[Rhodes22-list] Heave-To

Bill Effros bill at effros.com
Sat Jan 14 14:47:46 EST 2006


Peter,

Any time I find myself on the water in winds over 30 kts. I will 
heave-to.  Let the wind work for you instead of against you.  I won't 
anchor; I won't storm anchor; I won't drogue.  I won't fight the wind.  
I consider it a losing battle.  Anchor considerations in high winds are 
only (as far as I'm concerned) for when you're not on your boat. 

When hove-to, the high freeboard on a Rhodes actually works for you, not 
against you.  I spent a summer heaving-to.  It might have been before 
you joined the list.  I highly recommend it for the things you seem to 
be most worried about.  You can do it for days on end, if need be.  You 
can set it and retreat to the cabin.  The boat remains calm and peaceful 
even in awful storms.  It's like creating a situation where you remain 
in the eye of the hurricane.

Bill Effros

Peter Thorn wrote:

>Hi Mary Lou,
>
>It's quite windy and blowing in cold here and could get as low as 28
>tonight!   My skipper cancelled the NYRA winter series racing at Blackbeard
>SC on the Neuse River, so I spent most of the morning messing around with
>that Anchor Catenary program Ron attached.
>
>Using my imagined problem of being stuck out in the Pamlico, out of sight of
>land, in 20' of water over a muck bottom, using Raven's storm anchor (FX11,
>16' chain, 150' 3/8" three stand nylon all out), and setting the Kellet at
>75', here are the results:
>
>        Kellet = 0#  =  95.2#
>        Kellet = 10  = 131.5
>        Kellet = 20  = 168.0
>
>Now it's just a matter of trying to figure out what these results actually
>mean.  I'm a builder, not a genius.  My guess is that, with the catenary
>shape described by the graph shown on the catenary analyzer program, those
>are the various horizontal thrust forces holding each particular catenary
>profile shape in equilibrium against an infinitely strong anchor.  So, a 10#
>Kellet provides a 38% increase and a 20# Kellet provides a 76% increase in
>the force needed to hold each's catenary shape versus no Kellet at all.  If
>my guess is right, then a Kellet does help quite a bit, adding significantly
>to the "shock absorber effect" Rik wrote about.
>
>Yes, we use a 10# steel mushroom anchor on 3/8 nylon as a lunch hook.  Works
>well in any mud bottom and doesn't seem to snag on the stumps in Kerr Lake
>the Army Corp of Engineers forgot to grub out before they filled the lake in
>the '60s.
>
>So... I'm thinking about modifying the 10# mushroom anchor with another
>quick link (through its nylon rode eye) and a big S hook to ride down the
>storm anchor rode as a make-shift Kellet.  This capital investment might be
>a whopping $5, so there's not much to loose by trying.  A possible
>enhancement is to melt down some lead tire weights on a Coleman stove
>outside and pour 2 or 3 cups of hot lead weight into the mushroom bell.
>Maybe that's too obsessive-- even for me.
>
>The big worry is getting caught halfway to Ocracoke in a summer storm.  Out
>in the middle you lose sight of land for about an hour and there's no place
>to hide.  The wind driven waves are short and square.  They come up fast, so
>having a method ready to keep the bow to the wind would be very good indeed.
>That Boy Scout training never goes away.
>
>Late last October at Silver Lake on Ocracoke at 5:30am a local storm hit our
>trailer sailor group.  55 Knot winds were reported on WX.  Raven, with the
>pop top cover up, heeled 30 degrees against her docklines.  It was gone in
>30 minutes, but imagine being out in that!
>
>PT
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Mary Lou Troy" <mltroy at verizon.net>
>To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
>Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2006 11:41 AM
>Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] anchoring obsession
>
>
>  
>
>>Peter,
>>My purely theoretical take on this - having never used a kellet, is that
>>    
>>
>it
>  
>
>>might help - particularly if the winds were not very steady or if there
>>    
>>
>was
>  
>
>>wave action.
>>
>>Have you used the mushroom much as a lunch hook?
>>
>>Mary Lou
>>1991 R22 Fretless
>>Ft. Washington, PA / Swan Creek, MD
>>
>>
>>
>>At 04:29 PM 1/13/2006 -0500, you wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>GlacierRon, Dave, Bill or anybody:
>>>
>>>You have me thinking about anchors and not getting any work done  :)
>>>
>>>Suppose I'm out in the Pamlico Sound, with it's mucky bottom in 20' of
>>>      
>>>
>water
>  
>
>>>and a squall comes up.  Would it help to use the lunch hook, a 10# steel
>>>mushroom anchor with a 3/8" nylon rode, as a Kellet  shackled to the
>>>      
>>>
>storm
>  
>
>>>anchor rode?   The storm anchor is FX11 Fortress with 16' of 1/4" proof
>>>      
>>>
>coil
>  
>
>>>chain plus 3/8" three strand nylon rode?  Or, could it just make things
>>>worse?
>>>
>>>Any thoughts welcome.
>>>
>>>PT
>>>
>>>__________________________________________________
>>>Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
>>>      
>>>
>>__________________________________________________
>>Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
>>    
>>
>
>__________________________________________________
>Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
>
>  
>


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