My Irene Anchoring Post Mortem

[Captain Smollett]

The Manson Supreme is a BEAST.

Recently at West Marine, I saw a fellow getting new Manson for his 35 ft boat.  Based on a comment the clerk said after he left, it may have been a trade-in on a Chinese Rocna.  Anyway, wanting to give the guy some reassurance that what he was getting was good gear, I told him that my boat just road to a Manson through Irene..with no problems related to the anchor gear.

He blew me off.  After he left, the sales guy said, "he's an experience sailor..." he knows EVERYTHING was the unsaid comment dripping from his tone. Oh well.  I was just trying to relate something positive about the gear he was getting.  Sue me.

(I'll refrain from summarizing the remainder of the conversation between the clerk and the sailor guy...though perhaps relevant...let's just say that tried and true, and well documented, anchoring techniques were claimed to be "new."  I guess 100's of years of Tall Ship experience is 'new;' oh well).

Anyway, here's my detailed anchoring-in-Irene thread.  This was my first "go out and intentionally anchor in a hurricane" experience, and I learned a lot.  I find it useful to be EXTREMELY humble in the things I did 'wrong,' even in the wake of my boat making it through the storm unscathed.

I apologize in advance if this is overly detailed.  The short version for those not wanting the details:  with both Manson and Claw on the bottom, the Clas drug a bit but the Manson did not, even with a 180 degree shift from the angle at which it set.  It was undoubtedly helped by the claw, good section of chain and plenty of 'storm scope.'

Okay, so first, my options on where to go to anchor out.  

My first pick is a creek off the Neuse River called Broad Creek.  It's got great characteristics for a 'hidey hole,' and I've been on that creek up about 5 miles or so from it's mouth on the Neuse.



The downside?

There's a large sailing club ON that creek that has mandatory evacuations in hurricanes and another marina very close that likely has some boats pulling out as well.  The upshot is that the creek gets very crowded, at least lower down.  I'd have to thread through a few anchored boats, sometimes with very thin ribbons of navigable waters.

Sure looks inviting, both on the chart and after being there...but the other downside is that it is just that much farther away from where I am.  Overcome-able, but not ideal.  

What is ideal in this world?

My second option is the "city anchorage," but, uh, no thanks.  Too many boats sit there for months (or more) on end with no one around at all...and sometimes some of them seem to drag if the sun comes up.  Let's call this Plan K or L.

A bit up the Trent is Brice's Creek (or sometimes called Brice Creek, I wonder if anyone even knows the official name), but I rejected this as a bit narrow (I didn't want to anchor on the navigable channel); plus, I figured (correctly) that there would already be other boats hiding there.  Along the Trent between 'town' and Brice's Creek or just beyond is popular with the big power boats (trawlers and the like), but I rejected that area as too little protection from the NE period of winds.  To my mind, low marsh is not "protection," but I must say my acquaintances that anchored along this stretch did just fine.

Up the Trent looks good for THIS storm as we were looking at forecasts of NE becomeing N becoming W...with the biggies (50-60 knot sustained) from the NNE ish sector of the rose.



So, I chose a section of river that had protection and little fetch from the NE, and 'shallow' water so I could lay lots of scope without committing to big swinging.  This spot was only about 4 miles from the marina and I had been up there before (so not "new" waters for me, though I had never anchored there).

My gear:

I'm gonna get blasted for some of my decisions, but so be it.  I did what I did and in hindsight would NOT make some of the same decisions again.

I own three anchors:  35 lb Manson Supreme (primary), 33 lb Simpson Lawrence Claw (secondary) and 22 lb Danforth clone (West Variety).  My primary has 60 ft of 5/16" G4, so the chain weighs about 90ish pounds.  Behind that is "more than enough" nylon rode.

In a cockpit locker I had the 60 ft piece of 5/16" G4 that I had used on my "mooring" in Georgetown, SC.  I had planned to use this on the Claw...but alas, when I went to boat to make preps on Thursday, I found that it was so badly rusted, chucks of links were flaking off, that there was no way that I would trust ANY part of my ground tackle system to this chain.  My 'spare' nylon rode proved to be smaller than I'd have liked...and shorter.

So, I got to the boat at 7 am on Friday, ready to move the boat upriver and get her anchored (winds were already 15 from the East..and only gonna build from there) and West Marine (a) not opening until 8 am and (b) not known to carry the chain I needed in stock (or a piece of nylon better suited), I chose to go with what I had.

So, here's my tackle as I left the marina:

Primary:  35 lb Manson Supreme, 60 ft of 5/16" chain, plenty of large (over size) diameter nylon

Secondary: 33 lb claw, 80 ft of 'too thin to my eye' nylon.

The Danforth stayed stored ashore...no rode and my anchoring plan did not call for three anchors.

Here I imagine I get criticized.  "Put down everything you have" some say, or "do everything you can."  True.  But, the Danforth is NOT a good anchor for the setup I was looking at, and I really was putting ALL my trust in the forecast wind directions (with reason, this was not "blind" trust).  Also, I was planning to anchor in a relatively narrow slice, so that if I had any unplanned wind direction and I did drag, odds were that I'd drag to put the boat aground on a soft bottom and that would be that.  I believed at the time that I could live with that.

So, no, the Danforth clone stayed home.  The plan was to put the two I had MUCH more faith in down in a configuration that I thought was going to be the best guard given my chosen anchorage and the predicted winds.

Sometimes, you roll the dice.  Well, at least I think so...if you only act when you are 100% sure of the outcome, you'll never act.  Life just ain't that certain.

I might point out that the dude at West Marine (this was after the storm) said the Danforth style anchor was the anchor of choice for this area, though he admitted (when I mentioned it) that true, they don't reset on a 180 degree windshift (which we have often enough with afternoon summer thunder-boomers).

On the primary, the shackles were secured with whipping twine and heavy duty tape.  Wire would have been a better choice than fiber twine, and in the past I've used nylon zip-ties to secure shackles.  I used what I had, figuring something was better than nothing, and the heavy tape was to prevent chafe of the fiber twine.

On the secondary, the rode was tied to the anchor shackle and the tail seized to the standing part with whipping twine.  Again, heavy duty tape was used to 'protect' the seizing. Twine was also used on the shackle between rode and anchor.

The Plan:

Okay, so the idea was to put the Manson out on enough rode to be "really secure" and pretend that the Manson was the only anchor I had.  I thought that if I could build in security with a one-anchor mindset, the second anchor was insurance.  The claw went in due west of the Manson with the boat lying at the end of about 13:1 total rode (chain + nylon).  I ensured the Manson was well set.

First Mistake:  When formulated my plan, I did not figure on the wind being from the East while anchoring, so that I was lying right where I wanted the claw.  So, I dropped it there anyway and did my best to set it artificially.  Basically, the claw sat on the bottom with a coil of line near it.  I was lying solely to the Manson for the first 12+ hours of the weather at least.

Given the lower faith in the secondary (lighter line, no chain, much less scope, only about 10:1), I chose to incorporate my 25 lb kellet/sentinel to that line.  I tied the weights to the rode with three rolling hitches about 10-12 feet from the anchor.

When I got back to the house, I drew a geometric representation of my anchoring system...and was smug in the geometric result that I'd equalize the load on both anchors with the wind about 15 degrees E of North.  I doubted the claw would hold by itself when the time came. The wind was going to shift to the west, but by then it was SUPPOSED to have abated somewhat.  Again, I thought it was going to be okay; if the westerly proved too much for the claw, the Manson was still there of the claw drug.

I had planned to put spare dock lines on the anchor rodes as "insurance" against chafe.  For some reason I do not remember, I neglected to do this.  I think I just forgot.  I did tie on some chafe protection (dish towels and wash rags, secured with heavy duty tape) where the lines went over the side.

Due to my repairs in progress, I don't have any chocks installed.  The bow lines essentially ride right over the edge of the hull.  This was BAD in my mind, but could not really be helped.  I pondered temporarily installing some chocks to protect the anchor rodes, but given that the installation would have been weak, I doubted it would make much difference in the end.

So, I left the boat with something someone might consider chafe protection, no back-up lines leading from the foredeck to over the side, one really good anchor (well set on plenty of scope), one really questionable anchor (questionably set on too-short and too-thin rode with no chain) and the final thought that "well, there she is...we'll see where she ends up."

The Post Mortem:

One of the first things I notice, approaching the boat on the dinghy on Sunday afternoon, was that the chafe "gear" I had placed had slid down the rodes and was at the water, not up on the deck where I needed it.

That said, though, neither rode had any visible chafe.  None.  I was surprised; based on Kurt's earlier post, I half expected the line, if not chafed completely through, to be mere threads.

The only difference I can fathom is that of protection..both in terms of water (less wave action) and wind (less fetch).  When I saw her Saturday afternoon, the eye had already passed (about 20 miles away as the crow flies), and the wind was from the West...and the river was "rough."  It was blowing 40-ish knots, and the river was rough.

But, not as rough as in an open roadstead or harbor with ocean pouring in.  Her "bounce" was probably quite a bit less than in that condition.

Another note observed quickly:  My newly mounted 12" Herreschoff cleats held.  They were mounted thus:  under the deck was a large piece of 3/8" G10 Garolight epoxied to the underside of the deck; on top, 3/32"-1/8" piece of hand-laid (6 oz) cloth in epoxy was used as a pad to raise the 'contact' point of the cleat with the deck.  This pad was epoxied into place, and the bedding was done on top.  This section of deck was faired, primed and painted well before the storm.

Both cleats held and there appears to be no stressing of the foredeck.  I doubt very seriously that it is possible to overbuild the foredeck cleats if you plan to use them for things like anchoring out in a hurricane.

Tree limbs, some large and all kinda water logged, had wedged around the anchor lines, and this proved harder than I imagined to dislodge.  It took some hard work and patience/technique to get 'em, but they were finally freed.  Careful choosing of a hurricane anchoring site will minimize this, but I guess it's always possible.

The claw pulled up with no resistance.  I got the kellet up, then the anchor itself.  All three of the rolling hitches securing the kellet were still intact, though two of them had slid together (they were separated by about 6" as tied).  The claw was not dug in (it pulled up with no "break out" force needed) and had no visible mud on it when it broke the water.  I wonder if it was set at all in the end.

The claw did not pull down COMPLETELY in a drag, though...the boat was lying to BOTH anchors in the ebbing current.  She was very clearly NOT where she would have been had the claw held, as she was down stream of the Manson...recall the claw rode was shorter.

My read is that the Manson did the Lion's share of the work, and when the wind got too much westing into it, the claw drug until some support from the Manson happened.  The Manson was set with the boat due west of the anchor, but still held with the wind through N and W and ebb current setting east.  180 degree shifts did not bother it.

Comment on the westing of the wind: I had anticipated a little more drop in speed of the wind as it moved into the west.  As it turned out, we still had some 'push' in it when it shifted.  In fact, this was one of the reasons I went to check on the boat Saturday afternoon anyway...because the wind was in the west with more hmmmfff than I thought it'd have by the time it got westerly.

The Manson was pulled up with it's usual additional 10 lbs of mud (sometimes more, but this time relatively light).  It was thoroughly dug in, but easier than I thought to pull out. A couple of heaves and here she comes.  Less effort than I feared.

All whipping twine and heavy duty tape remained intact.  The seized anchor bend on the secondary was as I left it.  I give good marks to the heavy duty, thick variety of duct tape (not the 'el cheapo' off brand stuff).

