What happens during the interaction of forces on the rode would be
most fascinating.

a way to simplified look at it is to consider the chain/rode/line to have zero
weight pulled between two points (say 100 feet apart), then hang a 1# weight in
the center point and check how much strain it put on the end points when the
weight hangs 20 feet, then 10 feet, then 5 feet, then 1 foot, then 1 inch, then
1/10th inch. Just use trig to figure the forces.

the forces get out of hand ********VERY******** quickly. Even worse, is that
the weight in the middle (or chain) has momentum as the boat rocks, so the
"natural" position of the weight overshoots and makes for seriously high
g-loads.