What to do when the anchor drags in an onshore wind?

[Polly1]

Last summer I gained most of my anchoring experience on a trip to Tioman island The anchorages were not great, it was hard to get near the beaches as the shallow water had coral and then it often dropped off to over 10m so often anchoring in 15m, sand I guess. On the way up the coast I had one night with a strong offshore wind in the night. It kept me up watching the anchor alarm and gps track but the holding was good mud in about 6m. I figured that the boat would blow away from the hazardous shore, as the anchor went into deeper water the drag would worsen and unpleasant as it would have been we would just have gone for an un expected night sail, a short fetch should have made the sea conditions reasonable.
I have been thinking about the other way around, which didn’t occur fortunately but what do you do when the anchor starts to drag onshore?
Start the engine to reduce the strain on the anchor. If that won’t hold the boat then it must be too windy to make progress into the wind with the engine so get some small amounts of sail up and try to sail away from the shore? I have no idea if my boat would make progress into wind in those conditions.
Or do you hope that as the anchor drags into the shallower water that it will catch and hold before the boat hits a rock, but then it is 50m or so further away.

 

[davidej]

If the wind turns onshore and you are not sure of the holding, pull it up and find somewhere else.

 

[duncan99210]

If your anchor's dragging on a lee shore then you really need to be thinking about getting of the lee shore. Start the motor, get the anchor up and motor away: if the motors not capable of making progress straight into the wind, then head off at an angle somewhat across the wind.

If for some reason you can't move away, get the kedge anchor out if at all possible by dinghy. If you can't use the dinghy then drop it anyhow and veer more chain on the bower until both anchors hold.

 

[Kukri]

If your anchor's dragging on a lee shore then you really need to be thinking about getting of the lee shore. Start the motor, get the anchor up and motor away: if the motors not capable of making progress straight into the wind, then head off at an angle somewhat across the wind.

If for some reason you can't move away, get the kedge anchor out if at all possible by dinghy. If you can't use the dinghy then drop it anyhow and veer more chain on the bower until both anchors hold.

That is not what I have done and will do again. It’s best to sail the anchor out even if you have the engine available. The manoeuvre is in all the old books but is not covered in the “RYA Yachtmaster” course. Briefly:

Set the reefed mainsail - sheeted in - and no more headsail than she needs for balance. Lash the helm if single handed.. Back the headsail to give her a sheer, let it draw and get the chain - until she snubs it and tacks. You may or may not need to bring the headsail over - my old gaff cutter would be happy to keep going fwith it backed; present masthead sloop less so. Keep getting chain in - it will come in easily - until she snubs and tacks again. This tack will bring you over the anchor. She will break it out. Rattle the chain home and you are off.

You can of course keep the engine on as you sail the anchor out but it need only be at low revs.

You can do this single handed if you lash the helm.

This is simple safe and reliable and should be practised just as often as MOB drill. It’s basic safety. Practice it - it’s easy and may save your life.

 

[RupertW]

It seems a lot of hassle compared to just motoring slowing towards the anchor, taking up slack as you go. I can imagine no circumstances that I would want to get the main up and do all that tacking except as a fun exercise in nice weather (and I have done it then).

 

[Cockaigne]

That is not what I have done and will do again. It’s best to sail the anchor out even if you have the engine available. The manoeuvre is in all the old books but is not covered in the “RYA Yachtmaster” course. Briefly:

Set the reefed mainsail - sheeted in - and no more headsail than she needs for balance. Lash the helm if single handed.. Back the headsail to give her a sheer, let it draw and get the chain - until she snubs it and tacks. You may or may not need to bring the headsail over - my old gaff cutter would be happy to keep going fwith it backed; present masthead sloop less so. Keep getting chain in - it will come in easily - until she snubs and tacks again. This tack will bring you over the anchor. She will break it out. Rattle the chain home and you are off.

You can of course keep the engine on as you sail the anchor out but it need only be at low revs.

You can do this single handed if you lash the helm.

This is simple safe and reliable and should be practised just as often as MOB drill. It’s basic safety. Practice it - it’s easy and may save your life.

Excellent! :encouragement:

 

[Balbas]

It seems a lot of hassle compared to just motoring slowing towards the anchor, taking up slack as you go. I can imagine no circumstances that I would want to get the main up and do all that tacking except as a fun exercise in nice weather (and I have done it then).

Modern engines are quite reliable. But there's a law (by many names) that says that things go wrong at the worst of times. You're already being blown ashore on a dragging anchor, things are already going wrong, so it would probably be prudent to stack the cards in your favour. Even if the sails weren't up, I'd like to think that I'd have them ready to go at a moment's notice (with a crew and given sea room), or I'd use them as primary propulsion with the engine ticking over if shorthanded or if there was limited sea room.

But then I have a dinghy and sail onto and off my anchor all the time.

