Recovering a lost anchor

IF YOU WANT to call yourself a sailor, you really should know how to recover a lost anchor.  Here, in the words of a very old salt, is the way they used to do it in the days before you could effect a quick and painless replacement by flashing a credit card in a West Marine store:

You will need two boats, an oarsman in each. Fasten a weight to the middle of a long, heavy line to keep it down; also, position weights about 10 feet from the middle.

Fasten the ends of the line to the two boats, coiling it loosely in each. Row to windward of the estimated position of the anchor, then row the boats away from each other to run out the line so it will be stretched just off the bottom. Row the boats down toward the estimated position of the anchor.

When the bight of the line catches on the anchor’s fluke, cross the boats to take a round turn around the fluke. Make a running bowline at the end of another line, around the drag line, weight it so it sinks, and slip it down. When the bowline is fast to the fluke, pull up the anchor.

There. Ta-da! Nothing to it!

Today’s Thought

The wonder is always new that any sane man can be a sailor.
— Emerson, English Traits

Tailpiece

“Waiter, is this tea or coffee? It tastes like turpentine.”
“Oh, it must be the tea, sir. The coffee tastes like kerosene.”

(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)