Cruising Sailors Forum Archive

Re: Anchor trip line Questions

I just bought a new 44 lb Rocna anchor which has a hole specifically to attach a trip line. I have never used a trip line in the past with my old CQR, but with this new large scoop surface area it has got me wondering if it may be beneficial. It has also raised a lot more questions in my mind: Will this introduce other problems with the trip line being snagged by another boat (possibly mine)? Will it just get tangled up in my rode? I also cannot rationalize that you would only use it when conditions warrant it - you would never really be able to anticipate. One thought I had was to put a small float on about 6 feet of line with a big loop on it. The reason for this idea was that if the anchor was truly buried, you would never be able to swim down and tie a line to the buried designated trip line hole. It would still require you to dive down to attach a longer line to the shorter trip line with float, but it at least should be very quick & easy to do (if you can get past the cold New England water temperatures). I typically anchor in depths of 10-30 feet. At 63 years old, I would have my doubts that I would ever be able to dive deeper than 15 feet. So how many people use trip lines? How many people have actually had to retrieve their anchor using a trip line? Maybe I am overthinking this...

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