Anchor handling operation

Anchor handling can be a varied and dangerous occupation, particularly for crew working on deck with wire, chain and often large anchors. It is very easy to be injured if basic safety precautions are not followed. Being unprepared and not knowing how a wire inset with buoys attached is placed in a section of anchor chain can cause serious delays.

This course shows the vessel preparing in port, then sailing to the rig location where preparations are made for the operation. The anchor is seen being received from the rig and decked to disconnect it from the chain, the chain then being stowed in the vessel’s anchor bins. With the required amount of chain stowed, the chain is broken to add a buoyed wire insert to clear a sub-sea obstruction. Once this is completed the final operation of re-connecting the anchor and deploying it using a buoy pennant is seen.

Learning objectives:

• Recognize the potential dangers of anchor handling operations
• Identify how an anchor is decked
• List the steps to be followed to lay out an anchor safely
• Identify the steps necessary to prepare for an anchor handling operation