How to let go an anchor - Anchor dropping Step by step procedure

Good afternoon, this is the port side anchor of the vessel and this is the forward winch and windlass arrangement. Today we will be discussing in detail about dropping an anchor in practical. So these are the mooring ropes and this is the warping drum. Each of this can be individually selected using the gear arrangement. I will show it to you as we go along. So now this is the windlass and the gypsy and you can see the spurling pipe. The anchor chain comes out from the chain locker through the spurling pipe to the gypsy and goes out through the hose pipe. This is the hose pipe and its cover. This is my ship's bow stopper. It is basically used to take the strain of the windlass that is the weight of the anchor and the cable of the windlass and this is how you engage and disengage any gear on a windlass or a winch. So the next thing is this is the controls of the winch. Now let us practically drop an anchor. The bridge has ordered port anchor to be ready for letting go. So we'll open the bow stopper. So the bow stopper has been opened. Now the gear will be engaged and the brakes will be opened and slowly we will lower the anchor to around one meters above water level for letting go. Why we keep it clear of the hose pipe is to prevent any damage to the hose pipe. Now the gear has to be disengaged so we'll again tight the brakes and once the brakes are tight we'll slowly move the winch a little bit so that the gear is off weight and slowly we take the weight of the gear and the gear is disengaged and as you can see now the anchor chain is holding just by the brakes. Now we'll wait for the bridge to give us instruction to let go. I have taken shots from multiple angles to show you how dangerous is the surging of the anchor chain once the anchor is let go. Now we are going to the final fourth cycle on deck. So the third cycle just passed. Now I'll show you how to understand the fourth cycle. So the fourth cycle whenever it comes, the joining cycle will be in the middle and the next four cycles will be in the middle. So the fourth cycle will be having white paint and will be having a marking. Our ship's paint has already been gone so you can see the metal clip that will be four links away from the joining cycle. That is how you will understand the fourth cycle. Now the final reporting that we have to do after dropping an anchor is to report if the vessel has been brought up to our anchor or not. So it's very simple as you can see the chain is slowly taking the weight. Once the chain starts taking the weight it will start stretching. So since we have used the port anchor the possible directions will be only from seven o'clock to twelve o'clock. So you can see the chain has slowly started taking the weight. It is stretching to around medium stay. So it has gone up from short stay to medium stay and twelve o'clock has reduced to eleven o'clock. It will slowly come down to around ten o'clock also and this medium stay will reduce to a short stay. That means the anchor has taken, anchor is holding the ground and the vessel is riding to our anchor. Now I'll show you the angle reduction. Now it's around short stay at ten o'clock. In a few moments it will come down to a very short stay at ten o'clock. That means she is already brought up. So once the vessel is brought up that means there is no more chances of dragging. You can see it is very short ten o'clock and finally it is up and down. Now we will close the bow stopper, take the anchor off gear for emergency let go and close the hose pipe cover. I believe you got a good understanding. Thank you.