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Tucson Tony
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Posted: Fri Jun 19th, 2009 09:52 pm |
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I want to take a day trip to San Pedro Island for Scuba diving. I am being told there is no suitable anchorage there for deep keel sailboat. Mine is 4' - 2" . Would not plan to stay there more than 4 - 5 hours for a 2 tank dive.
I have 150' of 5/8" rode with 25' of chain and a backup Danforth with 100' with 25' of chain. Surely there is some kind of solution for this?
Tucson Tony
"Caliente"
Hunter 28.5
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Vince Radice
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Posted: Tue Jun 23rd, 2009 03:35 am |
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Tony day trips are nice out there, you can anchor your sail boat anywhere a dive boat anchors, I do recommend not using a danforth as your primary anchor though and you can consider spending the night since it is such a long trip for a sail boat to go back and forth in a day or going over to San Pedro Point to spend the night. For anyone interested in spending the night the rest of this post is for them.
I have probably spent more nights anchored at Isla San Pedro than just about any other commerical Charter boat in San Carlos. Cunningham's guide tells you there is no suitable overnight anchorage there. With that said here is what my experience has been out there over the last 20 years.
Rarely do I anchor there in winter north westerlies since the South point can have a pretty nasty rap around swell that will give you no relieve or rest for the night. I was once forced to spend a night there in a horrendous northwesterly and I would never do it again.
I have spent most of my nights out there during summer, more specificly, May to early October. I wont even consider anchoring there unless the conditions look right. Looking right means that what ever wind we had during the day needed to be dying down by the time the sun was setting and you could easily tell that the ocean swell was diminishing as well. I have spent most of my nights at the light house on the east side right in front of the sea lion colony, anchored in about 45 feet. Listening to the sea lions barking on and off all night are often high lights of a trip for some.
I have also spent nights anchored at the north point. The north point is actually the best anchorage there if you have a strong southerly wind. In a strong southerly it is very comfortable indeed at the north point as long as the wind and more importantly swell stay out of the south. You need to tuck in kinda of tight and won´t be able to do a 7 to 1 ratio for scope at the north point and you should never use a danforth there unless you have a scuba tank and are willing to dive for it or cut if free when it gets stuck, use a properly rigged rock anchor. I can show you the best method of rigging a bruce or grapple rock anchor that will almost never get stuck if you are not already familiar with how to rig one.
With all that said I have also been chased out of Isla San Pedro due to weather changes more times than I care to remember. Especially if you are anchored at the north point in summer you won´t see the Chubasco coming right out of the south. It invariably happens at 3 in the morning and I tell all my sailing students to be ready to abandone the anchorage at a moments notice should the weather change. It is just an easy 8.5 mile reach to San Pedro Bay if the weather forces you to vacate.
Also in summer time make sure that everything is ready to go before you go to sleep. Everything on deck should be stowed and I often already have a reef point set in the main so that if I decide to put it up it is already reefed and ready to go. Both our cruising boats are cutters so the stay sail is ready to go up in a moments notice as well.
So hope for the best, prepare for the worst. I have spent more great nights out there than bad ones!!!
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Tucson Tony
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Posted: Tue Jun 23rd, 2009 08:29 pm |
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Hi Vince,
Thanks for taking the time for your post. I can tell you that I do not have the level of expertise to do that overnight - would never feel comfortable. I would opt instead for San Pedro Point and the cove. We have a 15 Horse on the dingy, so we can cover the 16 mile round trip to the island quickly. Then catch the afternoon winds for home to S.C. I do have a large Bruce, together with the Danforth. I've seen the rock anchors they make down there with rebar....suppose I could make one here.
Isn't it great that one can get the information by simply asking the question and not ending up in the pile of s- - - because you didn't ask! I would have checked Gerry's Charts - but they're down there on the boat....they still would not have told me what you did.
I would like to come in to your store and talk to you, get your evaluations, possibly lessons on my boat - do you do that?
Regards,
Tucson Tony
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Vince Radice
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Posted: Wed Jun 24th, 2009 01:54 am |
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No problem, I have been out on the water a lot lately so just drop me an email or call me toll free so I know when you are coming.
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barato
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Posted: Tue Jul 21st, 2009 06:41 pm |
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| Vince, by "properly rigged" rock anchor, you mean with a trip line or what?
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Vince Radice
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Posted: Wed Jul 22nd, 2009 06:02 am |
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No no body uses trip lines much here but the end of the chain should be attached to the head and the chain runs down the shank of the anchor and is attached with mono filament line so that if the chain gets stuck under a rock the chain breaks free from the shank and pulls the head of the anchor out of the rocks.
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barato
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Posted: Wed Jul 22nd, 2009 06:07 am |
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| OK, gracias.
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Hook
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Posted: Sun Jul 26th, 2009 03:25 pm |
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Vince, what gauge mono would you recommend and how many wraps?
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Vince Radice
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Posted: Sun Jul 26th, 2009 05:51 pm |
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you kinda of have to experiment with that, obviously the thicker the wire the less the wraps but 60 pound test probably gets 5 to 10 wraps depending on how easily you want it to break free. Yesterday I had to dive on my rock anchor because i was using some copper wire instead monofilament and it wouldn´t break free like it should have.
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Hook
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Posted: Sun Jul 26th, 2009 10:12 pm |
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I think I have seen guys use 4-5 stout cable ties, too. I may try that first.
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RichD
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Posted: Tue Jul 28th, 2009 07:12 pm |
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| I have used cable ties on this sort of anchor and it works well but be sure to check condition or relplace often as they tend to get brittle with age. Some trial and error is a good idea to make sure you can actually break the ties if you need to.
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Vince Radice
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Posted: Fri Jul 31st, 2009 02:47 am |
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very good idea cable ties, will give that a whirl.
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Rockrogers
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Posted: Fri Aug 7th, 2009 07:35 am |
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do youi dive chaters of of sail boats? if so what kind of boat and what is your schedual
rock rogers
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Vince Radice
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Posted: Fri Aug 7th, 2009 09:32 am |
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yes we do charter the trimaran for diving, will be on vaction this weekend until the next weekend.
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