Anchor Story

And now for the anchor story...

Second Wind came with a fisherman's anchor (the old-fashioned kind, with "curved spades"), which we planned to use as a stern anchor. In general, boats anchor from the bow, but stern anchors are sometimes deployed to keep the boat from swinging onto rocks or into other boats. NW cruisers sometimes use a stern line tied to a tree/rock on shore, but rarely if ever use a stern anchor, so this was our first time to use one.

Art tied a firm bowline on a sturdy line and tossed it over--and within moments, the knot released! The anchor was in the sand in 30' of water, unattached to the boat. 

We'd had a bowline--one of the strongest possible knots--release underwater a few years ago, but thought it had more to do with the type of line than the knot itself. Veteran mariners are probably rolling their eyes at this, but we didn't realize a bowline can loosen in water regardless of the type of line (probably because it isn't under load).

Fortunately the water was crystal clear, so Art donned his wetsuit and went "fishing". When he spotted the anchor, he snagged it with a contraption comprised of a fishing rod, a 1-pound ball on a line, and an 80-pound test line. It took all three of us hauling it up from the dinghy, with the spool of line breaking in the process, but haul it up we did! Even the neighboring cruisers were impressed with Art's ingenuity.

Unfortunately the story doesn't end there. Several days later when we deployed that anchor, it somehow broke free in the middle of the night. We retrieved all of our connecting hardware, so we suspect the old shackle snapped. That time the anchor was in 60' of water, and after swinging on our primary anchor for several hours, looking for it would have been the proverbial needle in a haystack. Sad as it was,

Art's "catch" (I did not serve this one for dinner)

we let the old fisherman's anchor rest in peace at the bottom of the sea.

Anchors aweigh? Anchor's away...