CS34 Can You Sail with an Anchor?

OK

On a recent singlehanded passage from Cobourg to Whitby I had what you might call "an incident".

Winds were 10-12 knots from the ESE, so almost a dead downwind 32 mile sail.
Waves were 2-3ft.

Sailed the entire way wing on wing with genoa poled out to windward.
No spinnaker because it could be a handful taking down single handed.
Besides, I promised Rita I would not fly it.

Around Port Hope I went below to get some lunch.  
Every couple of minutes I would hear a thump from the v-birth.
It was wavy, and boat was pitching around, so I thought it was something shifting the anchor locker, or in the compartments under the bed.

I pulled into Whitby and tied up to the visitor's dock for a pumpout.

I discovered that my anchor was partially deployed:

The 20lb CQR was fully under water.  From the photo above, you can see the black portion of my anchor ball sticking out of the anchor locker door.  Attached to the anchor and the anchor ball is a 10ft piece of 3/16" orange para chord tied with bowlines.

When I opened the anchor locker, the ball went further forward:

This orange piece of para chord was all that was keeping 60ft of chain and 60ft of rode from fully deploying!  The anchor was suspended probably 6ft underwater.  This was the bumping that I heard down below.

Just imagine if the anchor dug in on the bottom of Lake Ontario @5.5 knots.
I was sailing in about 60ft of water.

I kind of thought the boat was sluggish only doing between 4.5 and 5.5 knots in 12 knots of breeze!

How long was I pulling the anchor through the water?

Answer:

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This photo shows the anchor being deployed OFF COBOURG!

I could not see any hull damage or anything.
No leaks; may look below the waterline for marks.

The anchor usually sits securely on the anchor roller, and the chain is usually around the gypsy.  However, I took the chain off the gypsy to fit the power chord in the locker just before leaving.

When leaving the dock at Cobourg singlehanded, the wind was pushing me against the dock.  I could not motor forward, as the bow was being pushed inwards.  I pushed the stern away from the dock and reversed out MAYBE clipping the protruding anchor deploying it into the water.

Lesson Learned: always secure the anchor with the anchor roller pin!

NO HARM
NO FOUL

CS34 2021 Cruise East Day 15 Cobourg to Whitby

Taking the dog for his morning walk I saw a CS36 called HMP from Holland Marine Products in Mississauga:

Also saw another CS34 called "Foghorn Lullaby".

Owner Shane keeps an excellent blog website:

https://www.foghornlullaby.com/

The boat was spotless!

Here are some of things I liked about this CS34:

Solar Panels
out of the way

Davits
Atkin & Hoyle?

Flush deck scuppers

The baby stay is disconnected and
has a line run back to the cockpit

We decided to forego the usual trip to the ButterMilk Cafe for breakfast, and head out.

See ya later Cobourg!

The winds were 12-15 knots from the SE, but it had been blowing 15+ knots from the east all night.
This means the 2-3ft waves were from a different direction than the current wind, and made for an uncomfortable motion.  Rita was feeling a little queezy.

With the motor off it really wasn't that bad, but Rita didn't want to do this 32 miles.
The dog was a little spooked with the noises.

I made a couple of calls, and got our friend Christine from Port Hope to come to Cobourg and pickup Rita and the dog.  Turned the boat around and headed back to Cobourg.

Trip Start: 09:41am
Trip End: 11:09am
Trip Duration: 01:28
Trip Length: 6.9 miles
Average Speed: 4.6 knots

We had only gone to just past Peter Rock:

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We pulled up to the fuel dock and Christine was there to meet us.
Little did they know, because of some lanes closed at the 401 at Newcastle, it took them almost 2 hours to get back to Bowmanville!

I would be singlehanding Still Time back to Whitby.
I promised Rita I would not fly the chute.

Getting off the dock singlehanded with a 15 knot breeze was a bit of challenge.

Once underway, I sailed the entire way wing on wing:

Full main

Genoa poled to windward

Gybe preventor to toe rail

Auto pilot kept a straight course.

Judy send me a photo of me bobbing in the waves off Newcastle:

Pretty uneventful other than:

http://svstilltime.blogspot.com/2021/08/cs34-can-you-sail-with-anchor.html 

Coming into Whitby Harbour:

You can see where I turned to drop the main, then over for a pump out, then back to our slip.

Trip Start: 11:10am
Trip End: 06:28am
Trip Duration: 07:18
Trip Length: 35.8 miles
Average Speed: 4.9 knots

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CS34 2021 Cruise East Day 14 Trenton to Cobourg

Up a little before 8am.

Time to enjoy an awesome shower in their awesome facilities.
Because of Covid restrictions, only 4 of the 10 bathroom/shower stalls were open, and there was a lineup of 10 or 12 people to get into the building for a shower.

