Single handed anchoring without windlass - advice for novice

[langstonelayabout]

Definitely practical without a winch or windlass of any kind.

For years I've 'handraulically' anchored my 27' boat with a 10kg Bruce anchor and 30m of 8mm chain. No problems, although sometimes it takes a tug to get it out of the ground.

Don't be afraid.

 

[john_morris_uk]

I really don't think this is suitable advice to a novice, there are reasons most people don't drop anchor like this.
If you are using all chain then there's a very good chance that you will rake the topsides around the bow with a tight piece of chain.
If you are using a rope/chain mix then there is a good possibility of wrapping the warp round your keel.
You may well be putting a shock load onto your bollard/cleat. Not to mention the distinct possibility of losing a finger or two if you are slow at making fast.

It may look spectacular but it's not good seamanship except in very particular circumstances.

I don't often disagree violently with posters but this is one such time.

Part of seamanship is about doing things in such a way that you DON'T risk losing your finger etc.

The whole evolution shouldn't look spectacular IMHO. It should be matter of fact, normal and done with dignified control.

Most people don't do this because most boats don't anchor in my experience. I'm discovering more and more people who can't stand the thought of dropping their anchor and going to bed for a few hours or overnight. Yet this used to be standard practice. What on earth has happened to sailors...?

 

[RichardS]

It's a pity that you prematurely curtailed Minn's quote as it continues "His technique for weighing anchor was to use a pair of chain hooks and a line to one of the primary windlasses."

Confirmation, if ever it were needed, that "with a 25kg anchor and 10mm chain like I have, you can forget manual anchoring"

Richard

 

[[70521]]

I was taught never to put a hand near an outgoing chain - control it with your foot to end the day with a complete set of fingers.
The required scope should be made fast before dropping, either with a chain hook or wrapped around a cleat. Never 'figure-of-eight' a chain on a cleat, it will require a hacksaw to remove.

Interesting. I've always been able to control the speed the chain was paid out with hand over hand sat on the deck but have only done this on boats up to 10 tonnes. The thought of being tripped up by a uncontrolled outgoing chain and going over the side single handed does not appeal.

 

[alahol2]

Guess how you'll lie - other boats are a good guide - and approach 180^o degrees from that (ie if everyone is lying to the wind, approach your spot from dead upwind - at walking speed. If you a re motoring, go into neutral as you approach your spot, then stroll forward. As you pass the spot, lower the anchor until you feel it hit the bottom, then let out twice as much chain again. When the anchor digs in the bows will swing round and you'll end up where you want to be. I call this the "handbrake turn" method.

I really don't think this is suitable advice to a novice, there are reasons most people don't drop anchor like this.
If you are using all chain then there's a very good chance that you will rake the topsides around the bow with a tight piece of chain.
If you are using a rope/chain mix then there is a good possibility of wrapping the warp round your keel.
You may well be putting a shock load onto your bollard/cleat. Not to mention the distinct possibility of losing a finger or two if you are slow at making fast.

It may look spectacular but it's not good seamanship except in very particular circumstances.

I don't often disagree violently with posters but this is one such time.

Part of seamanship is about doing things in such a way that you DON'T risk losing your finger etc.

The whole evolution shouldn't look spectacular IMHO. It should be matter of fact, normal and done with dignified control.

Most people don't do this because most boats don't anchor in my experience. I'm discovering more and more people who can't stand the thought of dropping their anchor and going to bed for a few hours or overnight. Yet this used to be standard practice. What on earth has happened to sailors...?

Firstly, the original Jumbleduck quote was addressed to a self confessed novice trying to gain enough confidence to anchor. I would contest that a 'handbrake turn' is hardly for the tyro.
I think just about every other poster here has suggested motoring slowly upwind/current to the spot, letting go the anchor and allowing the boat to drop back. That seems to me to be the obvious and 'normal' way to drop anchor, especially until you are confident.
I can't think of many situations where approaching downwind/downtide would be the sensible way to anchor, particularly if it involves a 'handbrake turn', for the reasons I've given.

