Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also. -Carlos Gustav Jung
Among most boaters there is a continual debate over whether to use all chain anchor rode or a combination of some chain and rope. If your only anchoring is the occasional afternoon fishing or for a short dive, than the ease of needing to haul only a line and the attached anchor back on board makes plenty of sense. However, if like us you are usually anchoring for the night or for several nights, than all chain rode is the only way to go.
It was 1994 and my buddy Wes and I were heading down to the Islands through the Intracoastal Waterway in our Chrysler 26 daysailer. With the enthusiasm and naive energy of a couple of guys in their early 20's with very little sailing experience, we headed down the muddy ditch with visions of crystal clear water in our future. 'Vagabond' was a centerboard boat with a flip up rudder and could travel through 2-1/2 feet of water, although we usually left the centerboard partially down so that if we ran aground we could just crank it back up and get off the bottom. Early on in our trip we anchored for the night out of the channel along the edge of a river somewhere in North Carolina. Wes had been determined to have an extra large anchor aboard, and by God we had one, a big heavy son-of-a-gun with about 20 feet of chain and nice, thick 3/4 inch line to run back to the boat.
At some point during the night while we were sleeping soundly, the kind of sleep you have when resting comfortably on a nice big anchor, we awoke to the sounds of the hull bang, bang, banging against something solid. Flying out to the cockpit, we discovered that we had somehow, inexplicably, drug our anchor and were in the weeds alongside the bank of the river. We both immediately took to our roles without a word, Wes firing up the outboard and me rushing to the bow to retrieve the anchor. The line pulled in surprisingly easy, too easy, and after hauling in only 10 feet I reached the line's frayed bitter end!! Later, we deduced that the boat had swung, wrapping the line around the centerboard and chafed through the rope, setting us adrift. The immediate concern was to re-anchor, but we were both feeling a little confused and unfamiliar with exactly where we were. The surroundings outside just didn't appear to be anything like where we had anchored a few hours earlier. After finally getting back into the channel and finding a marker, we were still confused when we looked at the chart. It took us a few moments to realize what had happened. We had drifted almost 3 miles down the river in the dark while we were both asleep!!! Fortunately, no barges ran us down, we didn't run into any other anchored boats, no docks or pilings in the way, just a nice mild landing in the mud and reeds. Several miles away, as luck would have it, along our intended path to the South!!!
So while it may be a little more work to haul back aboard, and it does add quite a bit more weight in the bow of the boat, we will always use an all chain rode for the primary anchor on board Felix.
Among most boaters there is a continual debate over whether to use all chain anchor rode or a combination of some chain and rope. If your only anchoring is the occasional afternoon fishing or for a short dive, than the ease of needing to haul only a line and the attached anchor back on board makes plenty of sense. However, if like us you are usually anchoring for the night or for several nights, than all chain rode is the only way to go.
It was 1994 and my buddy Wes and I were heading down to the Islands through the Intracoastal Waterway in our Chrysler 26 daysailer. With the enthusiasm and naive energy of a couple of guys in their early 20's with very little sailing experience, we headed down the muddy ditch with visions of crystal clear water in our future. 'Vagabond' was a centerboard boat with a flip up rudder and could travel through 2-1/2 feet of water, although we usually left the centerboard partially down so that if we ran aground we could just crank it back up and get off the bottom. Early on in our trip we anchored for the night out of the channel along the edge of a river somewhere in North Carolina. Wes had been determined to have an extra large anchor aboard, and by God we had one, a big heavy son-of-a-gun with about 20 feet of chain and nice, thick 3/4 inch line to run back to the boat.
At some point during the night while we were sleeping soundly, the kind of sleep you have when resting comfortably on a nice big anchor, we awoke to the sounds of the hull bang, bang, banging against something solid. Flying out to the cockpit, we discovered that we had somehow, inexplicably, drug our anchor and were in the weeds alongside the bank of the river. We both immediately took to our roles without a word, Wes firing up the outboard and me rushing to the bow to retrieve the anchor. The line pulled in surprisingly easy, too easy, and after hauling in only 10 feet I reached the line's frayed bitter end!! Later, we deduced that the boat had swung, wrapping the line around the centerboard and chafed through the rope, setting us adrift. The immediate concern was to re-anchor, but we were both feeling a little confused and unfamiliar with exactly where we were. The surroundings outside just didn't appear to be anything like where we had anchored a few hours earlier. After finally getting back into the channel and finding a marker, we were still confused when we looked at the chart. It took us a few moments to realize what had happened. We had drifted almost 3 miles down the river in the dark while we were both asleep!!! Fortunately, no barges ran us down, we didn't run into any other anchored boats, no docks or pilings in the way, just a nice mild landing in the mud and reeds. Several miles away, as luck would have it, along our intended path to the South!!!
So while it may be a little more work to haul back aboard, and it does add quite a bit more weight in the bow of the boat, we will always use an all chain rode for the primary anchor on board Felix.
Looks like you three are having fun. Where do those fitting quotes come from, no never mind, I don't want to know. We are back and I only have 1500 photos to work with.
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