Anchoring

[letsseeaction]

Now i know most people seem to use the Alderney Technique to lift the anchor.
We were on my mates little 14' Dory the other week in a big tide in a strong tidal currant and could not budge the anchor, after sweating and getting sore hands. All his boat has is a cleat on the bow. No rollers for the line or anything else.
I also appreciate the whole anchor business to be the most dangerous task of boating.
I was sent this very good link,

www.sea-fishing.net/Boats/anchoring.htm

What would you experienced skippers recommend?

I understand that we will want to "Trip" the anchor.

What the bloody hell is a "Lazy Line"?

If we were to carry out the Alderney Ring method what it the safest way in a small 14' Dory with outboard? As in where to connect the anchor rope when carrying out this method?

Or if there is any other tips or suggestions in retrieving the anchor.

Andy

[ratman1]

Unless you are in relatively shallow water I would not recommend driving the anchor up in a 14 ft boat mate. Definitely trip the anchor as this will save you a lot of lost anchors.
For driving up the anchor with an Alderney ring you need to ensure the ring can slide down the rope and has not twisted around. At all times you must keep the anchor rope alongside the boat and never underneath it, wrap it in your prop and you are going for a swim. I anchor from the side of my boat. The anchor rope goes through the bow roller and back into the boat thus when I drop the anchor over the side the rope will already be through the bow roller. I have a mark on my rope every 50 ft and by doing this I can let out the appropriate amount of rope I need to hold. When I have enough out I cleat off at the side of the boat and throw the anchor bouy and ring over the side, of course the ring and bouy are already connected to run along the anchor line. I just keep them in the boat until all is set. When it comes to retrieving the anchor it is the case of looking to see which way the anchor rope is going and driving steadilly past it keeping the rope in sight at all times and slightly away from the side of the boat, when you have gone over the top of the anchor it should come free and you can drive off uptide until the anchor chain comes through the ring and the anchor is afloat, cut into neutral and gather the anchor over the side of the boat into the bin.
This does take constant care and practice so I would recommend doing it a few times in fairly shallow water, say 20 ft deep to gain experience. I have seen some very experienced people get it wrong and care is needed at all times. Good luck mate

[Canuck]

Just a note!

If having a problem dragging your anchor out, NEVER tie off to the stern you'll likely end up sunk.
I watched a bloke in a shetland try this just Weymouth side of Portland Bill, he tied off started to drag the anchor with the tide then his engine cut - he couldn't untie the rope and he was under in seconds!

Iv'e never tied off the anchor rope or a rope towing they just tighten, just wind round a couple of times.

Hope this is not taken as teaching to suck eggs, that is not the intention. Just observations .

Good fishing - Rich

[letsseeaction]

Rich, teaching to suck eggs is good. In fact nothing wrong with an idiot guide.
All comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Especially as i was told to pull the anchor from the side and all it did was pull the boat broadside to the tide and made it impossible to gain any rope.

Also another expert at work told me to tie the rope off the stern to carry out the Alderney method.

So a few people have different/conflicting advice. I'm hoping to find the best and safest method for him to retrieve the anchor.

After all i don't want to finish off a days fishing by going swimming.

[ratman1]

Under no circumstances ever tie a rope to your stern mate. If you are in any doubt come out with me and I will give you a practical demonstration on how to recover an anchor, never ever take chances with the sea my friend, she takes no prisoners

[Sunny]

I almost lost my first boat by tying off at the stern. In the dark off the Needles, when my anchor fouled.... the engine failed and I swung around with tide and wind behind my boat. The stern quickly started to go under...

The only thing that saved me was the fact that I always kept a knife handy. I dived into the water and cut the rope, which allowed the baot to drift. Fortunately the engine gunned up and the water in the back spilled out as I drove forward.

Take it from me...never pull your anchor from the stern. I subsequently fitted a cleat to the side of my boat, about 1/4 back from the bow. In this position, even should the cable ties 'pop' and still your anchor is tangled then the worse that will happen is that your bow will pull around. If you should also then suffer engine failure you just turn the wheel to use the engine as a rudder...keeping the boat straight onto the tide.

One last thing I do....tie off a small bouy at the end of your anchor rope. That way if you need to you can throw the anchor line and drift free; you can always recover the anchor line later. Especially good trick if you have a ferry heading directly for you !!!!

