I came into Beaufort on Christmas day at just about slack tide. There is a bridge just north of town which I had to pass through. About a half mile north of the bridge was a sign with the hours of bridge operation, radio channel for hailing, etc. It also stated that the bridge was closed on Federal Holidays.
I've seen similar signs at bridges often enough. I guess the Federal Holiday closure thing just hadn't registered in my head. Anyway, there was an anchorage just north of the bridge. From there I rode my bicycle over the bridge to Beaufort. As I neared the bridge house, I saw that there was someone inside.
When I returned from my poo-poo xmas excursion into town, I decided to hail the bridge. The tender answered that he would open the bridge for me. The passage through the bridge was a little hairy, and going through at that time was probably not the best decision. I was running with the ebbing tide into the bridge. But we made it through fine.
At the town anchorage, I turned the boat into the current and put her into idle forward gear. She pretty much stayed put as I went forward to drop anchor. Back in the cockpit, I took the engine out of gear. Instead of just falling back with the current, the boat twisted at about a 30 degree angle to the current. While we had stayed put, the anchor had drifted under the boat with the current. The line was caught on one of the centerboards. I put the engine back in gear, and the line released from the centerboard. We drifted back and the anchor held. All was well.
When I weighed anchor this morning, I found it bent as you can see in the picture. I'm assuming this happened during the incident I just described. I doubt that I'll be able to bend it back, unless maybe I tried the same stunt, but with the anchor line wrapped around the other centerboard. That's now four anchors that I've gone through on this trip.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Strike Four?
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7 comments:
Hey Captain,
Just wanted to wish you and Amy a belated merry x-mas. Sorry it's not christmasy down there. M A just came back from N.Y. city the same places Amy had gone to. Wonder they didn't bump into each other.
I got another deer on Sat. one more and the freez.. will be full.
P.s. I like your rudders
seee ya older salty-M.A.
No way! I think we should start a pool on how many anchors you're going to lose on the trip.
(Hey older salty, and MA! Sorry I missed you on Fifth Avenue!)
Its always been a weak point with Danforth and similar style anchors. Perhaps an engineering shop could straighten the shank for you. You may also have learnt an anchoring technique lesson here- might it have been better to go further forward, let her drop back while lowering the anchor then if it didn't dig in, get into forward gear to allow it to set? (Perhaps the current was too strong for this to work?)
Hey Peter, I hope you had a merry xmas. Amy accepted a job at your arch rival alma mater, so we'll be neighbors next Fall.
I think you're right about the anchoring procedure. I'm learning a lot of new things on this trip, like respect for tides. In the upper chesapeake, they weren't something I had to worry much about. Down here, they're the first thing you have to think about.
OS, I'm looking forward to some venison on Memorial Day. I should be back by then. Don't want to be down here for hurricane season.
Scott, you replied to the wrong Peter. At any rate, the other one gave good advice. Standard practice is to lower the anchor until it hits bottom and then let the rode play out, keeping tension on the rode, until you have the desired amount of rode out. Then dig the anchor in. Some single handers will lead the anchor aft (outside the safety lines) so they can drop the anchor without leaving the cockpit. They often lead the rode back to a winch so they can even raise the anchor from the cockpit.
Peter Y.
Peter Y,
It was just bad decision making on my part. I was in an ugly mood and went through the bridge and anchored when the tide was running fast.
But on the other topic, Amy says that the football games at her new school are fun and so is the tailgating. I'd love it if you'd join us. And I expect I'll be in Portsmouth again.
Scott
ps thanks for the good advice from the first peter.
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