Winds N 10-15. Temp 68, no precipitation
We completed some projects. Always projects on a boat.
I rearranged the ground tackle - which is all the stuff aboard having to do with anchoring - the anchor(s) of course, but also the anchor chain, rope (called rode), shackles and other various items. Chain – actual chain - is part of the ground tackle assembly because it weighs more than rope (remember rope is called line on a boat – rode when it’s part of the ground tackle). Chain, because of its weight, helps to hold the anchor down.
Proper anchoring is an absolute necessity to ensure a measure of safety, especially when anchoring in unsettled weather. Notice I said a measure of safety. Past performance is no guarantee of future gains. You do not want your anchor to drag on a cold, rainy night during a gale force wind.
Anchors have to be sized to the boat and there is an anchor for every kind of bottom (holding ground). Sometimes one should employ two anchors in the circumstance of questionable holding ground.
How does one know what the bottom is like in a given location? You can know by measuring the nature of the bottom the way the old time mariners did it – by greasing their lead line (a weighted line for checking depth), dropping it over board and seeing what sticks – mud, shell, etc. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Or you can consult modern charts (marine maps) that generally provide that information – at least in a general sense. Mariners through the ages have kept that kind of information as part of their daily ship’s log and those records have been compiled and published, thankfully, by highly energetic men like Mathew Fontaine Maury, an American astronomer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator. (Yes, I’m using Wikipedia.)
A monument to Maury can be found in, of all places, Goshen Pass, VA. He was a naval officer but a leg injury kept him from sea duty. Following the Civil War, in which he served admirably, he taught at the Virginia Military Institute. Maury and others compiled and published nautical information about wind, currents, bottom composition and other maritime elements all over the globe. Their work is the basis for ‘pilot charts’ and ‘sailing directions’ - reference materials that provide guidance to mariners everywhere.
On board Flicka we have five anchors, a Bruce, three Danforths and a Delta. The Bruce and Delta are stored on the bow in anchor chocks ready for deployment, each attached to its respective rodes, which are in turn attached to the boat in the anchor locker or forepeak. The Bruce we have is actually a Chinese knockoff which means it is probably cast instead of forged. The Bruce (knockoff) is our ‘best bower’ at the moment – the one most often deployed – stored on the starboard roller. The Delta is our ‘small bower’ – which is not really smaller – stored on the port roller. (Bored yet?)
One of the Danforth’s is stored on deck amidships, ready to be deployed as needed. Another smaller Danforth is in a canvas bag attached to 50 feet of chain, itself attached to 150 of nylon rode – to be deployed as a kedge anchor if needed. (Which we damn well had to use on this trip.) Kedging is what you do when you run aground. You put your kedge anchor in your dinghy and row it out to deeper water, put it over – back to the boat you go - paying the kedge rode out – set the kedge as best you can and after waiting an appropriate amount of time for the tide to turn and for yourself to calm the hell down, you slowly winch your sell off – hopefully!
Yet another smaller Danforth serves as a dinghy anchor.
Different anchors are designed for specific kinds of holding ground. Fortunately for us amateurs, the Bruce, Danforth and Delta cover many of the circumstances in which we have found ourselves.
So you pull into a place to anchor and the wind is whipping at you at 20 knots and there is a 4 knot tidal cross current that will change sometime in the night. There are shoal waters to the north and somewhere just to the south the chart says there is a sunken derelict boat hazard.
Once you have made your best determination that the place you have chosen is the safest possible under the circumstances – working with your mate at the helm – in this case Captain Emily - you toss the anchor over board and back away from it – paying out the anchor chain as you go.
Then comes the most important, the most crucial step and that is setting the anchor – backing down until you ‘feel’ it grab the bottom as it is designed to do. Then and only then are you anchored – reasonably sure that you are ‘down’ – notice I said reasonably sure.
However at that point it’s time for an evening cocktail – or two.
On to more adventures tomorrow.
Good night.
Steve there is also a monument to Maury in the city you would expect the Civil War military men - Richmond VA.
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