The anchor salad shitshow.
A very common "salad" if you’ve ever visited Greece, Croatia, or anywhere in the Med where you drop anchor and get close to someone else who's also anchored.

It happens when someone crosses your anchor, and if you end up leaving before they do, well, you’re going to lift their anchor along with yours. Or, it might happen during an anchor-lifting chaos, where you drift onto another boat's anchor and accidentally snag it with yours.

No matter how it happens, as I’ve shown you, an anchor salad can come in all shapes and forms: anchor on chain, anchor on anchor, three anchors with two lines, and so on.

The concept, however, is similar in all cases: relax, use fenders, guide the helmsman, and go to the front to assess the situation.

Try to bring the anchor up as far as possible so you can deal with it. It's also a good idea to communicate with the other captain and ask them to drop more chain, reducing the load on your windlass—if they have any chain to spare.

Otherwise, if the “salad” isn’t at water level, you’ll need to dive down and untangle it underwater.

Most anchor salads can be solved using the basic principle of tying a line to whatever part of the salad looks most accessible. Either tie or loop the line, bring it back to your cleat, and ease out on the anchor chain. This shifts the tension to the line, pulling the salad from a different angle, which can help everything untangle.

This method is also useful in other boat shitshows—tie to a different strong point and release.

Be extra careful with your hands and feet, and think and plan before you act!

Stay safe, see ya tomorrow.