Anchoring Diarrhea

[Roger Long]

I’m writing this at 0115 while waiting for the adrenalin to dissipate in my bloodstream. No blood running down the deck but it was a near thing.

I passed up several enticing and sheltered spots on the Tred Avon because strong winds are forecast tomorrow and the cruising guide says that Plaindealing Creek has good holding ground. The last thing my back needs at this point is a midnight anchoring adventure.

I was woken up by the sound of strong wind around midnight and realized from the motion of the boat that we were dragging fast enough to bring the boat sideways to the wind. By the time I got dressed and on deck, we were almost right in among the docks. I got the engine going and was just able to clear some slip pilings at the end of a dock while motoring out around the anchor rode radius. The last thing you want to do in a situation like this is run over the rode and suck it into the prop. One of the singlehander’s tricks is to always keep the rode under just enough tension to keep it in sight when motoring up to the anchor. It was a near thing because there wouldn’t have been enough room to go up the other side of the anchor and I had no one to pull in the slack motoring straight up wind.

This is when I appreciate rope rodes. I ran up so I was slightly upwind of the anchor, turned the boat towards it, and started snatching in line as fast as I could as the boat drifted down. Try that with your windlass. Sure, you can pull a boat up to an anchor with a windlass but, in this case, the windlass would have just pulled the anchor back as the boat dragged into the pilings. The plain truth of Plaindealing Creek is that the holding ground is for (insert digestive product related colloquial expression of your choice). If this is what passes for good holding ground in the bay, why are anchors even a traditional feature of Chesapeake craft?

My opinion of the holding ground was confirmed when I snatched in the anchor and chain and instantly had the title for this post right at hand, and on my pant legs, and all over the foredeck, and dribbling back to the cockpit, and all over the wheel. I had gotten what felt like a good firm set the night before with the engine run in reverse up to about 2100 rpm and was riding to over 10:1 scope.

I ran back up the creek a bit further reset. I then quickly assembled the Fortress anchor and chain set. This involved pulling the 5 gallon bucket full of the second anchor rode out of the seat locker in a hurry. If you don’t hear in my next post that I am lying crippled in my bunk waiting for medical evacuation, you will know that you have heard the last word about my back on this forum.

By the time I got the Fortress deployed, the wind had dropped to nearly flat calm. There isn’t even enough now to keep the dinghy trailing and I’ve got to go out again and tie it alongside.

Three out of the last four nights, we have had these strong blasts of wind that last for about an hour and then subside to calm. Can any Chesapeake sailors explain these to me? My best guess is that all the hot air released in Washington collects in some sort of bubble that breaks loose when the bars close and suddenly soars upwards sucking in air from a three state area.

 

[caguy]

Glad to hear you got through that one "ok". Do you have the right anchor for the job.
I have a fortress that came with the boat. Its made of aluminum and is extremely large but it does not always set well. Yesterday I met some of the people who live on their boats and anchor just outside of the break water at Bologna Creek. The are subject to some big winds and swells even on non small craft warning days. They are pretty close to shore and do not have much of a margin for anchor drag. I asked them about the wave action and they don't notice it much. They do come in when the warnings go out and use the guest docks for free. I noticed that the all had two large bruce anchors hanging on their bows. I will be buying one soon based on their endorsements and from what I've learned on this forum. The other thing I noticed was the camaraderie they share. They are helpful to one another and take care of each other
I'm still looking for a widlass for that last 20' of chain.

Good luck with the back.

 

[jibes138]

Just a suggestion

Try going on the "ask all sailors" forum and ask the simple question "what is the best anchor for anchoring in mud?" I am sure you will get a lot of helpful advice. In fact just for kicks I will do it for you. Tune in and see what happens.

