Both Anchors on Standby: A lesson in clear communication
Both Anchors on Standby?
“School of Hard Rocks stories, presented at CCA Stations and Posts”
By Theodore Parish, Chesapeake Station, 12/01/25
Underway, environmental factors like wind and engine, racing excitement, or electronic distortion can make communication difficult. This can be further worsened by dialect, poor hearing, and wording clarity.
Early in my career I was taking a car carrier (big boxy vessel) from Philadelphia to Baltimore via the Chesapeake and Delaware canal. It was winter, no moon night, with a strong following NW wind and fair (ebb) current. The transit included a tight 110 degree hard-to-starboard rudder turn into the Reedy Point jetty entrance. Before departing the pier, I went through a routine master-pilot exchange which included the vessel in good shape, all systems working, no defects, anchor on standby, and expectations for the transit.
Away we went.
The last course to the jetties was SE, speed 9 knots with the following 25kn wind and fair current not helping to reduce that speed. As I made my turn to starboard, a significant gust hit broadside and rolled the ship to port 20 degrees and the starboard turn simply stalled. This entire timeline is minutes: as I looked at the jetties approaching (and always more rapidly when things are not happening), I requested the captain to prepare dropping the starboard anchor one shackle (a measurement) to assist my now stalled starboard turn.
His response was “no anchor”. I asked two more times and his response was the same. I then (we are still moving rapidly towards the south jetty) attempted to explain (in ever-increasing earnest) the starboard anchor was to bring the vessel to starboard as well slow her down -- again his response “No anchor” followed by “Lost in last port.” At that point I realized: he wasn’t refusing … he was explaining.
Counterintuitively, as I was staring at the now at hyper-speed approaching south jetty and mentally writing my career obituary (how I parked on the south jetty with a car carrier), I requested full sea speed (anything and everything the engine was capable of).
Much to my pleasure, the stern went left, the bow went right, and we entered between the jetties like we had initially planned.
The moral of the story - be sure you clearly ask the question and then patiently listen to the answer.
I now clarify the question with “both anchors on standby”.
The Cruising Club of America is a group of accomplished recreational offshore sailors bound together by friendship and the desire to foster the responsibilities, expertise, and skills needed for the adventurous use of the sea. “School of Hard Rocks” stories are first-hand accounts of something that went wrong on a voyage, and what can be learned from the experience. They are published by the CCA Safety and Seamanship Committee, are intended to advance seamanship and help skippers promote a Culture of Safety aboard their vessels.
