldn't. No point in dropping the anchor in shallow water and then piling chain on top That could end up as a birds nest of tangled chain wrapped around the anchor. You either row out with a dinghy or if no dinghy wait for the boat to float and to start moving, so you can feed enough chain out to set it.

Sorry, I was unclear - I understood that you take the anchor out in a dinghy, I meant how do you then pull it back in enough to dig in and make it set properly.

 

[ylop]

You couldn't. No point in dropping the anchor in shallow water and then piling chain on top That could end up as a birds nest of tangled chain wrapped around the anchor. You either row out with a dinghy or if no dinghy wait for the boat to float and to start moving, so you can feed enough chain out to set it.

I’d suggest that in shallow water, when aground, if you can’t dinghy/walk the anchor out then it’s perfectly viable to drop the anchor and then flake the anchor onto the sea bed.

Sorry, I was unclear - I understood that you take the anchor out in a dinghy, I meant how do you then pull it back in enough to dig in and make it set properly.

if you really want to then windlass or winch. I think it’s usually going to be more important to have loads of rode out (assuming refloating with big swing doesn’t make it worse than the perfect initial set.

 

[shanemax]

Tension the rode from the boat end after the kedge has been rowed out or walked out, or a combination of both a fair distance. If the sea bed is dry, then dig it in by hand after walking out the anchor.

In Wales perhaps with beautiful sand estuaries but east coast glutinous deep mud. forget walking an anchor out because you will need a helicopter to pull you out when you sink knee deep and then you will have a real May-Day on your hands.

 

[Tamar]

The one that gets me, is a yacht runs aground for whatever reason, on a falling tide. So no chance of re floating until next tide at least. They all seem to secure the boat to the shore, but few bother to run out an anchor to sea. Most therefore get pushed higher up the beach on the next tide and end up wrecked.

We had one successful re float over last winter and I put the success down to the owner walking out and digging in 2 anchors at low tide that stopped the boat going further up the beach until the weather and enough people could be mustered to re float it.

Depends what bottom you have, for instance the approach to Cardiff is deep mud like many other places, if you jumped overboard you would sink upto your neck and be another casualty.
Edit, Shane beat me to it

 

[shanemax]

Sorry, I was unclear - I understood that you take the anchor out in a dinghy, I meant how do you then pull it back in enough to dig in and make it set properly.

In you have a dinghy row out about two boat length of chain and when the tide returns the boat will float and start moving with the tide and the anchor should set as normal. Problems result when its a lea shore and strong wind. If that's the case you will need the engine running and ready as you lift, using plenty of reves.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

In Wales perhaps with beautiful sand estuaries but east coast glutinous deep mud. forget walking an anchor out because you will need a helicopter to pull you out when you sink knee deep and then you will have a real May-Day on your hands.

Sure, only in Wales can you do that.

 

[johnalison]

With an average draft of perhaps 1.5 metres you should in any case have an hour or so in which to pump up the dinghy, if that is what is carried, and get an anchor in place before the water runs away.

 

[shanemax]

I have a bruce. I have never ever had a problem with it SELF setting in any conditions as long as I put out a minimum of two boats lengths of chain plus depth of water. Feeding out the chain slowly and at the same speed as the boat drifts. Once you have enough chain out, cleat it off and Bobs your uncle. If its going to blow hard and its a spring tide running with the wind then 3 boat lengths or more.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

If your on a lee shore you drift the wrong way.

Setting a kedge by dinghy requires all the desired rode length n the dinghy, which is paid out from the dinghy as it is motored or rowed into deep water, or direction where the boat is required to move off in.

This is one reason why it’s a good idea to have a lighter ledge than bower, and rope rode for the ledge, with maybe a couple of meters of chain at the kedge.

 

[johnalison]

I have a bruce. I have never ever had a problem with it SELF setting in any conditions as long as I put out a minimum of two boats lengths of chain plus depth of water. Feeding out the chain slowly and at the same speed as the boat drifts. Once you have enough chain out, cleat it off and Bobs your uncle. If its going to blow hard and its a spring tide running with the wind then 3 boat lengths or more.

I have a Bruce kedge which has set well on the few occasions I have used it. I think that I read somewhere that the Bruce was designed for offshore installations where the angle of pull might be above horizontal, so perhaps that is why it can often be effective.

 

[shanemax]

If your on a lee shore you drift the wrong way.

Setting a kedge by dinghy requires all the desired rode length n the dinghy, which is paid out from the dinghy as it is motored or rowed into deep water, or direction where the boat is required to move off in.

This is one reason why it’s a good idea to have a lighter ledge than bower, and rope rode for the ledge, with maybe a couple of meters of chain at the kedge.

If you are on a lea shore in a strong blow and a nasty sea state, with the tide returning plus you have no dinghy I would report the situation and get advice from the coast guard. They may ask an inshore lifeboat to assist you with a tow to deep water.

 

[dunedin]

Does anyone else think it’s odd, or at least counter-intuitive, that you need a licence to use a VHF, but no license required to jump in, say, a 40ft, ten tonne yacht.
My non-boaty friends are always astounded to learn that there is no marine equivalent of the driving test.

I agree. Logically it is absolutely bonkers that you need a licence and pass a test to use a VHF but can drive a 60 foot powerboat at 50 knots through a crowded Solent without any qualifications or assessment at all.

 

[Wansworth]

Make a raft from handy material like a cabin door place anchour on it with the rope line and wade out pushing the float until you have to swim carryonswimming as far as possible then dump anchour and return to boat and tension cable

 

[lustyd]

This is one reason why it’s a good idea to have a lighter ledge than bower, and rope rode for the ledge, with maybe a couple of meters of chain at the kedge.

Also a good reason for a solid floor dinghy rather than inflatable!

 

[Chiara’s slave]

You guys…. We just get off and push. Apart from those muddy locations, when we’d just put the kettle on.

 

[johnalison]

I agree. Logically it is absolutely bonkers that you need a licence and pass a test to use a VHF but can drive a 60 foot powerboat at 50 knots through a crowded Solent without any qualifications or assessment at all.

It is easy to sympathise with that view, but there is little reason to think that such a qualification would deter miscreants. We only have to see how people drive on the roads to see that. I would be happy if boats could be more readily identifiable. Sailing boats mostly have a sail number in view but I have rarely been able to see the name of one of the Morphy-Richards steaming by. More importantly, the introduction of bureaucracy into our sport is not something most people want.

 

[wonkywinch]

... the name of one of the Morphy-Richards steaming by ...

You reminded me ..