I anchored in Hurricane Irene in similar conditions. I set three anchors at 120 degrees each in a circle around the boat. One was a 40 pound Danforth knockoff. One was a 25 pound Danforth, and one was a 35 pound CQR. ALL had chain and at least 150 feet of rode in 6 feet of water. Storm surge was ten feet. so assuming 20 feet of depth I had over 7 to one scope on all of them. Boat is still floating but the anchors all dragged to be sitting basically next to each other. I recovered the 25 pound danforth. The other two are waiting for me to dive on them, they are stuck in so tight I can't budge them, might be snagged on something making them a good mooring for future 'canes.
I bought a manson supreme from MaineSails advice, you might want to try one to give the young fellow some real world feedback.

 

[Shoaldrafter]

hot air released in Washington

Roger,

I work out regularly in a gym. The weight lifting guys wear 'weight lifting belts'.

They are not expensive, in fact yesterday at 'Sports Authority' I replace my old one which the Velcro was not holding well for $21.00.

I use a 4" version that is quick and easy providing minimal support. The weight lifters use the leather belt kind with a wide spot in the back. There is a reason they are common among those who have to lift or strain at heavy objects with their backs instead of leg muscles.

The soft rubber kind is good after the injury to keep muscles warm and relaxed. If you had one, it could have been used after the incident.

If you had windlass, maybe you would have a bigger and heavier anchor?

You are more expert than me. Would a heavier anchor hold better?

Just a cricket in the barrel.

Ed K

 

[Shoaldrafter]

Jibes,

Yes I can see Roger hoisting this Manson Anchor now:

 

[Jimm]

........... Can any Chesapeake sailors explain these to me? My best guess is that all the hot air released in Washington collects in some sort of bubble that breaks loose when the bars close and suddenly soars upwards sucking in air from a three state area.

I think you got it!
In any event, same forecast for strong gusts the next couple days, so sheltering in San Domingo may be a good idea

 

[Roger Long]

Do you have the right anchor for the job?

Probably not for mud but I've anchored every 20 miles to Florida and back so it isn't as if I haven't seen mud. I've only dragged in 40+ winds and the Fortress together with my Delta eventually held both times.

My Fortress has a mud setting so one of the first things I'm going to do after I get it back up is to re-assemble it in that configuration.

I've never seen mud like this. My deck and cabin around the companionway look as though I had a titanic battle last night, armed with a broad ax, against some alien creature with brown blood. I wonder if the heavy rains of Irene last summer filled some of these places with a light silt?

The strange thing is that I had a good firm set yesterday afternoon. I think I may have experienced the "mud ball" effect in which the anchor pulls out a large chunk of mud that stays attached and then drags along like a nursery sapling root ball being pulled by the trunk. Eventually, enough mud knocks off that the anchor re-sets but you may run out of water first as I did last night. It seemed to reset well and instantly when I put it back down last night.

 

[Roger Long]

sheltering in San Domingo may be a good idea

I've got two anchors down now so moving is a conundrum. My back is a bit sore (big surprise) this morning but only about like it has been the whole trip. Still, I think a day taking it easy with some heat pads on it and no anchor handling is important. I sure don't want another midnight adventure, especially with two anchors to retrieve, so I'm somewhat undecided about what to do.

It's about as sheltered in here as San Domingo but it really howled for a while last night.

 

[Shoaldrafter]

moving is a conundrum?

Get a piece of extra line and use winch. Keep moving extra line forward as you get some up. You might need two pieces of line and two winches but do not try to muscle the anchor line. Use winch or blocks to create purchase.

Use a winch as manual windlass...

You are the engineer on the project. Use basic mechanical advantage to your solution.

Ed K

 

[FourPoints]

Roger, sounds like the same thing I experienced in Pt Jefferson last summer, which ultimatly landed a picture of my boat on page 72 of the holiday issue in Latts & Atts this past fall...

I tossed the anchor and backed down on it, it seemed to be holding solid. Little while later the wind shifted and picked up (didn't notice as I was down below on Hal's 46' beast of a cutter), and when I eventually was able to pull the anchor back up, the stuff that came up on it was more like the unmixed chocolate at the bottom of a glass of chocolate milk than mud. The only good thing about it was it took no effort to clean the mud off the anchor.

