Anchoring a Kayak

Hope this is of some use just thought I would share my method for anchoring in my view it is a very safe way to anchor a Kayak either to a conventional anchor setup,drogue,pot buoy or even another anchored Kayak angler
First of all I have a pad eye fixed bow and stern


with the anchor trolley line running between the two on small pulley blocks attached with a short length of shock cord I also use a small S/S p clip to stop the line from straying into my foot wells and I have a small clamcleat riveted onto the bond strip so I can lock the trolley off bow or stern and a small S/S carabiner

Then onto the anchor system I use a 2 part method firstly the anchor dive reel Buoy and loop of floating rope

Probably worth mentioning I use a bridle type setup on my anchor so if snagged a paddle uptide will usually get the anchor to trip/pull out inverted and saves messing with weak links I have not found I needed any chain at all to hold position but do understand that some of you do need a length of chain to get a good bite from the anchor

So once I'm over the position I want to drop anchor I drop the anchor over the uptide side of the yak and let the dive reel spin until it hits bottom then manually pull out a further 2 times the water depth being careful as to not get any warp wrapped around the (in my case STEALTH's Fixed) rudder! Then lock the dive reel off and dump the lot over board with the Buoy attached to the dive reel and a large loop of floating rope
So now you have your equivalent of a pot bouy exactly where you want to fish onto the second part I have a winder with a length of floating rope on it with a rope float and S/S carabiner on one end

This threads through the carabiner on the anchor trolley and the trolley is then locked off at the stern with the tag end of the rope tied off to my side handle of the yak using a 'Highwayman's Hitch' knot


Once I'm in this stage I can paddle back up to my buoy and clip onto the length of floating rope behind the buoy with the caribiner on the end of the floating rope thus anchored from the stern securely but in the reassuring knowledge that one pull on the tag end of the highway mans hitch will see the rope slide through the anchor trolley carabiner jettisoning the full set up to retrieve at my leisure useful for quickly paddling over to photograph a mates fish or dash to shore for a pee break




Obviously once you get the hang of this and depending on speed of tide you can do this as a one part method and it is very fast and safe to deploy but I've demonstrated the 2 part aimed at anyone new to anchoring their Kayak its also the method taught at the BCU run course at Runswick and it was the one method that Ken Oliver and Kim Bull helped me Iron out as I used to just have a quick release clip instead of the Highwayman's hitch but small changes can make all the difference when things start to go wrong.
Now onto hauling the anchor I use two different methods depending on conditions the first not much tide or swell and the anchor not snagged simply paddle back to the anchor buoy get it on board and put the warp around the sole of my foot and haul and reel I can help maintain my direction with the rudder pedals as I do this and if things go wrong I can throw the lot over the side as the Kayak isn't connected to it at all

The second method I use if its vital to stay bow on to tide wind or swell or if the anchor is snagged solid is to put the warp through the carabiner on the anchor trolley and lock it off at the bow and haul until over the top of the anchor or paddle up to it or beyond it to break it out only small problem is that if the worst happens you are connected via the warp to the kayak but a simple cut through will see you safely free again


Just my way of doing things wont work for everyone as with all things but has served me well 
 
 
All fittings and great advice from here: http://wet-and-wild.co.uk/water/anchoring

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Yakima Foot pedal upgrade for the Delphin

 

 

 

After a few slipped pedals whilst out paddling and not been totally happy with the original foot pedals on the delphin I have decided to upgrade the std ones to the Yakima aluminium pedals

 

 

I had had a brief try of these upgrades before ordering and they felt sturdier and the adjustment was a lot better.

 

 

 

A very simple straight forward swap only 4 bolts to change the lower bolts are a bit tricky to line up but a 10 min job

 

 

Old plastic pedal on the left

Finished hope to get out and test them very soon.

Paddle session at Runswick bay 16/11/2013

 

 

I met up with Mark today for a familiarisation session as Mark has just bought a P&H Scorpio and is still trying to get to grips with a few rescues and to get a feel of his new boat.

 

 

 

We started off paddling inside the flat calm bay and made our way out to Kettleness point where there was some large swells rolling in over the shallow ground with a few big breakers mixed in I had a short mess around fooling in the waves while Mark was tucked safely on the outside edge of them but didn't manage to really surf any of them properly today.

 

 

We then paddled around the point giving the rough water a wide berth and headed down towards Sandsend stopping to fool around in the small cave entrances and a bit of rockhopping too really enjoyed this still find it hard to feel in control and balanced when left high and dry on a rock but all good practice.

As Mark was reversing in to a cave entrance I spotted a large wave heading our way so shouted him to start forward paddling out into it just in time as he had just enough momentum to push out and pop through the roller (think he enjoyed that bit!)

 

 

Some really stunning scenery along this stretch of coast not seen by many!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had been watching Mark keeping well out from the rocks but found some ‘Safe’ (famous last words) water on the edge of a steep cliff with a small crevice/cave in it where the swell was just moving up and down with no risk of big breaking waves and some small clepotis created so encouraged him to have a little play about in it after which I couldn't resist  but whilst reversing my stern into the small crevice a surge of water drained out of the gulley as my stern was hard up against the rock and was stupidly tipped (Really need to react quicker with a brace) and ended up swimming in what turned out to be a very deep gulley couldn't feel the bottom and had to hold on to my boat and wait for my paddle to be washed back down from the back of the cave (yet another silly mistake letting go of the paddle) bad habits of relying on a paddle leash whilst on my sit on top.,but I managed to keep calm and still smiling I shouted Mark as he was oblivious to my situation and he came over offering assistance but I was determined to get myself out of my situation and managed a solo self rescue without any problems a great confidence builder.

 

 

 

After this we headed back to our launch point and we had an hour or so of practicing self rescues which Mark really struggled with last week but after just one demo he nailed it this week so we progressed on to assisted recoveries which he managed without issue too Mark also brought along a paddle float to practice with and he can use this with very little effort to re board should the need arise, I borrowed the float and had a fool about using it to roll myself back up not from totally inverted but almost and think it may help me get my head around the right position to be in for rolls in the future

 

 

 

 

A Video of the day:

 

 

 

Out in the surf solo!

Had a short trip out this morning in what at times were very big waves, after a couple of dunking's I managed to catch a few and peel off them before they broke looking back at the video I could have had a few more seconds on them but a bit more experience in the Delphin 155 and expanding my comfort zone a bit more

 

A few pics to share too

 

 

 

Failed Thornback session 24/10/13

Had a quick trip out with the rod for a change this morning hopes were high for a Thornback or two

But after an hour or so of constant Whiting I decided to just have a tour down the coast to Saltburn and have a play around under the pier before eventually finding some small surf to fool around in a few pics to Share but not much in the way of fish