Sinking by anchor hookup

[bobjarrard]

Brats,
In the video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXYNi0iRYZM) you see a brief shot of a great anchor that cost the day as it hooked up on the bottom and I assume a bad anchor line angle pulled a very sea worthy Aussie skiff over. Anchor retrieval from the stern, especially with the "circle the anchor with a pulling ring" method, can be dangerous (chain makes it worse). Powerful pot pullers, power windlasses, stern-to mooring in the open sea, and bow in mooring on a beach all have their risks. I have a friend who hit the beach a bit too fast on an inland lake, ran his bow up angle, submerged his low stern, took on water and watched his boat get drug back into the deeps as it filled with water. Heart breaking. Not meaning to be dark here but we have all been on a boat that in an instant became a potential death trap. One Christmas in Huntington Beach a boat tied to the owner's dock rolled when too many people went to one side to watch the boat parade go by the house.
Bob

[thataway]

Agree that any anchoring primarily by the stern is dangerous. I am not a big fan of the float/ring method, without a windlass. I have seen small boats in shallow water capsize just from the weight of a half tower over a CC, and a little water in the boat.

For a hung up anchor Best to pull from the bow; cleat it off, depress the bow and circle the anchor spot, using reverse. You can put a lot of load on an anchor by depressing the bow, and using the buoyancy of the boat. I once pulled out some storm anchors with that technique, I could not do with a winch which generated over 5500 lbs of pull.

Of course there Is the safe method; to attach a trip line or even the main rode to the crown, and use zip ties at the shackle, and reverse the pulll—-pulling the anchor out by the crown. Another is to let a loop of chain over the rode, with a second rode, and let it slide down under the shank of the anchor—-and then pull out in the opposite direction from the set.

Be safe—sure ruins the day, to have a capsize!

[Saxe Point]

[thataway]

There was a post with some videos (I believe it was on THT), a a father’s leg caught in the line—and son at the helm not being aware of the situation, when powering forward on the anchor ball. The father went overboard and was lost.

If all goes well, I am sure it is a fine—and it certainly used frequently in some areas....but if things go wrong-.... To be fair I have seen injuries with windlass—but not aware of loss of life. I am aware of loss of life when one person tries to fend off another large boat.

[Sea Wolf]

Just a note from a scene on the video above.

After they beached the boat, drained it out, and then re-floated it, they were towing the boat at planing speed with a bridle and a long tow line.

It seems to me that the stress/load/energy held in that line at that speed with those two boats would have been very high, and, considering the possibility of the tow line snapping under load, standing around in the back of the cockpit in the tow boat would seem to be a very dangerous proposition. The recoiling broken line could cause great bodily harm, even kill a bystander. Especially if it were very elastic, like nylon.

Aren't rescue boat operators trained to avoid this situation?

Imagine the stress between tugs towing heavy barges with steel cables, which are elastic somewhat, even though we usually don't think of steel as being elastic.

Some relevant info:

http://nasdonline.org/1151/d000945/safe-use-of-tow-ropes-cables-and-chains.html

Joe.

[Hunkydory]

Joe, you are of course right that it can dangerous, but not so sure it is in this situation. The boats are far enough apart for the shackles to not be a problem & rope set not that bad either. During my working career, I’ve seen numerous cables, pins, shackles & various types of rope part. Some while surface mining were huge. Here is another video showing a boat being towed, while on plane in even much worse conditions by the professional rescue boat for the Brunswick bar crossing. I do get your point that towing can be dangerous with knowing what your doing & precautions observed a good thing. The tow scene starts at minute 10:15 in this video.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0IZwQhNZJEU

Jay

[thataway]

I agree with Jim. If I am towing any boat at any speed, I have people clear of any area the tow line or fittings might hit them. We were towing a Cal 36, with our Cal. 46, and the foredeck cleat pulled loose on the 36, sending the line, cleat and all over the towing boat. Anyone back by the tow bit might have been injured. (When we rebuilt the boat, both stern and bow bits were rebuilt with 1/2” bolts, and SS Plates under the deck to spread the loads out.)

I used to tow our Grady White 20’ Weekender. Behind the trawler, which had 450 hp Diesel and the loads on that boat even at 8 knots were huge. If you add in surge and waves, with towing, the loads can increase a lot more.

I don’t consider our C Dory’s cleats satisfactory for any more than a dinghy, or very slow speed work. If the tow eyes on the stern have a plate inside of them, they are much stronger. I have seen some C Dory products with only screws holding the cleats in place!