Blakely Rock marker buoy

[ohopdiver]

Yesterday I tied up to the Blakely Rock south buoy, China Wall, and put two divers in. Thirty minutes later when the next two, including myself, started to descend the buoy line it went slack. We soon discovered it was no longer anchored and we were drifting towards the sand bar west of the rock. We got back on-board without grounding and collected the buoy and line. The first two divers unable to find the missing line for ascent followed the bottom up and surfaced near the rock where I picked them up. We gave the buoy and line to someone on shore at nearby Rockaway beach after calling the number on the buoy. There is currently no buoy on The Boss and the Blakely Harbor site has a pair of crab pot buoys.
It must be a lot of work installing and maintaining these buoys - it is appreciated.

[BillZ]

Thanks for the heads up - The line was just a old climbing rope, it was bound to give at some point. I'm glad to hear that you were able to catch your boat before it got away from you.

[ohopdiver]

We collected about 75 - 100 feet each 1 inch manila with a double loop at the anchor end and two 1/2 inch with the marker buoy and a couple of crab pot buoys.
It looked as if a shackle at the loop gave way. The manila looked like a recent installation.

[jpa]

Does anyone know who was maintaining the buoys at Blakely until recently? It is definitely much easier to dive the East wall without having to anchor and I've never dove the West wall without anchoring to a buoy. I've told my dive buddy we should just put something out there as we go quite often. I think about it every time I pass the very nice anchor block on the East wall looking for the boat anchor.

I hadn't dove at Blakely since late June and there weren't any buoys on either side at that time. I guess they don't last all that long.

[fmerkel]

The Marker Buoys have been taking care of the Cove 2 line and buoys for awhile. I can assure you the marine environment is pretty damn hostile for just about anything you can think of putting in (and expensive).

I'm don't know who is responsible for those buoys. Maybe start with Washington Scuba Alliance?

[BillZ]

Many of the buoys in the central sound are maintained by the Alluminator charter guys - Althought the one that was on China Wall didn't look as professional as the ones he has at the Alki Fishing reef.

If it's just the shackle I'd be willing to pick one up and take some folks out to the site to help fix the line.

[CaptnJack]

Nobody's been "maintaining" them per se. When one breaks, someone like yourself who's actively using it replaces it. They aren't legally permitted "structures" with DNR etc so they aren't ownd by anyone.

[jpa]

I'd really like a bouy on the East reef but am not really qualified to for that kind of work. I'd be willing to contribute though.

[CaptnJack]

Where are you anchoring now?

If you anchor slightly north of the reef close to the rock you'll be in about 30-35ft of water. Swim south and over the lip of the reef. Then go east along the base of the rock wall. Return coming back west along the top of the reef/wall until you hit the rock, then go north and do your safety stops along the east side of Blakely rock. Surfacing from 15ft between the rock and your boat. Then surface swim east back to your boat.

[jpa]

This is basically what we do except we leave the boat unattended so we've been paranoid about setting the anchor really well and then returning to the anchor and removing it from whatever crevice we wedged it in. When there was a buoy on China Wall we used to swim up into the shallows for the safety stop and then swim out to the boat. We've been too scared of any current to do that at the East reef.

[CaptnJack]

Bigger anchor!

Why size and type do you have now? How much chain and what size chain?

[jpa]

For the Blakely Rock East reef bottom we use a 5 lb folding grapple with 5-6ft of small chain. We check the set on the way down and fold it up on the way back. I'm all ears for a better methodology but we haven't anchored much in the past because we fear losing the boat. Now that we're being more adventurous we should probably up our anchoring procedures a bit as well.

[CaptnJack]

I have a much smaller boat than you. (15.5ft RIB) which weighs nothing compared to your Whaler. I wouldn't dream of anchoring mine with a dinky little 5lb grapple! No wonder you are paranoid...

I have a 11lb Claw (Bruce knockoff), 6ft of super heavy 5/8" chain which really wants to lay on the bottom (weighs about 10lbs by itself), and about 10-12ft of lighter 1/4" chain. On 300ft of 3/8" line.

For your boat, I would do something similar but: go up one size to the 16lb(?) Claw/Bruce. And get more 1/4" chain, maybe 20ft or so. That's just me, but you can't have too big an anchor when diving. Its not like we are anchoring in since harbors with shallow sandy bottoms.

[jpa]

Thanks. I will get a new anchor setup. Not to derail the thread even further but my research puts 3/8" chain at 1.5 lbs per foot rather than 5/8 at 3+ lbs. Should my short length of really heavy chain be 3/8"?

[CaptnJack]

I don't think it really matters. I just noticed that all "yachting" guidance to the contrary, the chain recommended for my boat size/weight was not lying on the bottom at all in anything but the calmest conditions. The whole point of the chain is to: 1) add weigh and keep the pull closer to horizontal on the actual anchor, 2) chafe protection. On dive sites, I am frequently anchoring with a short scope close to rocks and such. So you can't lay out 150ft of line like the 'books' might suggest to get the pull horizontal. With 90ft of line out in 40ft of water, the only thing keeping the shank of the anchor down is chain weight, lots and lots of chain weight.

[BillZ]

Does anybody have the old line and buoy? I'm headed out that way on Thursday and would like to fix it up and reinstall it.