Anchoring in Brittany

[Leisure 27]

I am planning on doing some anchoring in Brittany on my Leisure 27 sailing boat. I have a windlass. I have 30m chain and 25m rope. With such big tides in France I am considering going for 80 m of chain with my rope.Is this enough. I think I will need to replace all of the chain or is there a way of joining chain using a windlass. Those links you hammer together do not look very safe. The weakest link?

 

[[70521]]

Really depends on where you are planning to anchor. Do you have a fin or bildge keels?

 

[LadyInBed]

N or S Brittany?
N MHWS is around the 12m mark, S is around the 7m mark.
I would leave your chain as is assuming 8mm and double your rope.
Another assumption is that if the forecast isn't too good you won't be anchoring anyway

 

[doug748]

I am planning on doing some anchoring in Brittany on my Leisure 27 sailing boat. I have a windlass. I have 30m chain and 25m rope. With such big tides in France I am considering going for 80 m of chain with my rope.Is this enough. I think I will need to replace all of the chain or is there a way of joining chain using a windlass. Those links you hammer together do not look very safe. The weakest link?

I agree with LadyinBed, unless you habitually ride out poor weather, on big springs, you would be ok with what you have - plus a bit of extra rope. There is nowhere on this coast where you are more than a short day sail from good shelter with fixed moorings

However, if your present chain is showing it's age now would be the time to change it. I am not convinced I would put 80m on a smaller boat, perhaps 60? That would see you right for most circumstances and you could still have the rope in reserve.

I don't like the C links either, some are said to be better than others but it's reported that they cause problems at the winch and when I have used them they have always rusted badly.

 

[dom]

I am planning on doing some anchoring in Brittany on my Leisure 27 sailing boat. I have a windlass. I have 30m chain and 25m rope. With such big tides in France I am considering going for 80 m of chain with my rope.Is this enough. I think I will need to replace all of the chain or is there a way of joining chain using a windlass. Those links you hammer together do not look very safe. The weakest link?

Just watch the weight of so much chain on such a boat.

If you can find a suitably sized Crosby link; AFAIK they are lift rated.

 

[prv]

I am not convinced I would put 80m on a smaller boat, perhaps 60?

+1, though it depends on the hull shape. When we got Ariam (slim 34') she felt huge after our previous 24' and I went a bit overboard on ground tackle with a 20kg Spade and 80m of chain. This was more than the buoyancy of her bow could support, and she was noticeably trimmed down by the head and crashing through waves instead of riding over them. I then cut back to a mere 20m of chain (and 100m of rope), keeping the weight in the anchor where it could do most good.

I don't know how much weight the bow of a Leisure 27 can support, but in your circumstances I'd be looking to extend the rope rather than the chain.

Pete

 

[Poignard]

I see from photos of a Leisure 27 on a broker's website that the chain locker is well forward. 80m of chain is a lot of weight to carry so far forward.

I have a 28 foot Twister and my 65m of 8mm chain is carried in a chain locker between the V-berth. I reckoned 65m would be adequate for Brittany where I keep my boat and so it has proved to be.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

I use 50m of chain in the Bristol Channel with its 14m tides and I doubt my 31ft BC boat could hold much more in chain locker. I obviously cant anchor in 20m as I could not get 3 times the depth. In bad winds and big spring tides I wouldn't want to sit out in tideway but I have rope as well to get me my 5 times in that situation, though in the Scilly Isles with its admittedly smaller tides it seemed more sensible in a F8+ to get redundancy by setting a second anchor on the rope. I am of to N Brittany in late May in a 27ft with 50m chain on way to Morbihan and see no reason to change my tackle.

 

[zoidberg]

The OP has very prudently not raised the issue of which anchor(s) he will carry..... so I shall.

 

[Boathook]

The OP has very prudently not raised the issue of which anchor(s) he will carry..... so I shall.

The OP is obviously very happy with existing anchor and is more concerned about the rode. The best anchor is the one that works for YOU !

 

[zoidberg]

Huh! Spoilsport.... :ambivalence:

 

[sailorman]

A Brittany must be the best for the area the OP intend to go

 

[sarabande]

So....

the Brittany anchor has protected geographical indication (PGI) ? Like Gorgonzola, I suppose,

 

[Leisure 27]

Thanks for the advice. I have a fin keel and plow anchor. Yes maybe 8o metre could be too heavy in a 27 foot boat. Will try 60 metre. I just like the idea of the weight in a unforcast blow. The boat as a lot of weight on it all way through the boat as I am a livaboard and hope it will level out. I can always have some cut off. I do not race anymore. Should I upgrade to a Rocna? for added security?

?

 

[dom]

Should I upgrade to a Rocna? for added security?
?

IMHO, yes, or a Spade; much better use of weight than all that chain.

That said, you’ll have really kicked it off!!

All you need to do now, is ask if the SNCF in Brittany is as good as the RNLI and the forum will spontaneously self-destruct

 

[dunedin]

Thanks for the advice. I have a fin keel and plow anchor. Yes maybe 8o metre could be too heavy in a 27 foot boat. Will try 60 metre. I just like the idea of the weight in a unforcast blow. The boat as a lot of weight on it all way through the boat as I am a livaboard and hope it will level out. I can always have some cut off. I do not race anymore. Should I upgrade to a Rocna? for added security?

Being liveaboard, rather than just a two week annual holiday, probably makes a big difference.
Investment in really “bullet proof” anchoring kit will pay dividends, literally, in avoiding having to pay marina fees.
Personally I would go for the 60m chain and a Rocna or similar (as personally I did dump the Delta and short chain when got my boat).
But if just a summer cruise probably wouldn’t, as would be in harbour more often.

 

[Sybarite]

I am planning on doing some anchoring in Brittany on my Leisure 27 sailing boat. I have a windlass. I have 30m chain and 25m rope. With such big tides in France I am considering going for 80 m of chain with my rope.Is this enough. I think I will need to replace all of the chain or is there a way of joining chain using a windlass. Those links you hammer together do not look very safe. The weakest link?

I use 8mm x 20m chain plus 20m rode on 31' 4 tonne boat. I've anchored in a lot of places and the only place where I had trouble with holding was off the E side of the Ile d'Arz in the Golfe de Morbihan. I wasn't the only one.

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Being liveaboard, rather than just a two week annual holiday, probably makes a big difference.
Investment in really “bullet proof” anchoring kit will pay dividends, literally, in avoiding having to pay marina fees.
Personally I would go for the 60m chain and a Rocna or similar (as personally I did dump the Delta and short chain when got my boat).

+1 The only problem with new generation anchors (I use a Manson Supreme) is they are more awkward on the bow roller

 

[Iliade]

Do buy an Alderney ring, unless you have an [insert name of butt of your jokes anchor] which wouldn't hold anyway.

 

[Tim Good]

I have an article out at the moment on our experience of Brittany in Sailing Today, March edition. We anchored most of the time in April / May and rarely needed more than 40m and always prefer to sleep on 5 x scope. We used a nice book called secret anchorages of Brittany. We didn't bother with a pilot book.