236 seamanship secrets
- Open the block’s snap shackle and attach the weighted bag’s handles.
- Lower the sentinel. When the line becomes slack, you’ve reached the rope-
to-chain joint. Pull the line up a few feet and cleat it off.
Rig a Shock-Absorbing Buoy System
- Purchase a large mooring buoy with a solid core rod and bails at both ends.
- Make up a line with a length equal to one half of the intended scope of the
rope part of your ground tackle. For example, if the rope part of your tackle
will be 40 feet, make up a separate 20-foot length with a proper eye splice
and thimble in one end. - Cleat the bitter end of this line and shackle the eye at its other end to the top
end of the mooring ball.
A sentinel is a weight sent down the anchor rode on a line that places a bend in the rode.
Th is pushes the rode toward the seabed to keep the anchor dug in.
Rigging a large mooring buoy into your anchoring system helps minimize strain on your deck.