After motoring back downriver to the "city anchorage," I again set both anchors.  Different this time was that I tied a rolling hitch to secure the secondary to the primary rode, then let out additional scope on the primary to put the vertex of the 'v' well below the water surface (and keel depth).  I had taken the second anchor out with the dinghy.

The second anchor was probably unnecessary for this, but I had it on deck and I figured why not.  Plus, there was a BIG power boat down current from me (was a friend...Keith, who had anchored even farther upriver from where I was), and I did not want to take any chance of dragging down.

The next day, pulling the ground tackle, I could not, no matter how hard I tried, get the claw pulled up. So, I buoyed it with a spare fender and left it...again, the Manson, doing a fine job of holding, pulled up relatively easily, though I will say hauling 60 ft of chain by hand two days in a row is...well, not exactly "easy."  Maybe I'm just showing how big of a weakling I really am.

A day later, I got out there with the dink to pull the stuck claw.  The 2.5 HP dinghy engine was sufficient to the task of breaking the rode loose from what I think was yet another tree limb (cypress leaves came  up with the rode after it broke free), and once it was broken loose, it was a small matter to pull the anchor itself in.  With the anchor tied to the dink, I slowly motored back to the marina, having recovered all my gear.

They say that you should have a good anchor for the dink...33 lb claw anyone?



Things I'll do different Next Time:

(1) Obviously, the #2 anchor will have both a better rode and a better set.  I would prefer to have at least a little chain on there, but even barring that, she'll go with larger diameter and longer scope-able rode.  I'll position the secondary better, and take more time to secure a 'known good' set from the beginning.

(2) Chafe Protection:  Neglecting to put auxilliary lines from the cleats rolling hitched (or tied to the chain shackles) to the rodes below the chafe points was a major breach.  Yes, my lines did not chafe.  But they could have, and I was fully expecting them to.

In fact, chafe was my biggest fear.  I had a lot of confidence in the set of the Manson (she was well set, and oversize for my boat, etc).  But parting of the rode is a failure the best anchor and best set of that anchor cannot fix.  I had 'visions' of my boat crashing into downwind anchored boats, docks and homes with little stubs of cleated off, chafed-through lines on deck.

(3) Location?  Well, for this storm, this location was pretty good, in my opinion.  That's going to be, to some extent, storm dependent.  If we were going to max out with any other quadrant other than NE, where I was would NOT have been all that good.

Yes, the forecasters can miss on the track.  That's why we carefully evaluate their forecast accuracy for the days leading up to our landfall.  I was pretty confident in the forecast directions, but even then, the 'bigger winds' got more westing in them than I was anticipating.

Oh well.  You cannot always effectively plan for everything.

(4) Anchor out vs marina

This is a no brainer for me, provided a decent anchoring location can be found.

Our marina had three docks.  One was evacuated during the storm.  Of the two that kept boats on them, one has been officially condemned, and I personally have serious doubts about the integrity of the other.

One boat sank.  Have you seen nylon rope saw into wood?



Many others were damaged as the hit pilings or the docks themselves.

Lots of pilings have been broken loose...leaning a bit this week.

The dock itself (the one NOT condemed) has been broken...



(that's broken, not a seam and not a cut)

Another marina less than a mile away had a completely destroyed dock and at least one boat sunk.

Hauling at a boat yard?

Maybe.  One yard I saw three boats blown off stands and another yard had at least one boat blown over.

Of the anchored boats that were ACTIVELY anchored (ie, taken out and storm anchors put down), I don't know of any damage beyond one sail boat with shredded mainsail that was not removed from the boom.  Of the anchored boats that I know dragged, they did not seem to be tended to prior to the storm.

I have personal knowledge of several LARGE power boats, and my smallish sail boat, anchored on the same river that did not drag and suffered no damage.

You be the judge.  I know where my bets will continue to be placed.