Hope this helps mate...most of it has been said by the other guys

Good luck
Nick

[furdy]

I wouldn't bother with a ring. I have a quite heavily built 17ft hardy and two of us can happily recover the anchor by hand.
You definately need to set the anchor to trip, cable ties or twine seem to be the most popular ways, although I think the natural twines lose strength after being in and out of the sea a few times. You'll need a bit of trial and error to work out the best thing for you.
The way we do it is, I motor the boat gently up tide as my mate gathers in the slack rope, slow and steady is the order of the day as you dont want to be running over the rope. When we have picked up as much slack as possible I knock the boat out of gear and together we pull until the anchor breaks out. I then get back on the helm while the anchor is recovered and stowed.
If the anchor gets stuck fast and we cant move it then I have to debate wether or not a ring would fare any better. If you're caught in snagged nets, rope etc no amount of heaving will get it back.
Another reason you can get stuck in which i think is more common than people realise is when the boat goes round in the tide the chain wraps itself around something. What you're then trying to retrieve is whatever the chain is around. It always worth motoring slowly around the anchor in an arc the way the boat has swung and then trying to recover, this quite often pulls the chain from under whatever its caught on.
If you drop the anchor correctly in the first place that can go some way to avoiding snagging. Let the anchor descend under control and when you feel it touch down pay out rope at the speed of drift until you have enough out and fix off to the cleat. Rope coming off the bow at about 45 degrees is more or les a good indication as to there being enough out. I dont like the idea of just heaving the lot over the side as dragging increases the chance of snagging.
Hope you dont think I'm trying to be a smart arse but this is just what's been passe to me by a couple a charter skippers.

[letsseeaction]

Thanks for the advice guys, it's great to hear the advice. I like the buoy on the end of the line, any doubt or problem just chuck it over.

Also thanks to everyone with their kind offers of an outing on there own boats to show us how the experts do it. I'll get on to my mate and see what he says.

Thanks once again,

Andy

[The Codfather of Sole]

Oct 26, 2008 19:55:57 GMT furdy said:

I wouldn't bother with a ring. I have a quite heavily built 17ft hardy and two of us can happily recover the anchor by hand.
You definately need to set the anchor to trip, cable ties or twine seem to be the most popular ways, although I think the natural twines lose strength after being in and out of the sea a few times. You'll need a bit of trial and error to work out the best thing for you.
The way we do it is, I motor the boat gently up tide as my mate gathers in the slack rope, slow and steady is the order of the day as you dont want to be running over the rope. When we have picked up as much slack as possible I knock the boat out of gear and together we pull until the anchor breaks out. I then get back on the helm while the anchor is recovered and stowed.
If the anchor gets stuck fast and we cant move it then I have to debate wether or not a ring would fare any better. If you're caught in snagged nets, rope etc no amount of heaving will get it back.
Another reason you can get stuck in which i think is more common than people realise is when the boat goes round in the tide the chain wraps itself around something. What you're then trying to retrieve is whatever the chain is around. It always worth motoring slowly around the anchor in an arc the way the boat has swung and then trying to recover, this quite often pulls the chain from under whatever its caught on.
If you drop the anchor correctly in the first place that can go some way to avoiding snagging. Let the anchor descend under control and when you feel it touch down pay out rope at the speed of drift until you have enough out and fix off to the cleat. Rope coming off the bow at about 45 degrees is more or les a good indication as to there being enough out. I dont like the idea of just heaving the lot over the side as dragging increases the chance of snagging.
Hope you dont think I'm trying to be a smart arse but this is just what's been passe to me by a couple a charter skippers.

Good advice there from Furdy , I use the same method (creep uptide on the anchor) 9 out of 10 times I anchor.....

[Salar]

This guide to the Alderney Ring technique may help:
www.boat-angling.co.uk/Hints_and_Tips/boat_handling.htm

[sixrods]

Having lost an anchor in the Solent, had to cut it after drifting and picking up a cable , bought myself an alderney ring.
After a number of trips without using it and having some near misses of loosing more anchors decided I had to use it. I must admit it can be a fairly hairy job when the sea gets rough. Anyway I find it works best for me when I tie my rope to a grab rail on my cuddy. That way the rope is above the gunnels of the boat and there is less chance of the rope going under the boat.
Even with the the ring the anchor still is difficult to get up sometimes.
I now trip the anchor with a tie wrap, works bloody lovely ;D
Much more confident now and makes the fishing more enjoyable.