Good Maritime Practice Short Course: Anchor Surveying

Shooting under the engine

We turn on and warm up the engine. We are sending a sailor to the tank. We start the movement at a low speed, synchronously choosing the anchor end (chain). The tank sailor informs the helmsman about the position of the "paner", pulls the anchor out of the ground and informs the helmsman about this by shouting "the anchor is up". From this moment you can pick up speed and maneuver freely. We continue to select the anchor end. The anchor emerged from the water. The tank sailor informs the helmsman with an exclamation “the anchor is clear”. This means that the anchor has not lifted from the bottom neither a cable, nor a cable, nor someone else's anchor chain. The yacht is leaving the anchorage. The anchor is cleaned from the remnants of adhered soil, algae and fastened to the "walk-by" place.

Sailing shooting

Raise the mainsail and spread the booms until the sail is rinsed.

We send the sailor to the tank and start choosing the anchor end, pulling the yacht to the anchor. On small yachts we do it by hand, and on large yachts with the help of a spire. We turn on the spire only when the engine is running (otherwise, we will instantly "put down" the battery). At the exclamation of the tanker “anchor has risen”, the mainsail is carried out into the wind, helping the yacht to slide down to the bendewind course. We put the staysail, choose the boom and the sheet staysail and leave the anchor. We clean the anchor and fasten it on the field. The maneuver is explained (Fig. 2).

Obviously, filming under sail requires a significant amount of free space, which is not always possible in the water area of the marina, as well as the well-coordinated work of the crew. The sequence of operations is the same for shooting under the engine.

a) starting position; b) the anchor end is selected to the limit, the mainsail is brought to the wind; c) the anchor is selected from the ground, the yacht leaves the anchor point

Pulling the anchor out of the ground

We must be prepared for the fact that the anchor does not always “willingly” part with the ground. For example, Danforth's anchor pulls up to 40% of his holding force. Do not despair and do not try to pry the anchor with the spire. In the best case, the fuses will blow. Here are some techniques for releasing the anchor. If the yacht is relatively small, we collect the entire crew on the tank, causing a trim to the bow. We select the anchor end tightly and put it on the mooring ducks or bitng. The crew goes to the stern, the bow comes up and pulls the anchor out of the ground. If there is enough free space around the anchor place, you can “pull” the anchor by fixing the anchor end (stopper, duck, bitng), moving under the engine in different directions.

Cleaning the anchor

Each anchor, regardless of its design, has the property of catching not on the ground, but on objects that are completely undesirable: someone else's anchor chains, cables, pipelines, cramps, stones, snags, hulls of sunken ships, scrap metal, etc. As a rule, such hooks lead to unpleasant troubles and often end in the loss of the anchor. And to lose the anchor, according to the old maritime canons, is a bad omen.

So, the sacramental exclamation of the tank sailor sounded "the anchor is not clean!" What to do? If the anchor is equipped with a buoy (and this is highly desirable!), You can try to release the anchor by choosing a buoype, i.e. applying force acting in the opposite direction. It is better to perform this operation from the yacht's tuzik, and not from the side of the yacht (Fig. 2).

When you hook on someone else's chain, you can raise the latter with a small "cat" anchor to the surface of the water, where it will be convenient to release both the anchor and the "cat" anchor.

It is highly recommended to have light diving equipment on board, complete with a crew member who knows how to use it. Otherwise, you will have to seek outside help. In any case, the anchor should be fought for, given its high cost, as well as the inability to continue sailing without an anchor.

Heading Leader: yacht captain A. Lysenko

20.01.2013