Does that mean that I am almost always sailing and anchoring in a "blow"
when I sail in the Leeward and Windard Islands where the trades normally
are 20-25 knots?
krj
JAXAshby wrote:
garth, a blow is 20 knots with waves. Under those conditions, an all-chain
rode will jerk the anchor from the bottom unless the boat owner put out a LOT
of scope (more than a proper rode of some chain and a lot of nylon) and/or hung
50 or 100 pounds of dead weight in the middle of the rode.

chain don't stretch, and when the winds pull the chain more or less tight, wind
gusts can and do put HUGE loads on the anchor system, and jerking from wave
actions as put orders of magnitude more load on the system.

Like I said, NObody chains a boat to a dock or rock on shore. Why would anyone
think they can chain a boat to a rock under the water? ans: they don't think
so. they KNOW the anchor will drag. they are just too lazy to use anything
but all chain in their electric windlass.


From: Garth Almgren
Date: 10/3/2004 7:54 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id:

Around 10/3/2004 3:50 PM, otnmbrd wrote:


JAXAshby wrote:


a.) all chain rode only became popular on recreational boats when boat
owner
got old, fat and bought boats big enough to need need anchors over
20#, and


All chain rodes have been used and reasonably popular since long before
you started going to boat shows.


b.) all chain doesn't hold very well at all in a blow. If you doubt
that,

I do doubt it, especially since you leave "a blow" undefined. Are we
talking hurricane force?


check the anchorages during and after the next blow, see which boats
dragged --
due to an "act of god", of course -- and which did not. then check to
see how
they anchored.

My guess as to how they anchored? One word: Improperly.

Namely, not enough scope of *whatever* kind of rode.


A "blanket" statement, you obviously can't back up with experience and
show that you are unaware that there may be various causes for a boat
dragging which have little to do with the all chain rode.

I'm guessing that all this hypothetical dragging that Jax is talking
about is either due to improper technique or poor bottom, and not what
kind of rode someone chooses to use.



Whatever. For the record, my boat has always had mixed rode. Anyone
anchoring in a 14' open runabout during "a blow" would have to be nuts,
regardless of what kind of rode they're using.


--
~/Garth - 1966 Glastron V-142 Skiflite: "Blue-Boat"
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing about in boats."
-Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows