"Lost" Anchor Recovery

[Byrdman]

Now Don...you already had me looking forward to the pictures of that... Now, pause for a second or two...(you don't want to waste many of them.. ) and think of what your alternative is to getting older, slower, and once again in life, more dependant on others??? Hummm, getting older might not be all bad...but for sure you could ask our old friend Dusty...

You might just try a quick trip with your friend who does dive.... who knows who all else has been hung up in the area...and they do dives as the water goes down for a little underwater bounty trip. They do on Lake Martin up here... Known good spots where folks hang up... and at about $350-$500 a rig.... a good couple of days of diving pays out pretty good.

Go ahead an take a pic when ya get'r back on board... It has to look better than the pic of my feet in the only crocks I could find in town when I had to go to the water....and Marc had blown one ...not both....but just one of my black crocs overboard showing HOW FAST IT WOULD GO...

[Sneaks]

[El and Bill]

Might not have worked for your anchor retrieval problem, but we carry a two foot loop of chain, looped together with a shackle, with a line tied off on another shackle. Stuck anchor, we put the loop around the anchor rode (taut to the surface), cinch the shackle and with the hand line fixed to the loop, drop it down. The loop (hopefully) goes around the upright anchor shank, then we drop the rode and pull the line to the loop in the opposite direction from that which we anchored, and oila, up comes the anchor. It usually works as well as a preset anchor trip line (which we find a pain, due to the boat moving and fouling the buoy line with shifts in tide, current, or wind shifts).

This system is easy to use, simple to store, and (often) works great!

[Sea Wolf]

El and Bill-

Thanks for the idea! Sounds like it would work most of the time.

See you at the SBS/CBC next January!

Joe.

[oldgrowth]

[Sea Wolf]

An Update!

Yep, we got 'er back! Went up to Stein Creek (15 miles from Bridge Bay Marina) on Sunday to check out if we could still get the 24' pontoon boat (better working platform) back into the tree trunk infested, narrow cove.

The water was still 10 feet deep over the anchor, but we found it with our underwater camera (+ a ton of curious bass) and using some markers of string tied around the tree trunks back when the water was 17 feet deeper. We first got ahold of the underwater tree with a grappliing hook I had made.

We then anchored over it with a 18 lb mushroom anchor (less prone to getting tangled up), and my son then dove on it several times, bringing up the end of the 100 ft chain by pulling himself and the chain up on the new anchor rope.

After retrieving most of the 75 lbs of chain, we still needed to pry the anchor off of a 3 -4 inch diameter branch of a submerged tree.

I tied a line to a 4-foot crowbar and then taped it up with duct tape (The Sailor's Universal Solution to All of Mankind's Unfortunate Engineering Failures) for safe keeping so the knots wouldn't slip off.

I then lowered the crowbar down the anchor chain with my son (likely soon to be heir to my vast fortune) to pry loose the big hook .

Success on the first attempt!

Once aboard, we then had to unhook the mushroom anchor and another grappling hook that we had used to get ahold of the tree. Amazingly, the trees have been submerged since 1948 (58 years!), and are still pretty strong!

So we got 'er back, with little damage except for some algae growth that was fairly easily washed off.

Later, when the water has gone down another 12-15 feet, I'll go back in there to find the cap to my windlass that broke off during the wrestling match between my 90 hp Yamaha and the 58 year old sunken tree. Should be able to find it with a rake once the bottom is dry.

Joe.

[oldgrowth]

Joe – that may not be as easy to find and retrieve as the anchor was. Even if you have an idea where you lost it and are not more than half the length of your boat off, the windless cap could be anywhere within a 1250 sq ft area. Every 10 ft you are off on your guess the additional area you have to search just about doubles. So if you are off by 30 feet you may have to rake a 5,000 sq ft area. Good luck and let us know if you find it.

[Sea Wolf]

Dave-

I'll give the old beachcomer's try anyway, of course. Might just get lucky!

I've already fashioned a replacement out of stainless steel, but still have to add the hinge.

Boat problems are never simple!

Thanks!

Joe.

[Byrdman]

congrats on the anchor recovery.... now... how did the bass taste?

[Sea Wolf]

Patrick-

Most of the bass in Shasta Lake are now Alabama Strain Largemouth Bass.

They were transplanted here and have largely replaced the Northern Strain Largemouth, due to their more aggressive behavior.

The bass fishermen like them better because they're always ready to bite at anythng that invades their territory, even in winter, when the Northern Bass are just dozing away, waiting for Spring.

We were too busy with our recovery operations to go fishing. Besides, who'd want to harm a bunch of fish that said-

"Y'all come back, ya' hear!?!

Joe.

[Flip]

A quick question what is a trip line?

[Sea Wolf]

Flip-

A trip line is a second line (besides the anchor line or rode) which is attached to the opposwite end of the anchor as the rode.

It is used to pull the anchor out backwards when it gets stuck.

The problem is that the trip line is akward and time consuming to use.

First, you have to let two, not one, lines out when anchoring.

Secondly, the trip line is usually set out with it's own buoy, which is another step in deploying it.

Next comes the possible fouling of one line with another as the boat moves around at anchor.

Finally, if the trip line is not needed, it has to be retrieved along with the rode when weighing anchor, another step/complication.

Still, when you need it and have it, it's a nice way to look like a smart sailor who took precautions. OR a dummy if you didn't! Of course, you can always dive on the anchor and add the line after its stuck! (If it's not too deeeeeeeep!

*********************************
One way some folks double up functions on these two lines is to attach the bitter end of the anchor chain to the back end of the anchor where the trip line goes, then strap a forward part oif the chain to the regular anchor attachment point with a breakable tie such as a light line or nylon electrical ties. This allows one to brfeak the front attachment point and shift to the rear escape trip line point when the anchor gets stuck.

This would work OK for a day anchor/fishing anchor/lunch hook type of use, but I know most foks wouldn't trust it overnight or to ride out a hurricane because a shift in direction of the wind could easily break the fragile front ties before the anchor reset in the new wind direction.

Hope this answers your question!

Joe.

[Flip]

Thank you Joe for your time, as usual we can count on this site to learn new things and to get great information.

[thataway]

To add to Joe's excellent post about trip lines: I have had other boats pick up the bouy and try to use it as a mooring (despite marking "not a mooring", and have had a commercial fishing boat wrap the bouy and trip line into its prop.

I have only used the trip line when in a rocky area, or where I thought I might foul an anchor.

Another "trick" to clear an anchor, is to pull it up as far as you can, then dive down, put a line under the obstruction, such as cable or tree limb, then take the strain on the line to the boat, let the anchor down and move it clear of the obstruction. This does require diving.

[Sea Wolf]

Here's one of those "Anchor Traps" found underwater at Lake Shasta and a second shot of a cove on the Pit River Arm that was never cleared of trees in order to privide cover for the bass population:






Drop 'er down and spin the wheel 'o fortune!

Joe.