That story is interesting. However, apparently he still doesn't realize his mistakes. I have seen people with chain put down a limited scope and wondered what they were doing.

1. The water he said was 10-12 feet deep and he put down 75 feet of chain. However, his bow is probably 3 feet above the water, so the effective water depth is 13 -- 15 feet giving him a scope of about 5 to 1, the minimum. Add to that the three, perhaps five foot waves, and the effective depth becomes 15 to 20 feet, and he was down to 3:1 ratio - too little scope. It might also have been that the water, being driven up the Hudson also went up a couple feet. Lasltly, he didn't allow for the possibility that the anchor was on a shelf, and that between where he was and the shore, when the anchor started dragging, the bottom might have dropped a couple feet - let us say to 13-14 feet of water, further reducing the scope.

2. People with chain figure they need less scope than with line (he said 3:1), the theory being that the weight of the chain causes it to sag, so that at the anchor, where the scope is relevant, the scope is greater than the scope if the line were straight. That theory is false. In a big blow, particularly when supplemented with the force of waves, the chain can be as taut and straight as a nylon line. The weight of the chain concept is only relevant when there is no major blow or seas.

3. The disadvantage of chain compared to line is that it has no give. With chain, when the waves and wind hit the boat, and the chain is pulled taut, the jerk to pull the anchor out is a multiple of what it is with line because nylon line stretches. With line, a boat does not get jerked. What makes the chain so particularly dangerous is that if it is taut when the boat is at the bottom of the trough, the bow rising with an oncoming wave becomes almost a vertical force on the anchor. The whole floatation of the boat is pulling the anchor up out, not just the force of the wind and waves.

4. A scope of 5:1 is not adequate for a severe storm. A safe scope is 8:1.

For all the years he had been sailing, his experience is a tough way to learn about the details of anchoring, but I have seen the same presumptions/attitude in anchorages I have visited. That does not mean to say that I have not also had my problems.