So thankful for helpful boaters like Mark and Jackie Pitts of SV Chrokeva. With their help, we have retrieved our 500 ft of 1/2″ BBB chain and our 105 lb CQR anchor. At over $1o/ft on the chain and more than $2K for the anchor, that’s $7,000 worth of ground tackle they helped us get back. So very glad they were around!
On Sunday, we dragged anchor when our snubber snapped and we managed to wrap the chain around something on the bottom of the anchorage that just wouldn’t let go. In 20 knots of wind and too close to the rocks of a breakwater, we decided to attach a couple fenders to our ground tackle, take a slip in nearby Pillar Point Harbor and come back to untangle the wrap and retrieve the ground tackle another day. Yesterday, David and I along with Mark and Jackie motored out to the anchorage and discovered a windlass problem and a little too much wind preventing our retrieval. Last night, David troubleshot the problem–a tiny 1 amp glass fuse in the switch may have been it–replace the fuse, rigged a bypass switch just-in-case and this morning we four headed back out to get the ground tackle. Perfect day for it with no wind.
All went well for the first 250 feet of chain and then the windlass said “I’m hot” and stopped working (it’s back working again now, btw) so rather than twiddle our thumbs while it decided to work again we used the “back up” method of chain grabber and a line run to our big Barient No. 32 3 speed sheet winches. It worked like a charm, but David cranking and me tailing 250 ft of chain was very tiring. Mark was covered in mud when all was done since he had the honors of reattaching the chain grabber to the chain every 20 ft.
We’re happy sailors to have our primary ground tackle back aboard the boat. Now we’ll be figuring out what the windlass’s problem may be. In the meanwhile, we’re so grateful for the help of boaters like the crew of SV Chrokeva.
David, Mark, and Jackie while we retrieve chain
250 ft of chain is in the locker, and 250 ft here on deck:
Muddy Mark and Jackie:
