Big Mistake Last Weekend

[rbarthur21]

Last Sunday, we decided to head down to our favorite beach, Cayo Costa. The water was beautiful heading down through the Harbor out to the island. When we got out to the Gulf the wind picked up and there were some decent swells. As we got closer to the beach, the waves were larger than we normally encounter. I dropped anchor and got it set. I backed into the beach until we were in about three feet of water about 10 feet from the shoreline. I got out into the water to set the rear anchor. As I was setting the rear anchor, the front anchor broke loose and the boat starts moving on me. In two waves, before I could react, the boat had been thrown on the beach.

I fought for about an hour to get it unstuck with no luck. My wife is 5 months pregnant so she couldn’t assist like she would have liked to. Fortunately, two people came walking down the beach and helped me get it back in the water. I had started to call for a tow as these kind people showed up. We’ve helped several people push off in the past who have been stuck when they beach and the tide goes out on them a little too much. I’ve never seen anyone have the issue we did. Once the boat was back in the water, I had to get some sand out of the gate, but it fired right up and drove perfect. We were all a little shook up and exhausted to say the least. Not the afternoon we were looking for or expecting. Just a friendly reminder to everyone to be careful out there. Things can get away from you quickly! And if you see someone stuck, help them. It will come back to you someday!

 

[Beachbummer]

1) Worst places to be stuck, that beach is very pretty!!!
2) So glad you got out mostly unscathed. I can recommend and 13lbs Mantus anchor that holds QUICKLY and retains hold in adverse conditions. My 4lbs Fortress is also a great anchor so far, but can be trickier to set in unfriendly bottom. Perhaps a review of your anchor can improve your chances in the future? more chain or more weight? Scope is also a factor, but so is LUCK, maybe you had everything right and it just wasn't your day.

Glad you made it out OK!

 

[Dave burke]

Holy crap, looks like you were beached pretty bad. Glad you got out ok.

 

[David Martin]

Sometimes crap happens.....those gulf waves can overtake a anchor that might not have set well. I use a box anchor and I would not trust it to the gulf side waves on a windy day. I boat and anchor in Charlotte Bay all the time.........I'm glad you got help.....I think you are getting great advice more rode and defiantly more chain. My set up is 4ft chain and it just enough for the bay side....I do use more rode than normal.

Been think of a 8 to10ft chain for a while..........thanks for sharing......... chain purchase just moved up on my todo list.

 

[mark_m]

Don’t beat yourself up about it. Glad that you got her back afloat!

 

[rbarthur21]

Sometimes crap happens.....those gulf waves can overtake a anchor that might not have set well. I use a box anchor and I would not trust it to the gulf side waves on a windy day. I boat and anchor in Charlotte Bay all the time.........I'm glad you got help.....I think you are getting great advice more rode and defiantly more chain. My set up is 4ft chain and it just enough for the bay side....I do use more rode than normal.

Been think of a 8 to10ft chain for a while..........thanks for sharing......... chain purchase just moved up on my todo list.

Crazy thing is I had just been talking with another member about anchoring. He suggested a longer chain. That week I had bought a 6 foot chain (currently only running 3 feet) and I had it in the boat But the issue I was having was getting it to set. I always put out 35-40’ of rode. Sometimes it sets right away, but occasionally it takes a few tries. So the other member suggested the longer chain to resolve this. However, I’ve never had it break loose after setting before. That was a first!

 

[Ericd]

Glad you were able to get it off the beach and back home safe.

I watched this last night. Contender didn’t fair very well anchored off beach.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

FWIW,

I got a good lesson in anchoring in some relatively nasty conditions at Lake Powell this summer. I had 21’ of 3/8” chain and a 9# fluke / Danforth style anchor. I thought I had set the anchor well but found out as the 40mph wind came up I did not, the stern ended up in the sand before I could rectify this situation.

My friend who has a lot of experience helped me out and we re set the anchor and I had no further problems.

We put the anchor down about 100’ from shore if not a little farther in about 20’ of water, being careful to start backing down as the anchor touched bottom so the chain, then rode laid out on the bottom without piling up on itself. When we had backed down about 75’ my friend set the anchor by holding onto the rope, then tied it off to the bow cleat and had me reverse engines to really back down on the anchor and it didn’t move at all. Then loosened the rode and backed down to about 6-8‘ from shore, then tied off the bow anchor, then the stern anchor that was already on shore.

The 3/8” chain is / was too heavy but it worked good. I have since replaced that chain with 20’ of 5/16” stainless chain. The rule of thumb for chain length is the length of your boat. The chain is critical to that part of the rode laying as parallel as possible to the bottom. That’s a pretty big shore breaker in the background of your stricken vessel… in those situations you need a lot of rode out to keep the bow from lifting the shank of the anchor and pulling the anchor loose. I don’t care what anchor you are using, if the bow lifts up on the rode hard enough its just like you weighing anchor. The ratio of rode is 4:1 minimum, but in situations like that 6-7:1 would be the ticket.

Glad you and the missus came away unscathed! Thanks for starting your experience! As @mark_m said, don’t beat yourself up!

 

[rbarthur21]

FWIW,

I got a good lesson in anchoring in some relatively nasty conditions at Lake Powell this summer. I had 21’ of 3/8” chain and a 9# fluke / Danforth style anchor. I thought I had set the anchor well but found out as the 40mph wind came up I did not, the stern ended up in the sand before I could rectify this situation.

My friend who has a lot of experience helped me out and we re set the anchor and I had no further problems.

