Drag anchor?

Anyone who says they have not dragged an anchor has either never anchored or is a liar!

Years ago I read an article about a hurricane that went through a harbor in Mexico with mostly anchored boats. The boats that came through the best has 2 anchors on ONE chain. Evidently they attached a second anchor some distance back from the primary which acted like a kettle and adding some holding on its own.

And the point you are trying to make with your second post on forum.

Thank you Polaris - a nice little tidbit of information !

A couple thoughts. Two anchors on one rode does not work better unless your primary anchor sucks. Im not going to research the exact reference material-I don’t have the time, but the basic jist is that a second anchor, or kettle, prevents the primary anchor from functioning properly (burying itself, resetting, etc). Your primary anchor should be your “storm” anchor. Definitely have a second anchor-in case you loose your primary.

There is some anecdotal evidence the 2 anchors on one chain is a storm worthy concept.

However the statement that anyone who has never drug anchor is a liar assumes so much that their post is neither noteworthy or even reasonable.

Some people anchor a lot but never in areas frequented by powerful storms. I have been cruising and living aboard for much of my adult life and have followed the simple rule of not getting caught by bad weather in areas with limited options to avoid the worst of a storm. I also picked ground tackle and anchorages that were not affected by short duration or less than "powerful" storms.

I get that there are far and distant cruisers that don't/didn't have the same options as me...but then again, I made the conscious decision to not place myself in that position.

Never drug? Nope, but been aground a ton...you bet. A lot of groundings happened probing anchorages no one else dare go but in skiffs that were plenty sheltered form all but really bad storms.

psneeld said:

However the statement that anyone who has never drug anchor is a liar assumes so much that their post is neither noteworthy or even reasonable.

Some people anchor a lot but never in areas frequented by powerful storms. I have been cruising and living aboard for much of my adult life and have followed the simple rule of not getting caught by bad weather in areas with limited options to avoid the worst of a storm. I also picked ground tackle and anchorages that were not affected by short duration or less than "powerful" storms.

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Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performances.

Ted

While I agree with myself and Ted too..... don't get me wrong...there are plenty of opportunities to drag for the average cruiser. As the old saying goes...."there but the grace of God goes I"

Heck, most here discuss the 1000 ways to properly anchor. I laugh my a** off. At any time at anchor, your anchor is seconds from breaking free unless you dive it and inspect it thoroughly. Been there... done that in various ways.

Even backing down can lessen your security versus ensuring its solidity.

So the best solution of all is to depend on the weakest possible situation by picking an anchorage that provides HUGE protection (usually scary as it is shallow and narrow) or be a coward like me and head for a marina in a good spot and good infrastructure to tie up to.

I do anchor regularly, and my boat has only seen a mooring ball one time. While I have never dragged I have had "failure to set" on occasion. My first anchoring challenge was in my sailboat. We were anchoring in a small cove only protected by a reef from the Pacific Ocean. There was another sailboat anchored already and this was my first anchoring experience. We entered intending to put out two anchors like the first boat. I threw a stern hook off near the beach and headed out towards the reef. Dropped the main and pulled back and set. I looked at the boat next to me and they were shaking their heads "NO". Sure enough I started drifting too close. So, I pulled it all up, went around again and this time dropped the main first then the stern. I got settled and looked the the boat again. They were shaking their heads "NO". I began drifting into the cliffs to starboard. I pulled everything up again, went back the the first plan, adjusted my location, dropped the stern then the main, got set and the other boat gave me the thumbs up. Then I put on mask snorkel and fins and went to look at my anchor. It was a Danforth and while it felt solid on the boat, it had only its points grabbing a crack in a large flat rock. So I was able to get slack and swim it out to sand and set it by hand. Whew.

So my buddy has the same boat, new to him. We looked at marking the depths on his chain and the method I told him about from this forum was to weave colored line in the chain. He bought the line but it was going to take so long to go through the 420' of chain he decided to paint. Well the problem came that he took a group out to Catalina Island for the 4th and couldn't get a mooring ball. So he tried to anchor but he didn't really know how much chain he was putting out. So, now the group was at dinner and the Coast Guard calls him, "Sir are you the captain of the ">>>>" Your boat is adrift. Holey crap. Luckily he was drifting out to sea rather into anyone else. Oh boy.

Kellet

RickyD said:

I do anchor regularly, and my boat has only seen a mooring ball one time. While I have never dragged I have had "failure to set" on occasion.

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I call it "relocated to..." in my logbook. And no you may not see how many times I have done that. Each time however I have shortly thereafter upsized my anchor. Now, at 33 pounds (Rocna) and all chain (1/4" G4) I seem to stay put.

Once however I upsized my chain. That failed. I was gifted 25' of 3/8" chain and the chain was too heavy for my anchor at the time. I could not get my anchor to set. It was as they say a noble effort with not-so-good results.

On a Fourth of July week-end, we anchored, fore and aft, (as required) in the only "all weather" anchorage on Catalina Island, Cat Harbor. On the third day, we broke loose and wound up against another boat, whose crew helped us. We recovered both anchors and headed back to the mainland, as the harbor was too crowded to attempt another anchoring. Did not enjoy that night crossing back to San Pedro.