Marc & The Anchor

Sailboat at anchor

Marc & Glenn are talking about putting Maravida in the water again and sailing her someplace where she can either be sold, or put to use. So we are talking about this project at lunch the other day and the condition of the anchor, chain and windlass comes up. Do you really need a windlass (a winch for the anchor)? How much does the anchor and chain weigh, anyway? 3, 4, 500 pounds all told. Not something a single person is going to pull out of the water unassisted. And that's if the anchor is not caught on something. When you are pulling the anchor in you may be pulling the boat into the current or against the wind or both. Sometimes the anchor is so stuck that even the windlass won't pull it out. In that case, you fire up the engine and drive the boat over the anchor. Pulling on the anchor from the opposite direction will usually free it.

There was one time however that the anchor was well and truly stuck. They were in the harbor of a city. Even pulling from the opposite direction with the boat didn't help, so Marc puts on his scuba gear and goes down to take a look. The anchor was snagged on big old pipeline, maybe a foot in diameter. (What's in the pipe? What happens if it breaks? Let's not even think about that, it would be really ugly no matter what it was.) He wrestles the anchor out and over the pipe and then hauls himself up the anchor chain hand over hand, because now the anchor is free and dragging and boat is drifting. He had to get someone on the boat to help him aboard.

Update March 2016. Replaced missing picture.