A poll on kedge anchors

Do you carry a kedge anchor?

  • No.

    Votes: 18 16.5%

  • I sail in the Med; it’s my stern anchor.

    Votes: 4 3.7%

  • At the bottom of a locker, somewhere.

    Votes: 35 32.1%

  • On the foredeck on chocks with the warp stopped down to it

    Votes: 2 1.8%

  • Yes, other (includes more than one spare anchor)

    Votes: 53 48.6%
  • Total voters
    109
  • Poll closed .
Kukri

Kukri

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In a thread near here, Daydream Believer writes:

“The majority of owners do not have a kedge (Ok! a couple of racing boats I sailed on had one- I did, but do not now)...”

This surprised me, but I accept that I am likely to be out of touch.

Do you carry a kedge anchor?
 
Yes, a generic danforth on 10m of chain and 50m of rope, stowed in a dedicated locker in the transom (Scandinavian boat design).

Previous boat had one (CQR) originally stowed in chocks on the foredeck, which I moved to a locker to reduce clutter.

Pete
 
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I have an old Fob type, I know exactly where it is and it is ready to go. I should replace with the Danforth lying in the shed but might like a Fortress in the end, if I can stow it.
 
Many boats are equipped according to various editions of the offshore racing requirements. Most specify two anchors of so many kg. So on many of the boats I've sailed, the main anchor is the one where we've added more than the racing minimum chain, and left it in the anchor locker on deck, the other, lurking below somewhere is the kedge. It 's quite likely the same type and weight of anchor as the main.

Don't forget that 'kedging' perhaps more often means anchoring in a foul tide and light wind, rather than hauling a boat off the mud. Hence some people have fairly small kedges with a great deal of rope rode available, to 'kedge' in quite deep water.
 
doug748 said:
I should replace with the Danforth lying in the shed but might like a Fortress in the end, if I can stow it.
Click to expand...

You can't do this with a Danforth....


42164410142_157278a15c_z.jpg



The small bolts securing the flukes have been replaced by short ringbolts/and ringnuts. No tools are needed for re-assembly. 2 minutes......
 
Yes

and no - none are specifically carried as a kedge - they are all sized to be primaries.

But each of our anchors are alloy, Anchor Right Excel No 4 (about 8kg), Spade A80 (about 8kg), a FX16 and a FX 37 (for soupy mud). One spare rode 15m of 6mm High Tensile chain + 40m of 3 ply nylon. Primary rode 75m x 6mm high tensile chain. Catamaran, 38' x 7t cruising weight.

The Excel is on the bow roller, the others in a bridge deck locker, both Fortress assembled, with the spare rode coiled neatly in a milk crate. Each anchor has a shackle already attached - and we use each of them when appropriate - they are not at the bottom of a locker and we don't carry them because they are pretty :)

We often fork moor to reduce veering and/or if the forecasts look less than attractive.

The anchors are alloy, saves weight, they work as well as steel anchors and are much easier to dinghy out and deploy and retrieve by hand. We have direct comparison as we have the 'identical' anchors Spade and Excel in steel - collecting dust at home.

Jonathan
 
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lw395 said:
Many boats are equipped according to various editions of the offshore racing requirements. Most specify two anchors of so many kg. So on many of the boats I've sailed, the main anchor is the one where we've added more than the racing minimum chain, and left it in the anchor locker on deck, the other, lurking below somewhere is the kedge. It 's quite likely the same type and weight of anchor as the main.

Don't forget that 'kedging' perhaps more often means anchoring in a foul tide and light wind, rather than hauling a boat off the mud. Hence some people have fairly small kedges with a great deal of rope rode available, to 'kedge' in quite deep water.
Click to expand...

Volvo yachts, and I assume the latest iteration, carried 2 x FX 85. The IMOCA 60's carry 2 x FX55, or the Guardian equivalent - on the Volvo race they have been used to stem an adverse tide (Storm Bay, South Africa) and on the Vendee Globe have been used at least twice, at Auckland Island. The Clippers carry 2 x Delta, I think, I stand to be corrected, they are 60kg and 40kg (retrieving the anchors from the forepeak and deploying is part of the pre-race training).

I have met people who only carry one anchor - and had lost it.

Jonathan
 
lw395 said:
Don't forget that 'kedging' perhaps more often means anchoring in a foul tide and light wind, rather than hauling a boat off the mud. Hence some people have fairly small kedges with a great deal of rope rode available, to 'kedge' in quite deep water.
Click to expand...

That's very much a racing thing though - the rest of us will have started the engine long before we start going backwards over the ground :)

I took Minn's question, regardless of terminology, to be simply whether a second anchor was carried - and aimed mostly at cruising boats.

Pete
 
prv said:
That's very much a racing thing though - the rest of us will have started the engine long before we start going backwards over the ground :)

I took Minn's question, regardless of terminology, to be simply whether a second anchor was carried - and aimed mostly at cruising boats.

Pete
Click to expand...

Thanks Pete. Yes, that was my meaning - “do you carry another anchor, which you can use with a warp, for whatever reason?”

I have kedged in a race, but I have “kedged off” rather more frequently!:rolleyes:
 
Overspecked Delta - Main Anchor
Large Danforth - backup for Main / Kedge
Small Danforth - Kedge
2 folding Grapnels - for throwing onto rocks to keep head pointing in the right direction.

I know I would up my speed by a knot if I ditched all the excess kit I carry 'just in case'!
 
As my boat is weight sensitive and the bower 7.5 kg Bruce is great for local waters, we don't carry a kedge for short trips.

I do always carry a kedge on longer trips - a 7kg folding grapnel with 3 metres of 1/4" chain & 30 metres of 14mm warp.

This has a few uses, as my boat tends to ' sail the anchor ' in light wind over tide conditions I lower the grapnel in smooth folded state halfway down the bower warp as an angel to prevent the warp wrapping against the keel.

It - as an angel - also assists the bower anchor holding in gales - this idea seems unfashinoable at the moment but I've tried it on a few hairy occassions and it seems to work fine for me.

The other point - pardon the pun - is that the grapnel will hopefully penetrate weed and grab a toe-hold on rocks in an emergency, where one would not normally plan to use the plough bower anchor.

Mind, it relies on a fairly weak hinge pin so I'd just use it in this way temporarily while trying to collect my wits, no way overnight.
 
It depends on your definition of "kedge". I carry three anchors, all of similar dimensions, and possibly, in appropriate bottoms, of similar holding capabilities. I also have a wee 4.5lb Danforth, mainly for the dinghy, but which could be used in suitable conditions for " kedging".
 
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