Just for information we anchor maybe 95% of nights we are out and have been doing so for the last (nearly) 40 years, so for us this is standard practice.

 

[Humblebee]

Lots of good advice above, only comment I would add is about raising the anchor. Unless it is blowing a hoolie, and a bit of engine power is needed, I can pull in chain until it is more or less vertical. I can't usually dislodge the anchor itself by hand power so I cleat the chain off and give the boat a short burst ahead - this dislodges the anchor and I can then pull it up by hand.
Happy anchoring!

 

[JumbleDuck]

Firstly, the original Jumbleduck quote was addressed to a self confessed novice trying to gain enough confidence to anchor. I would contest that a 'handbrake turn' is hardly for the tyro.

Done suitably slowly, as I suggested, it is an undramatic and gentle way of anchoring.

I think just about every other poster here has suggested motoring slowly upwind/current to the spot, letting go the anchor and allowing the boat to drop back. That seems to me to be the obvious and 'normal' way to drop anchor, especially until you are confident.

It's a perfectly good way if you anchor under engine, though it works best with someone at each end of the boat. Under sail, or alone, I prefer the handbrake turn when there is room. It's very little fuss and you end up with the anchor well dug in.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Lots of good advice above, only comment I would add is about raising the anchor. Unless it is blowing a hoolie, and a bit of engine power is needed, I can pull in chain until it is more or less vertical. I can't usually dislodge the anchor itself by hand power so I cleat the chain off and give the boat a short burst ahead - this dislodges the anchor and I can then pull it up by hand.
Happy anchoring!

The trick with hauling in the anchor is to work with the movement of the boat. Pull in when the bow is going down and/or forwards.

 

[Poignard]

As Eric Hiscock points out in one of his excellent books, a pawl makes getting the anchor much easier

 

[NormanS]

It's interesting to see how many people, presumably with sailing yachts, simply would not consider anchoring under sail. In suitable conditions, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the method described by Jumbleduck, or by rounding up under sail, dropping (not lowering) the anchor, then falling back while paying out chain.
I am another who is horrified by the idea of letting chain out hand over hand. When I had a smaller yacht with no windlass, the navel pipe was a 90° elbow, and between it and the bow roller, I fixed down a 3" strip of brass, over which the chain slid, controlled by my booted foot.

 

[lw395]

'Dropping' the anchor sometimes causes it to foul, when the chain lands on top of it.
I've seen it done many times with the Danforths we use for racing marks.

I completely agree that great care is required with chain and your fingers.
To some extent also true of rope.

Anchoring under sail, normally roll the genoa away, head to wind and anchor down as the boat starts to fall back. Back the main a bit and the anchor will dig in well enough and at least it's all aligned in the right direction.

 

[Kukri]

Done suitably slowly, as I suggested, it is an undramatic and gentle way of anchoring.

It's a perfectly good way if you anchor under engine, though it works best with someone at each end of the boat. Under sail, or alone, I prefer the handbrake turn when there is room. It's very little fuss and you end up with the anchor well dug in.

In defence of Jumbleduck, I anchored this way for many years with the last boat (38ft gaff cutter, 12mm chain 45lbs CQR) and it can be so un-dramatic that Frank Holden of this forum once looked up and asked “are we anchored yet?”

I will defer to John Morris as to whether it is practical with the new boat.

Incidentally a propos lw395 above, the standard technique with a CQR, but not with a Danforth, is indeed to dump a pile of chain on the anchor. This is recommended by Hiscock. The idea is that the boat pulls out the chain and snatches the anchor into the ground, because a CQR cannot foul on its own chain. A Danforth can, and will (don’t ask me how I know this...)

 

[JumbleDuck]

I am another who is horrified by the idea of letting chain out hand over hand.

I regularly lower chain by hand, but only in shallow water (I'm quite happy in 2m at low tide) and in fairly calm conditions. Using the (slow) handbrake turn method I can feel when the anchor touches bottom and when it digs in, which is nice. Any deeper, faster or windier and I drop the lot and let it sort itself out.