[JWalker]

Thanks for taking the time to write that up!

[s/v Faith]

Excellent write up!

Might I just add (since I was tending 2 boats a couple miles away)....

...this was a significant storm. 

At the 3:30 am trip down the dock I had to crawl... or risk being blown off the dock.

The USCG vessel that was made up at the marina recorded a max wind gust of 121(mph).
(no idea why it was reported as mph).

[Captain Smollett]

At the 3:30 am trip down the dock I had to crawl... or risk being blown off the dock.

The USCG vessel that was made up at the marina recorded a max wind gust of 121(mph).
(no idea why it was reported as mph).

And 3:30 am was 6-7 hours before it "REALLY" started blowing...   ;)

Do you have any idea what time that gust was recorded?  My guess would be sometime between 11 am and 2 or so pm.

The after-eye-pass behavior was very different than I was expecting.  The sustained wind did die off a bit, but we still had some VERY big gusts late into the afternoon.  I drove over both Trent River bridges in the 4 pm - 6 pm time slot, and it still was gusting like mad...still gusts in the 60's at least by my best guess.

It was probably not until 7 pm or 8 pm before I observed, "hey, I have not heard a gust in a while," and course, that statement was followed by a big puff.   ;D 

Rain started here about 1 pm Friday, and winds were what I'd call "light squally" into Friday evening.  By 3 am, it was blowing in earnest.  Did not really lighten up until about 10 pm - midnight Saturday, so we had let's say close to 24 hours of TS (or greater) conditions.

10 miles closer to the eyewall got HAMMERED.  I drove over there Monday to check on some things, and NB got off light compared to over there.

Interestingly, I called Bock Marine on the ICW, and they had NO damage whatsoever...open for business Monday morning.

It's amazing how localized some of the damage can be...and so unpredictable.  We play the probabilities as best we can, but ...

[Cruise]

 Glad you made it safely through the storm.
I was at anchor in Oriental,NC as the storm was approaching. After obtaining local knowledge, I headed across the Neuse River to the South River. As it turns out, I headed directly into the path of Irene.
It really started blowing hard at 2:00 AM, and the eye hit at 8:10 AM. What was weird was that the eye stayed over me for 2 1/2 hours. At 10:40 the back side hit me with a vengeance, and blew hard till about 10:00 PM. After that I fell asleep but there were still moderate gusts. I awoke at 4:00 AM to a flat calm and the most amazing star watching I have ever seen as power was out in all directions for who knows how many miles.
It was very, very uncomfortable, but my boat held and sustained no damage. I am just thankful that she came ashore as a Cat 1 instead of the strong 2 or even 3 that was forecast.
               Keith   s/v Saga

[Captain Smollett]

Wow, Keith, glad you made it okay.  If that storm had done what they were predicting on Thursday she might do, we'd all likely be singing a different tune today.

How long you in the area?  I might be anchored on the South River tomorrow.  Small world.   ;)

Fair Winds,

--JR

PS:  I'd love to hear more detail about your anchoring tactics.  Thanks.

[Cruise]

Hey JR,

I am back in Oriental now.
I didn't mention that my motor broke down on the way to the South River. I had a bolt corrode in the heat exchanger and had to get that removed. I must admit that the guys at Beta Marine went out of their way to help me, and I had my motor running this evening. She runs good at anchor, but I hope to test her under load tomorrow.
I,I've had overheating issues ever since I bought this boat in June. It has a 20 HP Beta that had only 4.5 hours on it, but it was installed in 2006. There was lots of calcium build-up  in the heat exchanger, but hopefully I have fixed the problem tomorrow.
So I am the only boat anchored in the Oriental right now. I will be sailking to Ocracoke in a few days, then to who knows where until I head south in a month or so.
As far as anchoring for the storm, I just threw out all I had...2 Bruces and a big Danforth. I hate using three anchors because they can get fouled easier I(in my opinion), but with the forecast I felt that I needed all the holding I Could get....and I did.
Three anchors are always hard to get up also, especially after a hurricane and with no motor (on my boat or dinghy). Thankfully I have a manual windlass, and it worked beautifully. The harder thing was getting out of the side creek I anchored in. What little breeze there was was blowing me deeper into the creek, so I had to get in my 7' rowing dinghy and tow my 15,000 pound, full-keeled boat out far enough so that I could get out of there. That took a good 90 minutes or so.
  I was surprised to see gators in the South River. I knew they were in the Croatan, but thought the South River would be too salty for them.
  Maybe I'll see you on the water tomorrow.
               Keith

