Anchor Wrap - Not a New Hit Song

The Bloke here,

Wind against current can cause problems in an anchorage. If this situation develops get out the F@#K box immediately, you are going to need it. The boat movement will be erratic, to say the least and perhaps, just perhaps the chain may become wrapped around the keel. In this situation wait for slack tide, lower a GoPro into the water to see how and where the wrap is. Then with some urgency, before current starts moving, power the boat forward and turn to release the wrap from the keel. In our case, we moved to starboard and Hey Presto, put away the F@#K box and crack out the beers, Happy Days (again).

Note to self: Remember to cancel the solicitor appointment because that divorce is once again on hold.

 What the GoPro revealed. Ouch, Ouch and Ouch!
The anchor chain wrapped around the keel just above the bulb.

Our Anchor Alarm App recorded our track.

It should have remained on the outer perimeter of the circle.

Up or down-stream, instead of wound tight!

Back to the BlogMistress,

Symptoms of Keel Wrap:
Failure to swing with the tide. See image above.

Prevention:
A stern anchor can be helpful as it will 'set' the direction that your boat lies relative to the current and prevent the boat from riding/sailing over the top of the anchor when it's windy, but 'wisdom' from the internet suggests using an Anchor Rider.  This is a device not dissimilar to a Kellet. The idea is to attach a weight to the anchor chain at a depth that is slightly greater than your keel depth but not as low as the sea bed. This is meant to prevent the chain from trailing across your keel bulb when the wind causes the boat to sail over the top of the anchor. The extra weight offers resistance to the chain preventing a whipping motion (like a skipping rope) across the keel bulb. We experienced rapid direction changes when hit by 25-30knot wind gusts while the boat was lying to the current. The ride was so extreme, the Bloke began experiencing seasickness. That's not his job. It's usually mine!

What we cobbled together:
We used 3 spare weights from a dive belt, a strap with nylon clips and a length of thick cord. We secured the weights together with the cord and then tied a knot in the cord to denote the depth that we should deploy the weights. When the knot was at water level, the weights would be below the level of our keel. The strap was threaded through the weights and sewn so that it could be clipped around the chain, allowing the weights be slipped down the chain. The bitter end of the cord was pulled up over the bow-roller and was secured to a cleat on deck. Pretty simple really.

Anchor Rider cobbled together from items 'just lying about the boat'.

Outcome:
We didn't experience the strength of wind that contributed to or problem again, but our 'Anchor Rider' was easy enough to deploy and subsequently retrieve, and seemed to work OK. Standby for an update when we are next up a river.