Bay Pelican
Moderator Emeritus
Just an observation without any scientific study or claim that it settles any issue.
Yesterday was the second time this season that a partial rope rode broke on an anchored boat of close friends of mine. There were 30kt plus winds.
The first occasion was a month ago and the couple were aboard but sleeping. Through good fortune they missed the reef by a boat length and woke up to find themselves at the edge of the bay and surrounded by dinghies coming to the rescue.
Yesterday the couple were in town when their rode broke, fortunately it was during the day and a neighboring boat put out an alarm on the VHF radio. When I boarded their boat (after playing cowboy with a half mile high speed dinghy ride) I found that the rode had split 20 feet from the boat and thus the boat was not attached to the anchor.
After a half hour and with the help of several others who boarded the boat we anchored the boat using the boat's backup anchor and rode and gerrymandered a bridle.
What is important to me is that of a couple of dozen cruising boats in our circle of friends these two boats are the only two boats that use a partial rope rode. In both cases these are long time competent cruisers who anchor out more than 180 days a year.
Yesterday was the second time this season that a partial rope rode broke on an anchored boat of close friends of mine. There were 30kt plus winds.
The first occasion was a month ago and the couple were aboard but sleeping. Through good fortune they missed the reef by a boat length and woke up to find themselves at the edge of the bay and surrounded by dinghies coming to the rescue.
Yesterday the couple were in town when their rode broke, fortunately it was during the day and a neighboring boat put out an alarm on the VHF radio. When I boarded their boat (after playing cowboy with a half mile high speed dinghy ride) I found that the rode had split 20 feet from the boat and thus the boat was not attached to the anchor.
After a half hour and with the help of several others who boarded the boat we anchored the boat using the boat's backup anchor and rode and gerrymandered a bridle.
What is important to me is that of a couple of dozen cruising boats in our circle of friends these two boats are the only two boats that use a partial rope rode. In both cases these are long time competent cruisers who anchor out more than 180 days a year.
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