WHY YOU DON'T NEED AN ANCHOR WINDLASS

+HOW TO CRUISE WITHOUT ONE

- PAUL TRAMMELL sails his Cartwright 40 Windflower singlehanded and is the author of Becoming a Sailor and Journey to the Ragged Islands books.

My first sailing boat didn’t have a windlass, and this led to a bit of unexpected drama. I was sailing in the Bahamas in my 30ft Dufour Arpege when I came across beautiful waves at Egg Reef. At the time, I was writing the book Journey to the Ragged Islands, and I was actively seeking adventure to write about. Before me was an opportunity to surf on a reef two miles offshore in perfect conditions with nobody out. I had to do it.

The depth dropped off steeply outside the breaking waves, and I lowered my new anchor in 20m of water and let out all the scope I had - 15m of 8mm chain followed by 60m of 3-strand nylon rope. I paddled out and surfed in the clear water with coral reef visible below, achieving one of my sailing goals. I made the dream come true, but ended up with more adventure to write about than I had anticipated. As the sun crept closer to the horizon, I sat down at the bow to pull up the 12kg anchor.

I pulled up the rope until I was directly above the anchor, and could pull no more. It wouldn't budge. I tried driving the boat forward, clockwise and counterclockwise to free the anchor, but to no avail. Convinced it was stuck, I got out my mask, snorkel and fins. I sat down and looked out at the beginning of the warm sunset over the blue Atlantic Ocean to calm my mind and slow my heartrate.

Freediving is one of my passions, so I was able to dive to the anchor, where it sat in a hole in the rocky bottom. I wrestled it out of the hole and swam for the surface. Back on deck, I sat down and pulled on the rope with confidence, but still couldn't lift the anchor. I dove three more times. On the third dive, I brought a line to tie to the tripping point, but the line didn’t reach the bottom. On the fourth dive, with the line extended, I saw that the anchor was hanging 5ft above the bottom. It was free!