I know….. another thread on anchors, but recently we went through an event that I thought I should share with everyone.
We spent the past 1 ½ weeks cruising up to Killarney and the North Channel. On our return trip we went through Collins Inlet on the NE corner of Georgian Bay. Collins Inlet is approximately 6 – 10 miles long with rocks 50 – 60 ft. high on both sides and at times is only 150 ft. wide. Towards the Eastern end is a lake perpendicular to the Inlet and is a couple of miles long. We were watching the sky getting very dark to the north and since we were heading East and the winds were from the west I was not too concerned as the storm seemed to be staying above us. As we were passing through the lake area, a few drops started to fall and that “little voice inside” said maybe we should drop the hook and wait to see if anything materialized.
I pulled into a small cove off the main channel just as the rain started and we quickly dropped the anchor and started zipping up the enclosure. I didn’t have enough time to properly set the anchor and since I did not have time to scope out the cove for depths etc. only let out 100 ft. in 24 ft. of water.
No sooner than we were buttoned up the rain and winds hit us full force. We had been in a thunderstorm a few weeks back in 35 knot winds and this one already felt stronger. I scrambled up into the cockpit (luckily we had put up the enclosure ) to check the instruments and GPS to make sure we were not dragging into the rocks that I knew were close by. The winds were pushing 40 knots and gusted to 45 – 47 knots several times and actually pushed the boat into a 20 deg. heel for several anxious seconds with each gust. Top speed recorded that I checked later was 52.7 knots. The strong winds lasted up to an hour ( I can’t recall time as I was a little anxious at the time ) and for a period of time we were blasted with hail. After the storm subsided, we went ashore to let the dog do her thing and found several trees downed directly behind us.
Throughout the whole ordeal, our Rocna anchor did not budge and that was with a quick set and barely 5 to 1 scope ( actually 3.7:1, see Maine Sails calculations below ) on 50 ft’ of chain and 3-strand rode. When the most intense part of the storm hit us we swung 135 deg. from the position where I had initially dropped the anchor. The next day when we went to leave the anchor was set so hard that I had to use considerable power from the engine to break it free from the mud and clay bottom.
Further along the channel was the narrowest part of the Inlet and at the end a shallow marsh with a 90 deg. turn into a 6 ft. deep bouyed channel barely 15 ft. wide. If we had proceeded I’m positive we would have been into rocks or grounded in the marsh at the end of the Inlet.
I know there was a couple of power boats in the lake that were “Loopers” as I found their blog, however they had run their engines to keep the boats straight and take strain off the anchors. I also can’t say how any other anchor would have held up. All I know is mine held and saved our butts.
We spent the past 1 ½ weeks cruising up to Killarney and the North Channel. On our return trip we went through Collins Inlet on the NE corner of Georgian Bay. Collins Inlet is approximately 6 – 10 miles long with rocks 50 – 60 ft. high on both sides and at times is only 150 ft. wide. Towards the Eastern end is a lake perpendicular to the Inlet and is a couple of miles long. We were watching the sky getting very dark to the north and since we were heading East and the winds were from the west I was not too concerned as the storm seemed to be staying above us. As we were passing through the lake area, a few drops started to fall and that “little voice inside” said maybe we should drop the hook and wait to see if anything materialized.
I pulled into a small cove off the main channel just as the rain started and we quickly dropped the anchor and started zipping up the enclosure. I didn’t have enough time to properly set the anchor and since I did not have time to scope out the cove for depths etc. only let out 100 ft. in 24 ft. of water.
No sooner than we were buttoned up the rain and winds hit us full force. We had been in a thunderstorm a few weeks back in 35 knot winds and this one already felt stronger. I scrambled up into the cockpit (luckily we had put up the enclosure ) to check the instruments and GPS to make sure we were not dragging into the rocks that I knew were close by. The winds were pushing 40 knots and gusted to 45 – 47 knots several times and actually pushed the boat into a 20 deg. heel for several anxious seconds with each gust. Top speed recorded that I checked later was 52.7 knots. The strong winds lasted up to an hour ( I can’t recall time as I was a little anxious at the time ) and for a period of time we were blasted with hail. After the storm subsided, we went ashore to let the dog do her thing and found several trees downed directly behind us.
Throughout the whole ordeal, our Rocna anchor did not budge and that was with a quick set and barely 5 to 1 scope ( actually 3.7:1, see Maine Sails calculations below ) on 50 ft’ of chain and 3-strand rode. When the most intense part of the storm hit us we swung 135 deg. from the position where I had initially dropped the anchor. The next day when we went to leave the anchor was set so hard that I had to use considerable power from the engine to break it free from the mud and clay bottom.
Further along the channel was the narrowest part of the Inlet and at the end a shallow marsh with a 90 deg. turn into a 6 ft. deep bouyed channel barely 15 ft. wide. If we had proceeded I’m positive we would have been into rocks or grounded in the marsh at the end of the Inlet.
I know there was a couple of power boats in the lake that were “Loopers” as I found their blog, however they had run their engines to keep the boats straight and take strain off the anchors. I also can’t say how any other anchor would have held up. All I know is mine held and saved our butts.
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