"Jere Lull" skrev i en meddelelse
...
In article ,
"Flemming Torp" fletopkanelbolle2rp.danmark wrote:

I do get your point about letting the waves and the movements of the
boat do a lot of the work, but my experience is, that it can still be
pretty hard work,
SNIP

BTW, I wasn't saying not to get and use a windlass if your
circumstances
warrant it. I'm just offering some techniques I use to protect my bad
back.

I think I was talking to my wife and to myself ... ;o) ...

But, in blowy conditions, the wave action will pull the anchor
effectively if you're up close enough to the anchor. Give the waves
time
to do the work.

Walking back to the cockpit will add about double your weight in
hauling
effort. (Useful when hauling a deeply-set anchor even when it's not
blowy.)

This is very, very true, as I'm in no way a "light weight" guy ...

If you haven't hauled enough rode, the wave action will slack the
chain
up so you can haul in some more every once in a while. No need to rush
as long as the anchor's still set; you're not going anywhere.

Once it breaks free, haul in a few feet, cleat, then tend to the boat
until in open water. Again, no rush; just enough speed for steerage.

What I normally try to do is - if (and only then) I'm under some
"pressure" - to draw so much of the rode into the boat, that I have the
anchor hanging from the bow so I can see it, i.e. a little less down,
than the bottom of the keel - in my case about two meters (6½ - 7 feet)
in total and as fast as possible - but slowly/carefully, yes! - turn 180
degrees, i.e. going "downwind" - and then - without the engine in gear
(or if it is blowing a lot even in reverese, but not more RPMs than the
boat will still go very slowly forward and with the tiller controlled by
the auto pilot) - take care of the rode/chain and the anchor on the deck
and the "mess" ... provided there are no obstacles in front of you, on
the course of course ...

But i still admit, I'm not too comfortable about it ... as KLC
indicates: "Murphy" may have placed something just in front of you ...
but my reasoning is, that if the anchor is above the bottom of the keel,
the problem may not be that serious - unless of course the anchor grabs
a cable/line or the like, makes "injuries" on the front of the boat or
simply "disappears"(!) ... I have in fact seen that once on a pretty
large motor sailor ... suddenly, the guy at the bow was just starring at
the chain ... no anchor ... I don't know what actually happend, but they
were sailing forward with the anchor hanging from the bow ...

Notice how often "no rush" has come up in this thread?

Yes, and I fully agree ... you must try to be in full controll all the
time ... that is why, I would normally wait until the boats behind me
has left, and then there is room for a "no rush" procedure, as you will
normally have the wind from the front ... but as single sailor anchoring
in 20 knots wind or more, I would still like to have an electric
windlass in the front of the boat ... with a remote control ... so the
chain and anchor without problems finds their proper places when I push
the "up-bottom" ... I like the concept ... the brochures are
attractive - don't know if it works in the real world ...

--
Flemming Torp
Gimle/DEN-61