 

[Poignard]

In defence of Jumbleduck, I anchored this way for many years with the last boat (38ft gaff cutter, 12mm chain 45lbs CQR) and it can be so un-dramatic that Frank Holden of this forum once looked up and asked “are we anchored yet?”

I will defer to John Morris as to whether it is practical with the new boat.

Incidentally a propos lw395 above, the standard technique with a CQR, but not with a Danforth, is indeed to dump a pile of chain on the anchor. This is recommended by Hiscock. The idea is that the boat pulls out the chain and snatches the anchor into the ground, because a CQR cannot foul on its own chain. A Danforth can, and will (don’t ask me how I know this...)

See Eric Hiscock anchoring in his video (at 40 minutes and 1 hour 6 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_RHHIV4u1k

 

[lw395]

Another point.
Single handed, I'd consider anchoring with the kedge tackle that normally lives below decks.
it's in one ofthose big plastic tubs. When we needed to kedge while racing, we'd normally drop the anchor from the cockpit, having led the rode outside everything to the bow roller.
Depending on the situation, not wasting time or risking tripping moving from tiller to bow might be helpful?
Same as I lead a line back and pick up a mooring from the cockpit if s/h and the wind or current is tricky.

 

[Kukri]

See Eric Hiscock anchoring in his video (at 40 minutes and 1 hour 6 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_RHHIV4u1k

Exactly. That video shows precisely “how to anchor without a windlass”! Note the lighterman’s hitch round the Samson post with the chain - secure, cannot jam. And the use of the fathom of rope spliced into the eye at the back of the CQR as recommended by its inventor, Professor Sir Geoffrey Taylor, FRS, to pick it up and get it over the side at less risk to back and fingers.

(Damnable Spillchequer in the Iphone always wants to know best and the evil little imp often slides in its own “correction” without telling me... “spilled” for “spliced”...)

 

[Poignard]

Exactly. That video shows precisely “how to anchor without a windlass”! Note the lighterman’s hitch round the Samson post with the chain - secure, cannot jam. And the use of the fathom of rope spilled into the eye at the back of the CQR as recommended by its inventor, Professor Sir Geoffrey Taylor, FRS, to pick it up and get it over the side at less risk to back and fingers.

Yes, I have that fathom of rope attached to mine. Very useful.
Good to see him and his wife handling their boat in such a relaxed and competent manner; no fuss, no shouting. That's how it should be. (I wish it was like that on my boat )

 

[ghostlymoron]

What a fantastic film - I'd no idea that the Hiscocks had any video footage. I've not watched it all yet I'm saving it for a rainy day. I have the book 'Cruising under sail' which I dip into now and then for pearls of wisdom from someone who has actually done it.

See Eric Hiscock anchoring in his video (at 40 minutes and 1 hour 6 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_RHHIV4u1k

 

[webcraft]

I am another who is horrified by the idea of letting chain out hand over hand. When I had a smaller yacht with no windlass, the navel pipe was a 90° elbow, and between it and the bow roller, I fixed down a 3" strip of brass, over which the chain slid, controlled by my booted foot.

I've paid out chain hand over hand on my Albin Vega for 15 years. However, it is easy to stop the chain as it comes ovr the windlass gypsy (windlass does not and has never worked, although the freefall bit worked for a year)

Now I have another boat - a bit bigger and heavier - with no windlass at all and intend paying out chain hand over hand, but don't know what 'system' I am going to use yet. I don;t thinkn it is inherently dangerous, but you do need to think about it and have some way of easily snubbing the chain. (I have experienced a runaway chain on another boat with a working windlass when the chain jumped the gypsy).

Personally I am getting a bit old for all this and would like a windlass on both boats as soon as finances permit. I think it is OK though up to 15Kg and 8mm chain. IN fact, retrieval difficulty can often (up here anyway) be a matter of how much kelp is on the anchor rather than the actual weight of the tackle.

- W

 

[lw395]

Paying out chain by hand is one thing.
Retrieving it by hand when you want to leave in a hurry because the wind has turned and you're suddenly in 2ft waves is more serious. I'd be far happier dealing with rope until the achor is aweigh.