The anchor was in silt, not mud.... Why it held while backing down? I have two theories, one is a submerged log, and two is I must have pissed on a mermaid's head by mistake, and she wanted revenge...

 

[Ross]

Some of the work boats carry a folding pick style anchor with long flukes. But the floods last september did bring down a load of silt. They left more than four inches in the low spots around the marina. I haven't had a chance yet to sound the slips but the swimming pool collected more than a foot.

 

[Alec]

You are going to find a lot of that really soft mud in Eastern Shore creeks. A Danforth (or Fortress in mud setting) seems to bury quite well in that stuff & may be your best bet. Back down hard on it until the anchor rode gets bar taut. That worked well for me for many years on the Chesapeake. Getting it out can be a problem tho...you may have to pull the rode up short & break the anchor out with the engine.

 

[Bill Roosa]

Hey Roger, glad to hear you are coping well
A few of the smaller creeks fill up with a slurry that seems to hold well during backing down but when you only have a steady pull of less force for a long time it breaks free and drags. I think it is silt that has not either been carried away due to to little flow in that creek or has not setteled into a solid bottom. I noticed this when the depth sounder indicated 5' (4'10" draft) but when I threw in the anchor it imediatly went to 10+'. Later on went swimming and felt this steadily thickening "stuff" on my feet (I'm 6'). this sort of explained how we could move the boat even though the depth read 4' It felt like the boat had something draggin from it no matter which direction we went and I though the dept sounder was just acting weird like is does in some creeks.
Now go to swan creek and you get the opposite situation, hard clay bottom and your depthsounder gets really confused due to reflections off an angled bottom. Ran aground with the depth reading 14'!!!!
the bay is truly weird.

 

[FourPoints]

Bill - Sounds like you need to upgrade your sounder. I have a Garmin plotter with a dual frequency transducer attached. With the sonar display up and the sounder in dual frequency mode you are able to see things like silt vs clay, and even how deep until it gets dense.

It works because in shallow water the higher power low frequency sonar pulse (50khz) doesn't reflect well or often at all off silt, it needs a denser material to reflect the signal, so it basically sees right through the silt and really soft mud showing you where the real bottom is. The high frequency pulse (200khz) will reflect off of much less dense things like the silt, but cannot penetrate the silt layer to show you the hard bottom under it. I have seen a depth reading difference of 4 feet between the two modes as a result of the signals bouncing off different bottom layers.

Add to this the fact that the display is color coded to show the strength of the return signal, so softer mud usually shows up as a weak blue and a rock in mud wll be a red spot with a hard defining edge, and harder mud will usually come in more yellow etc...

With a little practice and experience you can see various features and bottom profiles to the point of being able to tell the difference between a hard clay from a gravel bottom from a gravel and mud bottom to a just mud bottom.

My problem in Pt Jefferson, I didn't use it. I thought I knew what I was anchoring in... Never again will I drop anchor without analyzing the available bottom data from my plotter's sonar screen.

This isn't exactly a great example of the difference, it's a marketing image of the sonar demo so it's not a real bottom profile we're seeing, but you can see what the color differences look like at least.

 

[Roger Long]

I've made a good move. I went up on deck and saw that a side creeks and the low marshes behind it had me in a wind tunnel. The anchors appeared to be holding well but the rodes were creaking in the chocks and shallow water was only a rode length behind me.

I figured better a slow and deliberate anchor retrieval in daylight than an emergency one in the dark so I got all the gear up with the various snatch block and tackle arrangements I have.

I moved around and up the Tred Avon inside Deepwater Point where the high trees have me in a beautiful lee. It's so calm the nylon rode is slack and I have a large cove to drag across before the boat will be in any difficulty.

This is also a very beautiful spot, a overnight destination for many local cruisers, I understand.

 

[Woxbox]

On the anchor question, we had a bulky 35' catamaran i n the bay for five years. We always relied on a 42 pound Bruce, and it never let us down. In the soft stuff it just went deeper and deeper until it held. The only downside was that mud you describe so nicely caked on the last several feet of chain.