Is it safe to dive next to a pier used for fishing? Langstone Harbour, Portsmouth

[neil9327]

For reasons I won't go into, I had to abandon a stuck small anchor + chain + rope next to the north side of the fishing pier at the entrance to Langstone Harbour near Portsmouth (UK).
Although it is probably uneconomic for me to recover it, as I have just passed my PADI open water certificate it occurs to me that it might provide a meaningful exercise to try to retreive it.
My question is is it safe to do so?
Certainly I need to go at low tide when the current is not flowing (the tide runs at up to 6 knots at this location, and indeed this was what caught my boat yesterday and pinned it against the pier for an hour yesterday until I could get the engine started, with the stuck anchor preventing me being washed out into the Solent).

But even if there is no current perhaps there might be some residual choppiness from the tidal flows? My concern is that I get washed underneath the steel-beamed pier and find my direct way up to the surface blocked. Or that I get part of my scuba kit caught on something. Or that seabed detritis from the years of use as a fishing pier may cause injury or entanglement.

Even though one of the fisherman said it was 12 meters deep, the chart shows it as 2 meters above low tide level, and that's not certain either. It would be embarrasing if I waded out in full scuba gear only to find it is only knee deep at the location I am hoping to search.

With such as stuck anchors, is it generally easy to retreive them, for the diver?

Thanks!

 

[yodelhawk]

Wow... How do I say this? NO!!! Get a few dives under your belt before you attempt to recover anything. Sorry bud, your post has emergency written all over it. Be safe and write off the anchor.

 

[miketsp]

Probably safer to try fishing (dragging) for it first from the pier with a grapnel and a rope. If it's got a length of chain and rope attached you'll have a pretty good chance of recovering it from the surface.
This would also let you make a much more realistic assessment of the water depths and currents and will serve as an ice breaker so you'll get a chance to chat with other users of the pier about conditions. Consult a set of tide tables so you can relate reality with prediction.
As you say, you may just be able to wade in with a mask & snorkel at the right time.

If you then decide that conditions give a reasonable window of opportunity, with your experience level without experience of raising anything heavy or practice with a lift bag, I would suggest just using a spool of line. Locate the anchor set, tie the line to the end of the rope and then go back to the pier or shore. Haul it in from there. If necessary get someone to haul it in while you jiggle the anchor to stop it digging in.

Be safe.

 

[cocoajoe]

First, read DIVER DOWN.

 

[neil9327]

Probably safer to try fishing (dragging) for it first from the pier with a grapnel and a rope. If it's got a length of chain and rope attached you'll have a pretty good chance of recovering it from the surface.

In fact the rope is still attached to the anchor, and I was able to tie the end of it to a ladder on the pier leading down to the water. Then later I walked onto the pier and tried to pull the rope in, but it was stuck fast, pointing directly downwards suggesting that it was being held by something directly under the surface, rather than the pier itself.
I was thinking of using this rope itself as a line to descend down, but, as the others who have answered this thread have confirmed, it just seems a little too risky for somebody with limited experience as I have.

 

[DennisS]

Fishing pier equals lots of broken off fishing line. Entanglement underwater is one of the few things that scares me in diving.

If you have access to the end of the anchor line try puttin a ring/carabiner with a line attached on the anchor down line. Add a length of line to the anchor down line so you can give it slack and then pull 90 degrees on the ring line after you let it fall to the anchor

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I bet it's being held by a large aqautic animal that is now using it to fish for someone trying to retrieve it. I'd leave it at your experience level. Unless it's made of gold or platinum it's not worth dying for. The current pinned your boat against the wall. What do you think it would do to you? And can you be sure that there isn't a different current running under the surface that you can't see?

Piers, docks, etc.. all have little quirks that can do major damage to the human body. There could be something stuck by the tide that would trap you. Unless you can actually see down to it from the surface it's damn risky.

 

[chrisch]

You need permission from the Harbour Master to dive in the sound. Assuming you can get it then you need to dive at slack water and use a lift bag. I cannot say if your present skills/experience are OK to do this - that's your call. There are plenty of other divers in the area and clubs that would be happy to help you if you don't want to do it yourself. You need a buddy underwater and surface cover and a boat so as you have a boat maybe you're better of skippering and keeping an eye out for other watercraft?

An anchor isn't worth getting hurt for and the fine if you don't have permission would have bought several new anchors!

 

[JamesK]

While you could go out there and be successful, you could just go out there and be dead. Also check laws about diving by a pier designate for fishing in your area.

 

[Slater]

how big is your boat / hp? most stuck anchors should be able to be dislodged by tying off on a bow cleat & pulling using boat power in reverse, in the oppisite direction...
but then again, safety & experience is your freind & unsure of your time on the water experience..