{"id":4302,"date":"2018-06-16T15:15:38","date_gmt":"2018-06-16T20:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.svelysium.net\/blog\/?p=4302"},"modified":"2025-07-27T08:04:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T13:04:34","slug":"anchor-and-chain-found","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.svelysium.net\/blog\/anchor-and-chain-found\/","title":{"rendered":"Anchor and Chain\u2026.Found!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It was the third or fourth time we\u2019ve looked for Elysium\u2019s anchor system. The final two times I <\/span>was invited<\/span><\/span> out to look. I brought my tablet so we wouldn\u2019t repeat any areas we had dragged in. The Royal Suva Yacht Club<\/a> and Charlie\u2019s Divers have been instrumental in removing the 5 lost anchors. Ours was the last and we were getting worried that it might not <\/span>be found<\/span><\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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One huge issue is that I didn\u2019t have the location where I dropped it. <\/span> If you read the previous post you know that we had moved an hour before the storm arrived, it was calm and I wasn\u2019t a bit concerned about where were were lat \/ long wise<\/span><\/span>. Lesson Learned. When moving the boat and anchoring; have the charting program on! <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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So what I had been using was some common sense and the coordinates of other boats effected. What I was missing a bit was that we never dragged anchor. Princess Civa never forced the anchor out while pushing us downwind. I\u2019m not sure the anchor would have come out considering how difficult it was to get out once found. I have a difficult time imagining the damage that might have occurred then! <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It had been a week and with only one anchor left to <\/span>be found<\/span><\/span> there didn\u2019t appear to be much impetus in locating it. But like the Bull Dog W\/ sometimes becomes, I kept visiting them and asking when they would go looking\u2026again.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Finally Friday pm Charlie (the owner) said we would go and I could come. I brought along my tablet with iSailor installed. Based on where the other anchors <\/span>were found<\/span><\/span> I thought we would be in that area. We dragged for about an hour picking up a another nice mooring line, a fishing net and lots of plastic. Charlie had another dive to do so we headed back and he said about 10 tomorrow we would look again.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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That evening I sat and thought about where we were. I looked at where we had dragged already. Considering where I now thought it might be we never covered the correct area. It must be about where we anchored. Knowing where I thought we were and where we saw Princess Civa ram right into Sahula I put a new anchor on the chart. You can see it in the image posted.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ten in the morning I was at the Yacht Club and no Charlie. Luckily I found someone that had his personal cell number and called. I didn\u2019t get a hold of him but got his wife who would pass the message on to him. <\/span>Thankfully<\/span><\/span> he received the message and called back. He suggested a new time 3 pm same day. Ok. I\u2019ll be here and back to the boat I went a little disappointed but glad he called and I wasn\u2019t \u201cstood up\u201d.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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iSailor instrumental in locating the anchor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three o\u2019clock came and he showed up! I was ready. We headed out and I explained my new thinking. I showed Charlie where I thought I <\/span>was anchored<\/span><\/span> and the way we were when the wind was blowing. We started dragging the grapnel. Overboard the grapnel went and line paid out. We towed it from the bow, <\/span>slowly<\/span><\/span> moving backwards while iSailor<\/a> charted where we were. Charlie watched the display and we picked up a couple of chunks of plastic. Stop, haul in the grapnel, clear the flukes and keep going. After we were far enough away we picked it up and moved again to where we could drag across the expected lay of the chain. Our main anchor system has 300\u2019 of 3\/8\u201d High Test chain. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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We\u2019re going along and snag something\u2026 again. Stop the boat and haul it in. Francis (a friend of Charlies) was along to help. He\u2019s pulling and it\u2019s not easy. Charlie and I join him and we can\u2019t get it up! <\/span>Maybe<\/span><\/span>? As we are lifting what ever it is higher and higher it is getting heavier and heavier; like chain would. Charlie decides to buoy it and get his dive gear. Back we go to the shop and 15 minutes later we return to the spot.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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We pull it up as far as we can on the boat and cleat it off. Charlie is in the water to check. Yep, it\u2019s chain and he\u2019s concerned it\u2019s not shiny. Nope; we don\u2019t have SS chain but galvanized. Ok. He moves the line with the grapnel to the end of the chain and we haul it aboard. It looks like ours.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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As we pull it aboard I see the white paint I have signaling the end of the chain. I see the line that blew apart when I let it go. I see the markers we added to know how much chain is out. Oh happy day! It\u2019s ours!<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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We get all 260\u2019 aboard and are stuck, the anchor is still set in the bottom. Charlie cleats it off on the work boat and pulls. We almost pull the bow of the boat under trying to break the anchor free. There is the possibility <\/span>we might<\/span><\/span> have to put the chain back in the water and bring Elysium over to retrieve it. He decided to reverse directions and pull from the opposite side we set the hook. Getting a bit of way on and giving it some hp, before the bow of the workboat swamped, the anchor broke free. Yippee!<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The three of us haul the rest of the chain and anchor aboard. Luckily as we lift it off the bottom and get more chain in the boat the system gets lighter. We secure the anchor on the bow and the entire setup delivered to Elysium.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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There we drop the anchor and chain in the water saving the bitter end for Elysium. Francis hands me the end and I drop it over the windlass making sure it doesn\u2019t end up back in the water. W\/ and I are aboard and we haul the rest of the chain and anchor up. Yeah! We can now move to get the rest of Elysium put back in order.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Go Slow
\nSail Far
\nStay Long<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was the third or fourth time we\u2019ve looked for Elysium\u2019s anchor system. The final two times I was invited out to look. I brought my tablet so we wouldn\u2019t repeat any areas we had dragged in. The Royal Suva Yacht Club and Charlie\u2019s Divers have been instrumental in removing the 5 lost anchors. Ours … Continue reading “Anchor and Chain\u2026.Found!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[802,678,801,800],"class_list":["post-4302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anchor-retrival","tag-fiji","tag-isailor","tag-rsyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.svelysium.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.svelysium.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.svelysium.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.svelysium.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.svelysium.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4302"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.svelysium.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6795,"href":"https:\/\/www.svelysium.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4302\/revisions\/6795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.svelysium.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.svelysium.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.svelysium.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}