Posted by Laurence Monkhouse on March 04, 2003 at 16:16:54 from 62.252.32.6 user Laurence_.
In Reply to: Re: Anchoring posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on February 22, 2003 at 00:00:31:
2a - Yes, I know Stuart White well - he was skipper on that particular voyage - and a better skipper I have yet to sail with.
I don't like cqr anchors at all, at least on the East Coast. I got rid of mine after dragging right across the Roach the first season I had it. Since then I have used a Danforth as the bower and a fisherman's as kedge - neither has ever let me down. Neither seems to need much setting in.
Perhaps you are right about Jim using only 30 feet of chain to anchor on the Shelf as his chain was clearly quite heavy and difficult to handle. I have only 2 tons displacement, comparatively light chain, and a ship which delights in sheering all over the place so I always let out a lot of chain just to save hassle. In fact I would have used my kedge and warp rather than the bower under the circumstances of WD, but Jim's was clearly not ready for instant service (as it should have been) since it was fastened by knots which could not be untied easily and its warp was at the other end of the ship.
It strikes me that it was rather fortunate that Commander Walker was, one assumes, in a position to have a naval crew sent from HMS Ganges to retrieve the anchor and chain "as an exercise" since it was back on the Goblin only a few days later. It would have been quite a difficult operation for mere mortals!