 

[Kukri]

It seems a lot of hassle compared to just motoring slowing towards the anchor, taking up slack as you go. I can imagine no circumstances that I would want to get the main up and do all that tacking except as a fun exercise in nice weather (and I have done it then).

I don't want to come over as an Old Salt but..

Honestly, in a rising onshore wind it is much less hassle. You can do it single handed.

It's easier to set sail when you are still anchored. Once you start tacking up to the anchor there is no load on the chain - you just rattle it in, with no load on, until it comes taut and she tacks. The boat does not jump about so much. When the anchor breaks out you are already sailing away from danger.

 

[neil_s]

I'd go with Minn on this one - motoring slowly up to the anchor is easy to say but not easy to do. You will end up 'missing' the anchor, with the chain going off at right angles and it will either jam in the chain roller or jump out and lock itself around your forestay.

To answer the OP's question, though, anchoring on a lee shore is something you would only do with some serious pre-planning, checking of weather forecast, tide, escape route plotted on the chart, anchor watch, comes to mind. You would also carefully lay the anchor in good holding ground with sufficient chain out and give it a bit of a tug to make sure the anchor is 'set'. If it does drag you must not mess about - get the boat sailing to safety, even if this means going to sea when you didn't want to! (escape route plan) Might be best to just let the chain go rather than risk blowing ashore while you try and recover it.

 

[zoidberg]

Do not forget the option of 'cut and run'....

Should a violent squall overwhelm your 'best-laid plans', having eased out more chain and still not holding, then your boat and the people in her are all at risk. So, make very sure you can make to windward where the anchor is lying by using the sails - as per Minn's good advice - and/or using the engine as well. Certainly, have both available.

Should that fail to do the trick sufficiently quickly, then clip a buoy/fender 'outside everything' onto the chain with enough line to reach the surface, then run out ALL the chain and cut the long cord attaching the chain's bitter end to the chain locker. The boat is now free, so take her somewhere safer - and come back for your 'marked' tackle when conditions quieten down.

 

[RupertW]

I feel I’m in a parallel universe - motoring up to an anchor is not just easy, it’s normal practice everywhere I’ve been for everyone I’ve ever seen except sailing schools teaching how to sail up.

But it does make me think I ought to practice it again sometime as I do agree Sod’s law says one day the anchor will drag after the wind turns onshore and I won’t be able to instantly start the engine. Just hope I’ll have the few minutes needed to get the main up.

 

[Kukri]

We may be at cross purposes. The rest of us are talking about getting away from what has become a lee shore in a rising wind.

We are not talking about getting your anchor in fine weather after a picnic on the beach.

There is nothing at all easy about motoring straight into a short, breaking head sea in a rising gale. The boat pitches violently, the bows are repeatedly blown off from your intended heading, the rudder can only use prop wash for effect because the forward motion is so slow,, the prop pitches out of the water and races and anything loose in the cabin finds itself a new home.

Whilst coping with this, you have to get your anchor up, unless you take Zoidberg’s sound advice and buoy and slip it, in which case you haven’t got it.

 

[Yngmar]

Oh, I know this one, because I participated in this very exercise when the sea-breeze blew into Cala Tarida today. What you do is, you wake up from your nap and realize your boat has dragged anchor and been saved from hitting the rocks by a conveniently deployed line of yellow buoys that demarcate the swimming zone of the beach. They're connected with lines with small floats on them, which are now thoroughly tangled in your keel, propeller and rudder. Two other boats in the anchorage spotted your trouble around the same time, one rowing over in the dinghy and the other swimming over in fins and goggles, offering to help. Bit of a language barrier, but some gesticulating later the dinghy guy rows back to his boat to get his kedge anchor, rows it out and gives you the rode to put on a winch so you can haul yourself away from the beach. The other guy then untangles the buoys and line from under your boat (after getting you to turn your engine off). You winch your boat away a bit, the final big yellow buoy is pulled back under your boat to the other side and you're now free.

At this point things got a bit confusing, but eventually everyone got their anchors back in order and boat re-anchored safely. Then you offer the two helpers some of your nice french wine in your cockpit and share some stories (language barrier fading with help of wine). I was one of the helpers, so excuse my rambling

What I would do is either sit it out, knowing I've anchored sufficiently for the conditions, which we did. Swell gets a bit uncomfortable, but you know it's just a sea-breeze and will fade away before sunset.

If it's not just an afternoon sea-breeze, or too much swell is building, you'd typically want to pick up anchor and go somewhere else anyways (or go sail, if nowhere is available). If the engine doesn't start, we'll have to sail off. When we're onboard, the key is always in the ignition and sails are ready to be unfurled (no hammocks or other clutter in the way). We don't usually motor up to the anchor, we just pull in chain and the boat willingly moves up until the anchor breaks out and comes up. I think once or twice in winds over 25 knots we had to help a bit with the motor.

