anchoring and marlinspike seamanship 241
Kedge anchors have a great history of helping free grounded ships from
rocky shoals. The traditional kedge looks like one of those sailor tattoos,
with U-shaped flukes and a long shank. Smaller vessels often need something
light and throwable.
Most groundings aren’t serious, just aggravating. But all of us ground
now and then. Read on for advice on choosing a casting kedge anchor and
rode, followed by simple steps on how to use a casting kedge for ungrounding
your boat.
Casting kedge anchor selection. You’ll need to purchase two throwable
kedges. The 2.5-pound Bruce anchor is ideal. It has no moving parts and sets
quickly. You might also try a strong folding or fixed grapnel anchor.
Casting kedge line selection. Use two 100-foot lengths of^5 / 16 - or^3 / 8 -inch
nylon line. Bend a shackle onto the ring at the end of each shank. Tie a bowline
to the shackle and coil the line.
- Coil and cast. Pass the bitter end of your line over and back under the stern
rail and secure it to a quarter cleat. Coil the remainder of the line (coil toward
the end with the anchor). Brace yourself at the stern rail. Break the coil in
half, with the nondominant hand holding that part of the coil closest to the
cleat. Taking care not to snag the backstay, throw the anchor as far as possible
toward deeper water. If the fi rst throw falls short of where you intended,
haul in the anchor, re-coil the rode, and try again. When the anchor touches
bottom, tug on the line a few times until you feel the fl ukes dig in. - Take the bitter end to a winch. Remove the bitter end from the quarter cleat
and move it to a sheet winch. Take at least three wraps on the drum, then
cleat the line (standard winch) or pass it over the stripper arm and into the
self-tailer jaws (self-tailing winch). - Shift crew weight to the bow. Move your crew to the bow and onto the same
side as your line and winch. Th is heels the boat, lift s the stern, and decreases
draft. - Start grinding slowly. Grind until you have a lot of strain on the line.
When the rode is taut, stop grinding. If you see no apparent movement,
have the crew shift their weight from side to side while staying in the
forward half of the boat. When the boat begins to move astern, continue
grinding slowly, maintaining a constant strain on the kedge. Stop grinding
when you’re within a few yards of the anchor, because further grinding
would risk breaking out the anchor. - Cast out the second kedge. Use the same process and cast out the other kedge
as far past the fi rst as possible. Take the second kedge line to the remaining
sheet winch and make it taut. Retrieve the fi rst kedge and repeat the procedure
until you are free.