Westcoaster, That is certainly true, but let's not confuse Operator Error with System Design.
In the instructions that come with these gadgets, they tell you to veer off at a 30º angle towards the anchor. This is to keep the anchor rode that is still ahead of you off to one side. Well, since you can veer at 30º in either direction, why would you veer to the down-current side? 
Instead of having the loop of rode drift away from the boat it drifts into it, instead.
You can have the same problem with your sailboat and have it snag on your keel or centerboard or rudder or prop, if you are similarly Clueless.
In the article I posted, I pointed out that my preferred retrieval method was to travel at right angles to the anchor for a brief interval and then head torwards the anchor. This creates a sort of squared-off "U" and ensures that I am traveling parallel to the rode. Ordinarly side-slip from the hull could cause you to cross over the rode on your way to the anchor, otherwise. That "brief" interval I mentioned is dependent on any cross-currents that would affect where my boat is, relative to the rode and the anchor.
By the same token, prudence and caution should also dictate proper operation.
For example, say I'm starting off and I get about 20 feet, when my just-started-but-still-cold outboard motor stalls. After a few pulls, a little fiddling and diddling and piddling and twiddling with the choke knob and the throttle, I now have the motor going . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . What should I do?
Should I continue blithely on toward the anchor, having drifted some un-measurable amount and with no posible idea of where my rode is positioned?
Or should I be overly cautious and put the motor in neutral and allow the boat to drift back, until my boat is snubbed securely on the anchor line again?
A lot would depend on local conditions, no?
A calm day, at slack tide in the middle of Biscayne Bay is one thing; a fierce freshet in the mouth of the Columbia River, is another thing entirely.
I try never to confuse a product's stupidity, with my own. 
Hope this clarifies, Charles Brennan
An Overdue Promise: Anchoring with an Anchor Ball (Warning: Lotsa Pics) . . . 
-- Charles Brennan, Windrose 18, So. Florida -- 1/1/07 7:03p.m.
Part I: Anchoring . . . . . -- Charles Brennan, Windrose 18, So. Florida -- 1/1/07 7:04p.m.
-- Jeff G. US 21 Bourbonator, Indiana -- 1/2/07 5:25a.m.
-- Doug, P-18.2 Lk Norman, NC -- 1/3/07 10:47a.m.