[Cruise]

A wild ride for my dinghy in Irene...

[GreggA107]

In the upper Broad Creek, there's a nice Wildlife boat ramp with a good road leading to it.  That would have been a great place to anchor, dingy over to the ramp and drive off, only to have someone bring you back to dingy out to navigate the boat out of the creek and back home again.

Been fishing in the Northwest, Broad and Goose creeks as well as the Neuse and Pamlico sound all my life with my dad, uncles and my brothers.  The biggest gray trout I ever caught was in West Bay of Pamlico Sound.  You're in my stomping grounds now!!!  HAHAHAHA!

I hear Blackbeard's Marina / Sailing Club is nice, I had a Computer Networking instructor from college that's moored his San Juan there.

[Captain Smollett]

In the upper Broad Creek, there's a nice Wildlife boat ramp with a good road leading to it.  That would have been a great place to anchor, dingy over to the ramp and drive off, only to have someone bring you back to dingy out to navigate the boat out of the creek and back home again.

Hi Greg,

Yep, I've been up to that ramp.

The problem with Upper Broad Creek is that the club empties out pretty early on signs of a hurricane...and that's a LOT of boats.

During Irene, they had 13 boats break loose or drag ashore, including one that broke free and was found EIGHTY miles away (in Englehard).

The creeks has all the marks of a good hurricane hole except the crowd...

I hear Blackbeard's Marina / Sailing Club is nice, I had a Computer Networking instructor from college that's moored his San Juan there.

They have Wednesday Night club racing, and 'no one stands on the dock' that wants on a boat.  If you want to come over and sail with some of the guys, let me know.  I have a few contacts at that club.

The San Juan 21 fleet is very active in one-design racing, also.

[Captain Smollett]

Found this radar image of Irene that I capture a bit after 0800.

New Bern is the little plus in a circle above the "e" in Jacksonville.  You can see that at that time, we were getting the bulk of the rain.  The eye had not quite come ashore yet.

Also, note we had been without power several hours but still had cell phone service!

[Kettlewell]

Great write up! Thanks for sharing such an honest report of what happened. I don't think second guessing would do you much good--it sounds like you know what to do next time. The one comment I will make, is that I have used two Fortress anchors along with a heavier primary anchor in a similar set up, but the primary was on all chain and the lighter anchors on mostly rope with short lengths of chain. Three anchors like that held my boat in Gloria and the eye went right over it. Most of the mooring field near my boat dragged ashore. My usual tactic would be to lay out the main anchor on all chain first, facing the direction of the worst exposure or the worst wind was to come from. I would then take out the other two anchors in the dinghy in roughly a star pattern. All would be on very long scope to maximize holding power and deal with storm surge. I lead the various lines to different cleats if possible. Yes, they get wound up, but it is relatively easy to uncleat the lines and unwind them from around the chain, after it is all over. One thing I have also tried, with some success, is to take a lighter line, maybe 3/8" nylon, and lash all three rodes together tightly, with many wraps of the nylon maybe twenty or thirty feet down the chain. This creates one single lead from the bow of the boat that can also be wrapped very tightly with chafing gear and lead over the bow roller. I also lash this lead down to the bow roller very tightly in order to keep it from jumping out if there could be big wave action.