We put the anchor down about 100’ from shore if not a little farther in about 20’ of water, being careful to start backing down as the anchor touched bottom so the chain, then rode laid out on the bottom without piling up on itself. When we had backed down about 75’ my friend set the anchor by holding onto the rope, then tied it off to the bow cleat and had me reverse engines to really back down on the anchor and it didn’t move at all. Then loosened the rode and backed down to about 6-8‘ from shore, then tied off the bow anchor, then the stern anchor that was already on shore.

The 3/8” chain is / was too heavy but it worked good. I have since replaced that chain with 20’ of 5/16” stainless chain. The rule of thumb for chain length is the length of your boat. The chain is critical to that part of the rode laying as parallel as possible to the bottom. That’s a pretty big shore breaker in the background of your stricken vessel… in those situations you need a lot of rode out to keep the bow from lifting the shank of the anchor and pulling the anchor loose. I don’t care what anchor you are using, if the bow lifts up on the rode hard enough its just like you weighing anchor. The ratio of rode is 4:1 minimum, but in situations like that 6-7:1 would be the ticket.

Glad you and the missus came away unscathed! Thanks for starting your experience! As @mark_m said, don’t beat yourself up!

All great points, thank you. My process is very similar to what you described. Here at Cayo Costa, the water is only 5-7’ deep for a very long distance off shore, so that’s what depth I’m usually dropping the anchor in, very shallow. The bottom is all sand and I have a danforth. I get it to set by hand, then start backing in to shore, then tie it off and make sure it’s set with the boat. Then, and only then do I get out in the water and set the rear anchor. This was a first, but the waves were also larger than I’ve ever anchored with before. Just a perfect storm of issues for us that day. Will definitely be adding the extra chain next time out!

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Last Sunday, we decided to head down to our favorite beach, Cayo Costa. The water was beautiful heading down through the Harbor out to the island. When we got out to the Gulf the wind picked up and there were some decent swells. As we got closer to the beach, the waves were larger than we normally encounter. I dropped anchor and got it set. I backed into the beach until we were in about three feet of water about 10 feet from the shoreline. I got out into the water to set the rear anchor. As I was setting the rear anchor, the front anchor broke loose and the boat starts moving on me. In two waves, before I could react, the boat had been thrown on the beach.
View attachment 165801
I fought for about an hour to get it unstuck with no luck. My wife is 5 months pregnant so she couldn’t assist like she would have liked to. Fortunately, two people came walking down the beach and helped me get it back in the water. I had started to call for a tow as these kind people showed up. We’ve helped several people push off in the past who have been stuck when they beach and the tide goes out on them a little too much. I’ve never seen anyone have the issue we did. Once the boat was back in the water, I had to get some sand out of the gate, but it fired right up and drove perfect. We were all a little shook up and exhausted to say the least. Not the afternoon we were looking for or expecting. Just a friendly reminder to everyone to be careful out there. Things can get away from you quickly! And if you see someone stuck, help them. It will come back to you someday!

Remember all's well that ends well .
I Had a similar situation a couple weeks ago. Just east of the small bridge at Fort Desoto boat ramp there is a sand bar that depending on the tide will capture boats..
I saw a fishing style boat in the low 20 foot range with a male and female stuck on the sand bar so I pulled up and noticed the perplexing look on their faces since I was on a jet ski and he was a fisherman.
I asked if he was stuck and the answer was yes, I asked if he would like me to get him off the sand and he looked confused, I said I am going to make waves to lift your boat and you are going to get behind it and push the boat when the waves hit it and we should be able to get you free. It took me about 10 minutes since he was really stuck but he was happy that it worked and informed me that he originally called sea tow but they wanted a fortune to get him off the sand bar. So he cancelled them and was going to see if he could get free on his own. from the look on his face I think he had a tough time wrapping his head around a jet ski actually got him off the sand bar and it cost him nothing, all's well that ends well.

 

[Julian]

So 10 more feet of chain and 50-60 more feet of rode would have done the trick....

I think I have 10-15 feet of chain.....hummm....

 

[cgaechief]

Last Sunday, we decided to head down to our favorite beach, Cayo Costa. The water was beautiful heading down through the Harbor out to the island. When we got out to the Gulf the wind picked up and there were some decent swells. As we got closer to the beach, the waves were larger than we normally encounter. I dropped anchor and got it set. I backed into the beach until we were in about three feet of water about 10 feet from the shoreline. I got out into the water to set the rear anchor. As I was setting the rear anchor, the front anchor broke loose and the boat starts moving on me. In two waves, before I could react, the boat had been thrown on the beach.
View attachment 165801
I fought for about an hour to get it unstuck with no luck. My wife is 5 months pregnant so she couldn’t assist like she would have liked to. Fortunately, two people came walking down the beach and helped me get it back in the water. I had started to call for a tow as these kind people showed up. We’ve helped several people push off in the past who have been stuck when they beach and the tide goes out on them a little too much. I’ve never seen anyone have the issue we did. Once the boat was back in the water, I had to get some sand out of the gate, but it fired right up and drove perfect. We were all a little shook up and exhausted to say the least. Not the afternoon we were looking for or expecting. Just a friendly reminder to everyone to be careful out there. Things can get away from you quickly! And if you see someone stuck, help them. It will come back to you someday!

Looks like you are on the western side. I have gotten stuck not paying attention to the tides, and the tide got low and got the pontoon boat bottomed out. We were there the other day and went to the Pine Island Sound side of Cayo Costa with our new 222 FSH and it was like you described so we headed around to the Gulf side, and it was much calmer. It mostly depends on the incoming or outgoing tides.

I too have been helped and have helped a buddy and others get unstuck. As boaters, and Iama retired USCG veteran, your advise of helping others should be ingrained among all of those out on the water.