Retrieving Severed Anchor & Splicing Rode

Saturday, March 14th, Whisper went sailing on Lake Washington to meet up with SURT out of Kirkland. With winds gusting to 28 knots, we reached back & forth between Kirkland & Sand Point. SURT was under genoa only, while Whisper was under only a reefed main. We had a good ride.

The plan was to raft up about 4:00PM in Cozy Cove between Hunts & Yarrow Points. Whisper was first so we dropped anchor in 12 feet of water and paid out 90' of rode (30' of 3/8" chain + 60' of 3 strand nylon). After about 30 minutes, M/V Lucky Dog showed up with SURT following in another half hour. M/V Lucky Dog paid out all chain as we settled into our 3 boat raft.

With our anchor lines at a significantly oblique angle, Gary decided to reposition his anchor. Without a lot of detail, suffice it to say that Whisper came away with no anchor and missing 94' of rode. It wasn't lost since I knew right where it was.

Wednesday the salvage crew set out to retrieve Whisper's ground tackle.

Ron Voss crafted a gaff hook with weights to rake the bottom. With a fender to mark the anchor's location, within 90 minutes Ron was successful.

Now the end to end splice (see accompanying slide show)...

Click to view.

Whisper's anchor locker is filled once more.

"Thank you's" to Gary, Ron, Larry & Darilyn, who came along for moral support AND brought banana bread!

"Whisper" Gets a New Bottom

We, Whisper & I, slipped dock lines at 1145 on Wednesday, destination--the back bay at Port Ludlow. We cleared Shilshole channel at 1255; passed Point No Point at 1500 & dropped anchor by 1700 in Port Ludlow. With a following wind in the 20kt range we unfurled the genoa to her reef point and motor sailed north. At the peak, winds gusted to 31.5kts. It was a great ride.

I awoke Thursday at 0430 to find 2" of snow on the deck.

It was light enough by 0630 to safely exit Port Ludlow. Over night the winds clocked around to the NNW and were blowing 15-18kts. Since my anemometer froze up for the day I had to guess at wind strength. It was so strong that boat speed fell from 6kts at 2800RPM down to 3.2kts. We reached the Port Townsend Canal by 0800 to catch the strong ebb current. Boat speed went up to 9.9kts and peaked at 10.1kts under the Indian Island bridge.

We arrived at Point Hudson Marina and tied up to the Sea Marine dock to await our 1100 haul out.

After a short wait, Whisper was airborne.

With the exception of a diver scrub two years ago, it had been 5 years since Whisper was last in the air. When purchased in Dec of 2003, she didn't need bottom paint at the time of her survey. It has been 8 years. I am a firm believer in the less hostile fresh water home for Whisper.

While out of the water her hull was pressure washed, hull was washed, zinc replaced, hull was waxed, bottom was painted and packing gland was refilled with Gortex material.

Once returned to her environment, she actually rides higher in the water without the fresh water scum attached to her hull. You can see her white shear stripe clearly to both port & starboard.

Back in the water on Friday by 1630, following the weekly barbecue at Sea Marine, we laid up at the Sea Marine dock for the night.

0945 Saturday, we left Point Hudson for Seattle. By 1700 we were again docked at Westlake Landing on Lake Union. It was a beneficial trip for both Whisper & her skipper.