[Alberg30] anchor line danger

[Fraser, Kent W.]

My brother is in Key West on his Hunter 31 and is having a dangerous problem
with his anchor line.  Here's his description of what's going on.  At the
bottom is my 1st guess of what's happening.  What do you think?

>From my brother, Scott:

Problem:  
While at anchor, the anchor line continiously streems aft, along the hull,
with the boat pulling against tightly against the line. 

Hazard: 
High winds can suddenly turn the boat, causing the anchor line to wrap
around the keel. In this condition, the boat is held broadside to the wind.
When broadside to the wind, the force upon the anchorline is considerably
multiplied, and during a storm the other night the line broke.

Conditions: 
Example: Today, I'm anchored in a depth of 30 feet, with 60 feet of anchor
line out (first 25' is chain, the rest line). The tide is going from north
to south at about five knots. The wind is from the South at five to 10
knots, sometimes gusting fairly strong.

The boat is facing north into the outgoing tide, but is holding fwd against
the anchor line, so that the line is running aft along the hull. 

Assuming I didn't have enough drag, I turned the wheel from its locked
center position, to all the way to starboard and locked it in. That seems to
help some. The line is now streeming aft off the bow about 135 degrees to
port. 

As an experiment, I then locked the wheel all the way to port. That turned
the boat on anchor. Now the anchor line is streeming aft off the bow 45
degrees to starboard.

Late tonight:
About 2 am, the tide and wind changed so both were out of the N. The anchor
then streemed directly off the bow.

Specs.:
1983 Hunter 31
LOA 31'4"
LWL 26'3"
Beam 5'6"
Disp. 9.7k lbs.
Ballast 4K lbs.
Freeboard 5'11"

My thought:
I've drawn this out on my white board.  My 1st thought is that the 5-10 knot
winds from the south are hitting the boat's freeboard and sporatically
overriding opposing, almost equal, 5 knot tide from the north.  If the wind
completely overpowered the opposing tide, the boat would point south and
you'd be fine.  The back and forth movement risks the anchor line getting
wrapped around the fin keel.  

Are these conditions of opposing wind and tide existing in each of the
events of the line running aft?


Sapphira (#417)
*****************************
Kent Fraser
Manager, Telecommunications
Fletcher Allen Health Care
1 South Prospect St.
Burlington, VT 05401
(802) 847-5655
(802) 847-5885 (fax)


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