Anchoring Woes

[davidpm]

At about 4 PM Tues
June 9, 2009 I was at the following location on my first charter.

N39 06.161
W76 12.961

I was on a Lippincott 30 about the same as a Catalina 30.

As you can see I'm in the Grays Inn Creek a common anchorage all mud.
The main difference was that there was one of the worst thunderstorm anyone ever remembered. Trees were down, electricity was out and the wind was reported at 62 MPH.

My problem was I could not get the danforth type, maybe 20 lbs, anchor to stick. I would drop it over let out the scope, all I had maybe 60' in 12' of water and I could just pull it in.

The anchor did have a significant bend in the shaft right at the head of the anchor. At first I thought it was bent enough that the blades would not drop through but would catch on the shank. On checking it was really bent but the tines seemed to drop through. The next day I tried using the anchor again in calm conditions but still it would not catch.

Is there any special anchoring trick I should have used?

There was only about 4 feet of chain.
All I did was let it down over the side and let out scope as the boat was blown back. I had help at the helm the first three times but after that I was on my own as it was pretty blustery.

Out of five tries on two days I was only able to get it to catch once.

[sailortjk1]

Chain should be about one boat length or at a very minimum 1/2 a boat length. Your also short on scope; 12 feet of water, I would be looking for more like 85 feet, for those conditions probably more like 10:1 or 120 feet.
Another factor, its a Danforth, not the best choice in my opinion. They are notorious for not setting or resetting.

[Craig Smith]

Isn't it obvious? The anchor is damaged. It's not built that way to start with, for a reason. A bent shank means uneven load and almost guaranteed roll-instability. You might say your anchor is trying to chase its tail

The scope is marginal, assuming your 60' figure is correct (you say "maybe"), and is it 12' of depth or 12' to the sea-bed from the roller (which is how high off the water?).

Dump the damaged Danforth, replace it with something decent, and next time maximize the scope up to about 8:1 [counting from the roller height] if possible.

[saildork]

David, it sounds like you need a new anchor. With a bent shank, the anchor flukes will be dragging sideways along the bottom. The pointy ends of the flukes won't get a chance to grab the bottom to dig in. Also, as TJK states, you need more rode and a bit more chain, too. Remember, in 12 ft. of water, your deck is probably at least 15 ft above the bottom. Therefore 60 ft of chain/rode gives you a scope of only 4:1. Not at all adequate in windy conditions.

[Mc51]

I had a similar thing happen one time. My son and I were out n about 35 knot winds one night. Sailed into a cove and found a sandbar. Our old outboard had decided that it didn't want to run that day. I went to the bow and tossed the achchor out to pull the bow around and pulll us off the bar. I threw it out four times and it wouldn't catch. In the dark a couldn't see that the pin that braces the tines of the anchor was broken which caused the blades to have the wrong angle to catch. It was bad luck that every time I pulled it up the blades were flipped the other ay and every thing looked fine, but when it hit the bottom it was on the other side. I finally saw what was going on the forth time I pulled it in. I beat the pin out of it with a crosstip screw driver and hammer. I put the screwdiver shaft through and bent the end of the screwdriver shaft so it wouldn't come out. I worked fine after the field expedient repair. I wasn't real pround of it hanging on the anchor bracket when we sailed into the marina a few days later with a red handled screwdriver sticking out of it but it was better than spending the night on a sandbar.

[davidpm]

Like I said it was a charter boat. I'm pretty sure it was equipment not operator error but since I haven't anchored much was just checking.

The charter guy didn't seem too impressed with my story. Said the boat was chartered almost every week for three years with no complaints about the anchor.
I said, Yea but it might have been the last guy that bent it.

[AdamLein]

You guys seem to have missed that this is a charter. This vessel was seriously ill-equipped. 60' of rode is enough for a short stop in calm weather. In 12' of water plus 4' freeboard, in a storm you want 160' of rode minimum. Also, I'd say your hook was too light for the boat.

Next time you charter, inspect the ground tackle before you go out. Danforth isn't a popular anchor on this forum, but it seems popular enough in all the marinas I've been to. Mine is also too small, but it holds in good weather. You probably want 30# or 35# for a 30' boat.

Basically I'd say the charter company is cutting corners here.

[LarryandSusanMacDonald]

There has been much discussion over the years about anchors and anchoring methods. And there are those who can anchor, and stay put, with the same equipment with which someone else furrows the bottom all night long. Of course, equipment has something to do with it - you have to have a functioning anchor large enough for your vessel, enough chain and enough scope. The rest is technique.

Saltwater Suzi and I have anchored successfully for many years, in all kinds of conditions, high winds, reversing currents, mud bottoms, sand bottoms, rocky bottoms. We have a method which works for us. I'm not saying that it is the only method, or even the best method. I'm only saying that it works for us.

We've got a page about it on our website, The Frugal Mariner. Here's the link: http://www.frugal-mariner.com/Anchoring.html.

At the bottom of the page there are two buttons to click to take you to an article about Bahamian Mooring and about Rock and Roll - what to do when the wind is holding you in one direction but the waves are pounding you on the side. Hope this helps.

[sailingdog]

I'd think that the charter company would be more interested in taking action, since if you and your family got injured chartering a boat with insufficient/inadequate ground tackle, it'd be their fault. Personally, I don't go out on boats that have inadequate ground tackle if I can avoid it. Good ground tackle is definitely required for safety's sake at a minimum.

[noelex77]

Originally Posted by LarryandSusanMacDonald

There has been much discussion over the years about anchors and anchoring methods. And there are those who can anchor, and stay put, with the same equipment with which someone else furrows the bottom all night long. Of course, equipment has something to do with it - you have to have a functioning anchor large enough for your vessel, enough chain and enough scope. The rest is technique.

I have seen many yachts try an anchor, with a technique that has no hope of working, but at least with some bottom types I believe there are also anchors which have almost no hope of working no matter what the technique.
It is discouraging to see a yacht try to anchor with good technique 6 to 7 times with no success. Sometimes they leave (and many of the anchorages in the area have a similar bottom type). More often they simply give up putting any reverse pressure on the anchor and unfortunately will drag when the wind rises.
In the anchorage I am in tonight ( I have seen about 30 anchors). I have not seen one plough anchor set. There is only one Bruce anchor reasonably set. These sort of statistics are repeated every day.
My anchor is burred. Why ? Good technique ? Yes I use that, but I have seen many boats use the same methods, but with different anchors (reptadly) with no success. A charter boat near me with a terrible technique, but the same anchor, has also ended up with a good set.
Experience and good technique wont make up for a bad anchor.