(See here for the background.)
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=136219&#post871965
The location:
http://fms.ws/6bjxo
Things don’t always work out quite as planned. The wind stubbornly refused to clock around into the southwest as predicted. In fact, it veered slightly so that chop was blowing right up into the harbor making for an uncomfortable late afternoon. My stern anchor was keeping me from swinging into the boat next to me and running off to port, the opposite direction I expected. I pulled up the kellet to reduce the stuff I would have to do if I had to reconfigure and to let me get a little more tension on it. Good thing I had the loop of rope tying it up to the stern cleat instead of leading from the bow, it would have been under the boat and in the rudder for sure.
I was on the phone with a friend when I saw the fellow on the next boat out warming up his engine. I figured he probably had a better look at the sky than I did and the wind began to increase slightly so I said a hasty goodbye. Just as I put the phone down, Strider heeled sharply. There was a blast of wind and rain and the surface of the harbor instantly took on that look of snow blowing across a road in your headlights during a blizzard. Lee and Lynn’s anemometer clocked 40 knots peak.
The blast was finally from the west and the method of running the second anchor rode to the bow with the loop of another line to hold it up to the stern cleat proved its worth. It took but a moment, during which I was soaked to the skin, to cast it off and Strider swung around head to wind, relieving the strain on both anchors from being broadside to the wind and heeled to an angle normal for sailing to windward.
I looked astern and the docks were surprisingly close. The other fellow was running his engine and I was quickly doing the same. The boat was sailing violently back and forth and taking the strain off with the engine made it worse. It took a lot of throttle jockeying and going in and out of gear along with big rudder movements to keep her head to wind but I had clearly dragged and was running out of room to deal with any further sagging to leeward.
The initial blast eased enough that I could put the engine in neutral and go forward to assess the anchor situation. I took up the slack on the second anchor, which wasn’t doing much at this point. Things seemed stable so I secured the engine and went back to see what I could do with my second anchor. The other boat had dragged right on top of it so retrieving it would be difficult.
I decided to pull in as much slack on my Fortress as possible and was surprised to have the chain come right up. All that thrashing back and forth under power had popped it right out of the mud. This was actually a fortuitous event since I was able to carry it back and swing it into the cockpit. I pulled the dinghy alongside, dumped the anchor and chain into it, and then fed the rode in. Did I mention it was pitch dark by this time?
I brought the dinghy around to the ladder, climbed in, and organized the chain and flaked down the rode. This is the reason why I will always have a rigid dinghy. The wind was now down in the 25 – 30 knot range but that little boat chipped into it towing the rode like nobody’s business. Try that in your inflatable. Rigid dinghies have saved my butt many times over the years. This is also a reason why I like mine towed and ready for instant use instead of on deck.
I rowed up almost to the town dock and put the Fortress in the water. Back aboard, I tensioned up the rode and was riding to about 15:1 scope. With both anchors out I slept soundly.
This morning, I pulled myself up to my 22 lb. Delta main anchor and retrieved it. Sure enough, it had dragged about 100 feet. I never felt the boat go loose so I think it just slowly went through the bottom with the mud extruding around it. I then pulled up to the Fortress, dropped the Delta again temporarily while I retrieved and stowed the Fortress and I was ready to depart on today’s leg down to Calabash.
We just passed the NC/SC line and anchored about a mile into South Carolina. I’m putting another notch in my GPS for passing through another state without any keel contact.
http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=136219&#post871965
The location:
http://fms.ws/6bjxo
Things don’t always work out quite as planned. The wind stubbornly refused to clock around into the southwest as predicted. In fact, it veered slightly so that chop was blowing right up into the harbor making for an uncomfortable late afternoon. My stern anchor was keeping me from swinging into the boat next to me and running off to port, the opposite direction I expected. I pulled up the kellet to reduce the stuff I would have to do if I had to reconfigure and to let me get a little more tension on it. Good thing I had the loop of rope tying it up to the stern cleat instead of leading from the bow, it would have been under the boat and in the rudder for sure.
I was on the phone with a friend when I saw the fellow on the next boat out warming up his engine. I figured he probably had a better look at the sky than I did and the wind began to increase slightly so I said a hasty goodbye. Just as I put the phone down, Strider heeled sharply. There was a blast of wind and rain and the surface of the harbor instantly took on that look of snow blowing across a road in your headlights during a blizzard. Lee and Lynn’s anemometer clocked 40 knots peak.
The blast was finally from the west and the method of running the second anchor rode to the bow with the loop of another line to hold it up to the stern cleat proved its worth. It took but a moment, during which I was soaked to the skin, to cast it off and Strider swung around head to wind, relieving the strain on both anchors from being broadside to the wind and heeled to an angle normal for sailing to windward.
I looked astern and the docks were surprisingly close. The other fellow was running his engine and I was quickly doing the same. The boat was sailing violently back and forth and taking the strain off with the engine made it worse. It took a lot of throttle jockeying and going in and out of gear along with big rudder movements to keep her head to wind but I had clearly dragged and was running out of room to deal with any further sagging to leeward.
The initial blast eased enough that I could put the engine in neutral and go forward to assess the anchor situation. I took up the slack on the second anchor, which wasn’t doing much at this point. Things seemed stable so I secured the engine and went back to see what I could do with my second anchor. The other boat had dragged right on top of it so retrieving it would be difficult.
I decided to pull in as much slack on my Fortress as possible and was surprised to have the chain come right up. All that thrashing back and forth under power had popped it right out of the mud. This was actually a fortuitous event since I was able to carry it back and swing it into the cockpit. I pulled the dinghy alongside, dumped the anchor and chain into it, and then fed the rode in. Did I mention it was pitch dark by this time?
I brought the dinghy around to the ladder, climbed in, and organized the chain and flaked down the rode. This is the reason why I will always have a rigid dinghy. The wind was now down in the 25 – 30 knot range but that little boat chipped into it towing the rode like nobody’s business. Try that in your inflatable. Rigid dinghies have saved my butt many times over the years. This is also a reason why I like mine towed and ready for instant use instead of on deck.
I rowed up almost to the town dock and put the Fortress in the water. Back aboard, I tensioned up the rode and was riding to about 15:1 scope. With both anchors out I slept soundly.
This morning, I pulled myself up to my 22 lb. Delta main anchor and retrieved it. Sure enough, it had dragged about 100 feet. I never felt the boat go loose so I think it just slowly went through the bottom with the mud extruding around it. I then pulled up to the Fortress, dropped the Delta again temporarily while I retrieved and stowed the Fortress and I was ready to depart on today’s leg down to Calabash.
We just passed the NC/SC line and anchored about a mile into South Carolina. I’m putting another notch in my GPS for passing through another state without any keel contact.
