Alderney rings?

[Bigtalljv]

In the googling after my lost anchor I came across the Alderney Ring method of retrieving and anchor. I think my crew (wife and kids) might dig that idea.

anybody actually use it or is it more hassle than it's worth? I'm also wondering if California Kelp might be the end of that idea as well.

Jason

[Poly]

Somewhere in the deep dark past (probably 8 yrs ago) there is a thread here on that very topic. I seem to recall that there were divided opinion with some people believing that they could actually be quite dangerous. As I understand it other than the obvious issue of fouling your prop the real issue come if the anchor is well and truely stuck. In that case the anchor is not coming out so something else has to give - or the boat comes to a very dramatic stop both of which are potentially bad. I believe the advantage of the alderney ring is for lifting heavy anchors or lightly fouled anchors when 'undermanned'.

Personally in your shoes I'd go with the cable ties option and add a shackle as a backup in the same place as the ties when you are diving (or otherwise assess the risk of anchor failure is much worse than anchor fouling).

[Bigtalljv]

ok, the fact that there hasn't been any discussion in 8 years is telling.

In this case (post) I was just looking for reducing human power on regular unstuck retrieval. We do anchor fairly shallow <100' so it's probably not worth it if it's not common. I had the same thoughts about the issues but it was an idea. Unless my teenagers get bigger quick I'm gonna be dreaming about a windless all the time.

Jason

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Poly

Somewhere in the deep dark past (probably 8 yrs ago)

You really had to know what you were searching for to find it:

http://www.rib.net/forum/f8/weigh-an...tml#post168024 (jump forward to post 36 when it gets more interesting)

and

http://www.rib.net/forum/f8/anchorin...tml#post122307

there may be others - I'm not quite Willk with my memory!

[Bigtalljv]

yeah, I'd found those but didn't know if it was just so common that nobody talked about it, or so uncommon...

[willk]

IMO you're overthinking this (I know a lot about overthinking). Maybe buy some light warp for a trip line and employ a fender as a trip line float - that way you can rig a trip on most plough and bruce type anchors. You don't need more kit - just a bit of foresight and practise. I carry an Alderney ring - I really must try a few practise deployments sometime. I have it against the day you had...

PS If you use the Alderney, you'll need a mungo size buoy to make it work. Those puppies take up a lot of space on a RIB.

[Bigtalljv]

I don't mean this to be as snippy as it's going to sound but I didn't really want to mix threads up. So.....

I started a new thread as this is only somewhat related to my current anchor issues. I wasn't asking if this was a solution to my lost anchor, I was curious if anybody did this as I don't have a windless and and getting to the age where I think about how nice that must be. So let's stay on topic

And yeah I realized I'd need the 60# buoy which is quite large.
Jason

[Dan F]

People use them a lot salmon fishing in the Columbia. They seem to work really well, but typically they are in 50' or less of water. It does get a little sketchy when several people start to pull up at once.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Bigtalljv

I don't mean this to be as snippy as it's going to sound but I didn't really want to mix threads up. So.....

My bad - I was thinking more about your use of an aldernay rig to lift your fishing anchor on an ongoing basis - and thus the comment. A fishing anchor or "lunchhook" really shouldn't require an aldernay to recover but you're not referring to that (I now realise).

So - back on topic An aldernay ring is cheap and the technique is straightforward. It works - I think Portnahaven on here uses one. That said, I'd have some reservations about deploying one from an open RIB with kids o/b. There's a lot "happening" but I'd imagine that after a few trial runs, it would be fairly streamlined.

[beamishken]

Our sailing club uses the system on a regular basis to recover race mark anchors & it works well never seen any rope /prop issues
You just need to be sure the anchor is going to break out as if it doesn't then your likely to pull the corner of the boat under
So care needed if your on a rocky bottom & un tripped anchor

[Portnahaven]

I have used the Alderney ring method for the last 20 years, and have pulled out nearly every time. With a bit of practice you can judge the angle of boat to anchor rope, and never take your eye off it. When you apply a controlled amount of throttle the stern will pull towards the rope and its a matter of steering into the rope to swing the stern away. Then give it a little bit more speed and it should keep well to the side of your boat.
If you think the rope is too far under the stern just give it a light touch of reverse, and steer the transom away from rope and try again.
Keep motoring up wind and you will feel/see the buoy bounce up. Then drift back to buoy and gather up loose rope.
An odd time the chain can bunch up and knot which can be a pain.
We sometimes fish in the mid channel in 300-350 ft. which means 1000ft of rope.
Try it in shallow water to get a bit of practice.
As yet i have not managed to fowl the prop.