Oh well, Walter and Colleen wanted to get going, so we made haste and left the dock without a shower or breakfast.  We could do these underway.

Nice wide docks

Good thing we made haste because Walter was going to go through the small craft channel.

They draft 5.6ft, and the channel is marked for a depth of 6ft, but the water level is almost 2ft lower!

We had to take the long way to get to the Murray:

Still Time, The Beckoning, and Play Dough went through the Murray on the same swings of her bridges.

On the other side of the Murray Canal going into Brighton Bay, there was a Nash 26 that had strayed off the channel and had run aground:

You have to stay within the channel markers!
The weeds were terrible and we had to backup several times.

Play Dough

Coming through Brighton Bay, we heard some radio chatter.
None other than our friends Harvey/Sherry-Lynn and Yvan/Kim who were motoring from Cobourg to Trent Port.  Too bad we couldn't have hooked up again with them.

When they past us around the small island off Presquille provincial park, they sent me a picture of us raising the spinnaker:

Not fully up yet

Doug also sent me a photo of it pulling nicely:

The Beckoning and Play Dough motor sailed ahead of us, we were content to sail sans motor with an 8 knot breeze on the beam with 5.5 knots of boat speed.

We dropped the spin 1/4 mile from the Cobourg Lighthouse.

Then dropped the main in the harbour.

Yellow star dropped spin
Yellow circle dropped main

We got a slip over on the north docks beside Play Dough.

The Beckoning radioed that they were continuing onto Whitby.
Walter texted me that they got in safely at around 9pm.

Lovely day on the water.
It is not too often that you get to fly a spinnaker for 25 miles in total comfort!

Rita's son Dan and partner Serena came with 3 year old grand daughter Emelia.

It was great to see their smiling faces!

Trip Start: 09:16am

Trip End: 04:09pm

Trip Duration: 06:52

Trip Length: 35.3 miles

Average Speed: 5.1 knots
Max Speed: 8.5 knots

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CS34 2021 Cruise East Day 13 Picton to Trenton

Up around 7:30am.

First chore was to pee the dog across the bay

PEYC looks quite different in the morning:

BEAUTY dog shot in the morning light:

What a handsome boy

Getting the anchor up through the weeks was a real chore.
Plus weeds had plugged up our deck washdown pump, so we had to use a bucket.
On top of that, we got a large ball of weeds on the prop and/or prop shaft.
Made a ton of noise in forward gear as the weeds thumped on the hull.
Could not do more than 2 knots.
Had to backup hard to clear it.

We raised the main as soon as we got into the channel.
We motor sailed over to where Walter and Colleen were anchored:

This could be a new anchoring spot for us!

Winds were 10-15 knots from the west, so perfect for sailing up Long Reach on a beam reach!

Once we got around Forester Island and made the turn to the Deseronto bridge, there was 20+ on the nose, so we ended up furling the headsail and motor sailing into it.

Our planned destination was Sandy Cove Belleville.  Walter and Colleen's daughter and three grandkids were going to meet us there for a day of swimming.  However, when we got close to the anchorage, they radioed that their family is not coming.  They wanted to continue on past the Murray Canal and anchor in Brighton Bay or stay on the wall on the other side of the Murray.

First of all, the last swing of the Murray is 5pm, and we would be hard pressed to make it.

Second of all, it is not a good idea to moore on the jagged walls of the start/end of the Murray with winds blowing 20+ knots all night.
Third of all, you just don't anchor in Brighton Bay.  Off channel is very shallow and very very weedy.

So we convinced them to go into Trent Port Marina for the night.

There was some VHF radio chatter about someone aground near Belleville, and got to watch them being towed off the sand bar:

We then watched like a 26ft sailboat sail in the shallows cutting the corner into Belleville.

Sure enough, we watched them stop dead and drop their sails:

You definately cannot cut the corner here (2-3ft of depth):

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...and on into Trenton:

Love Trent Port Marina.
Nice wide slips and docks.
Awesome bathrooms
The cost was $75 for the night.

Walter had to get some more fuel.

We were met at the dock by Doug and Andrea Morgan from the Whitby Yacht Club.  They were heading back with their Catalina 310 called Play Dough.

We had to cook some chicken that we had thawed because we thought we would be anchoring.
Walter and Colleen went into town for dinner.

Trent Port even has a herb garden:

After dinner, we had Doug/Andrea and Walter/Colleen on Still Time for a night cap. 

Trip Start: 08:57am
Trip End: 04:46pm

Trip Duration: 07:48

Trip Length: 35.4 miles

Average Speed: 4.5 knots
Max Speed: 8.2 knots

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