Re: Anchoring at night - questions

Ted Duke (tedduke@usa.net)
Thu, 24 Jun 1999 08:22:04 -0400


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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SolarFry@aol.com wrote:
>
snip

> In rocky bottoms most anchors will not hold unless they snag a BIG > rock.
>
> I had to destroy a Danforth that set too well in order to leave an
> anchorage in Baja California. It completely bent out of shape after I > powered aft & fwd at full speed for an hour and kept trying to winch
> it out with the genoa winches. It came out finally with a bent shank
> and wing stuck to a piece of rock...

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>
SF and gang,

I anchored overnight in Smith Mountain Lake with beautiful
full moon and used my oversized Danforth (14 I think and a
smaller one astern to keep the fast boat wakes from swinging
us too much).

A REAL EXPERIENCE OVERNIGHTING, MOON LIKE YOU CAN"T
IMAGINE! I would definitely recommend it.

But, when I decided to leave in the morning I couldn't get
the big anchor up. (ABOUT 30 ft of water with 140 feet of
line out. Finally got it moving but it weighed 100 lbs.
When it finally got to the surface and I was exhausted the
"TREE" tilted when a limb broke water and it fell off. I
now will carry an empty milk jug so I can buoy it and come
back with help if it happens again, might be a 110# tree OR
I MIGHT BE ANOTHER YEAR OLDER. That tree has been down there
for 30 or 40 years since they built the lake I imagine.

Ted "treehugger?" Duke
WWPs19 #626

Mountains of Virginia, heading for the confluence of the
Patuxent and the Chesapeake Bay (Solomons Island) tomorrow
to see if the wind is blowing, with an alternate plan to
visit the Maritime Museum and drink wine and eat seafood.
Actually we will do the alternate plan anyway.