Smart Boaters Follow Rules

Many of the rules we follow are based upon sound reason.  Sometimes a rule is put in place after tragedy strikes in an effort to make sure it never happens again.

It is impossible to personally experience and learn from every accident scenario so we must rely on others to come up with guidelines for us to follow.

This is why we are required to carry a pfd for everyone on board. This is why we carry fire extinguishers. 

Rest assured though, even when all the rules are followed, there are still plenty of dumb things you can do to potentially maim or kill your friends and family, or complete strangers.

The url below is for the Washington boating rules on the State Parks web site.
http://parks.state.wa.us/435/Boating

I Broke My Favorite Anchor

             I use a folding grappling hook type anchor for my secondary anchor.  I usually heave it off the stern, or paddle it out with the dinghy, and set it by pulling the primary in, shortening scope.

Anyway, last week I was helping out at a Boy Scout Eagle project, and we were pulling some small shrubbery stumps, and I got the great idea to use my anchor to hook onto the stumps and snap, I broke the cast iron shank right at the base. (No, I wasn't pulling stumps with my boat, that would be weird)

So now I'm short my favorite anchor,  but more importantly, how much should an anchor hold and should it break?  I didn't think I was pulling that hard on the stump, it seemed to break with little effort.

I'm wondering, of all the times I have anchored using my folding anchor, how close was I to snapping the shank and coming unhooked.

I would prefer that things bend and not break when overloaded, is that too much to expect?
I don't know the answer, but I'm going to take a good look at all my gear, especially things made of cast parts.

The shank broke under the locking bell