 

[mattonthesea]

I'm with Minn on this one - plus I usually have the sail ready to go when at anchor. Halyard attached and through a sail tie.

 

[zoidberg]

Worth bearing in mind it doesn't just happen to other people. This is the view of the moorings and anchorage off Oban Sailing Club, in summer. Those who had gone ashore by dinghy couldn't get back.....

.....and had to watch.

 

[Neeves]

Its considered by some to show a lack of confidence in our ground tackle - but I'm a self proclaimed wimp and prudent with yacht and crew - but when we anchor over night, or for a long period:

Once the anchor is set and felt to be secure I then take a spare anchor (and we carry 2 spares both the same size as the primary, so they are all primary) from the deck locker and lay on the foredeck. I take out our spare rode, which is stored neatly coiled for instant deployment in a milk crate (connect rode to spare anchor).

Now we have never had our NG anchor drag needing the spare as urgent back up - but if the winds are to be 25/30 knots we would have deployed the second anchor before the wind reached 25 knots - because its difficult to deploy when the winds ARE 25 knot.

Now whether we need 2 anchors, really don't know - I don't see anything heroic about finding out!

In the grand scheme of things having 25/30 knot - in the anchorage - is unusual as it means there is no shelter (from wind). But I note Zoidbergs picture - and yes it does happen (and in that case - there seems to be some chop. I confess where we sail/cruise that sort of anchorage really does not exist - we might never see another yacht at sea and maybe having 10 yacht together would be a crowd. 'Our' anchorage tend to be very small, and even the large ones might only have - us.

The problem with the onshore wind is - does it allow development of increased wave action. If there are no waves and its only wind - good anchor(s) and good holding would cope. If there is wave action the anchors might hold but the crew might be the weak link - and then you need to bail out - lots of good advice above.

There is no 'right' answer to any of this - the armchair gurus don't have all the answers - how many of them can deploy a second anchor at the drop of a hat, how many have shore lines ready to deploy (with wire or chain strops)?

If you know and have invested in the options you at least have a choice.

There is no right way to anchor, there are lots of anchors and right ways to use them, think outside the box, lateral thinking - good modern management jargon - use it

Jonathan

 

[Uricanejack]

I think I said in another thread Ive not had a lot of trouble with anchors dragging. So not a heck of a lot of experience with dragging Anchors.
So not sure if I agree with Minn or not. I have never had to try it.
Dragged in a mobo so it wouldn't have worked.
My theory. If the anchor drags. Forget about extra rode or extra anchors. or even running motors to ease strain. ( I would until I was hauling)
Once the anchor has started to drag I wouldn't trust it.
Pick it up and re anchor in another spot, with more rode and possibly a 2nd anchor. Use Minns technique or just the motor as it pleases.

I often anchor off a lee shore. Particularly in round bays or lochs.

 

[Neeves]

Its quicker to deploy a second anchor than almost every other option, raising sails take time (and as you raise the sails you are drifting surprisingly quickly shorewards). You are usually drifting broadside on and this is the worst way to try to raise a main quickly. Engines have a habit of being slow to start - when you need immediacy.

Second anchors may not set when deployed in an emergency.

If you have 2 anchor deployed you would be most unlucky to have both drag at the same time.

You need all the options - ready - there is no one right way.

 

[RupertW]

Fascinating - I did get the context but still don't really buy it. A second anchor ready to deploy makes a lot of sense - we have one but don't take it (and it's short chain and long rope) out of the cockpit locker), so have added at least a minute, possibly more to deployment time.

But a decent engine will absolutely get you up to your anchor far more easily than hoisting the main and much much quicker. Proper stowage (which is just a habit) means I'm not worried about cabin stuff going adrift and I would be moving anchorage long long before the waves built up to anything that might trouble the engine at all. Wind may (and often does) get up to 30-40 knots almost instantly but waves take a bit longer. Main is always ready to go up just by unhooking the halyard at the mast and no sail ties are needed but pushing the engine button will always come first.

 

[lw395]

A second anchor is only going to help if it's at least as good as the first and you've got space to drop back onto it.
If the holding is poor and your best anchor is already dragging, then if you anticipate the wind or sea risng, the only option is to leave while you can.
OTOH, last time I dragged an anchor, the problem was that the anchor had fouled on some seabed rubbish and weed, a second anchor would have held I expect.
Most boats I've sailed, to make progress into the kind of conditions where dragging is likely, I'd want some sails up.
So, engine on, main up with two reefs, a fraction of jib. Basically what Minn says with the motor in reserve. Unless there is not space to veer off to either side, in which case just motor towardsthe anchor asbest you can. Few of the boats I've sailed have windlasses or lots of chain, so it's going to be wet and horrid on the foredeck and the crew/helm is going to need to understand what I'm aiming to do and when to let the boat tack. Agree some hand signals?

If things get out of shape, definitely be prepared to buoy the anchor. In the limit, it's no great loss if it didn't work anyway.