Anchors and Ground Tackle

[KellysEye]

>Tranona's comment, that charter companies usually know what they are doing, is correct - if they've been in business a long enough time.

We chartered two or three times every year for 24 years, in the Seychelles, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Malta, Corsica, Sardinia, Balearics, BVIs, Antigua, Martinique, Union Island, Grenada, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. The very great majority of boats had CQRs, the remainder had Danforths, as the main anchor. Many of the Caribbean charter companies still use CQR's but I don't know whether the Med companies have changed.

 

[GrahamM376]

My objection was that using 10:1 in ordinary weather in a crowded anchorage was possibly selfish

"in ordinary weather" I agree with you. The worst offenders for causing havoc where we sail are usually the weekenders in mini gin-palaces who drop their toothpick sized hook close alongside with a pile of chain on top and within minutes dinghy off for the restaurant, leaving the boat to drag or sheer around out of sink with all the keel boats.

 

[Tranona]

>Tranona's comment, that charter companies usually know what they are doing, is correct - if they've been in business a long enough time.

We chartered two or three times every year for 24 years, in the Seychelles, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Malta, Corsica, Sardinia, Balearics, BVIs, Antigua, Martinique, Union Island, Grenada, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. The very great majority of boats had CQRs, the remainder had Danforths, as the main anchor. Many of the Caribbean charter companies still use CQR's but I don't know whether the Med companies have changed.

The Delta is probably the most popular bower anchor on recent charter boats in Greece and Brittany/Danforth for kedge. Suspect (but don't know from personal experience) the CQR is OK in sandy or muddy bottoms. Certainly never had a problem with one in Poole or Solent anchorages.

 

[jimbaerselman]

The Delta is probably the most popular bower anchor on recent charter boats in Greece and Brittany/Danforth for kedge. Suspect (but don't know from personal experience) the CQR is OK in sandy or muddy bottoms. Certainly never had a problem with one in Poole or Solent anchorages.

I agree your observation about Delta and Britany/Danforth. In Turkey too. For Delta, you could probably add other many other modern anchors. I saw Nisos were exclusively using Rocnas - and had no drags in Levkas tornado.

The CQR failed my tests for unreliable setting. You never knew how far you'd have to pull it before it dug in. And if it dug in quickly, as in soft Levkas town mud, it would then pull home thru the mud on the winch. Groan.

The flat anchors are great if there's no sideways pull, as when sailing on anchor in a bigger wind; ideal for end on mooring, or second anchor in forked or bahamian moors, but need lots of scope (6:1 minimum, but depends a bit on exactly the angle it hinges to)

 

[Richard10002]

When I first started getting "really p1ssed off" with my Harbourfast anchor, (CQR type), this was one of the pages that came up on a search:

http://www.morganscloud.com/2007/03/01/rocna-vs-spade/

Reading more about Morgans Clouds travels and experience reinforced the fact that he knows what he's talking about and that I needed a new gen anchor.

I would have bought the first one I could source..... Spade, Rocna, or Manson. Eventually, we planned a trip from Malta to Lefkas, Greece, where the chandlery stocked Rocnas

In the end, events overtook, and I now have a narrowboat at Stretford, on the Bridgewater canal, so have no need of sophisticated anchoring equipment.

I guess, if I could afford it, I would buy a Spade today.

 

[JustinC]

We have a 17KG Delta with 65m of 8mm chain as main anchor, with a Fortress FX23 on 5m of chain + 40m of warp, for a 7,5ton 35-footer. We always apply 5 to 1 ratio, unless there is a stinker on it´s way, in which we case we put out as much as possible taking into account other boats.

I always dive in to check the setting, unless it´s too cold, in which case a quick trip in the dinghy with some goggles means peace of mind at night.

We´ve only dragged once - in heavy weed - and in hindsight this was due to a combination of a lack of chain and not allowing the anchor to settle before giving it a tug.

By all accounts the newer anchors perform better, but I´d say learn to use what you´ve got first before making any changes.

Justin

 

[KellysEye]

>By all accounts the newer anchors perform better, but I´d say learn to use what you´ve got first before making any changes.

Very good advice. In the Caribbean (lovely warm water) I always snorkelled in a circle round the boat to how how people were anchored. Most times it was all OK but sometimes it was a worrying nightmare and we would move. Obviously I checked our anchor too.

 

[TimBennet]

. . . but I´d say learn to use what you´ve got first before making any changes.

Wise Words! I've done an informal survey of bower anchors in several 'laying-up yards' on the west coast of Scotland this autumn, principally amongst boats of 30 to 42 ft or so. Talking to their owners they seemed to be used to cruise extensively in the Western Isles spending most nights on their anchors rather than hopping from marina to visitor mooring, etc.

The overriding outcome is that there hasn't been any large scale adoption of the the latest generation of anchors at all. In one yard with over 100 boats laid up, I could only find one Spade and one Rocna. The rest were predominately CQRs and their clones with almost as many Bruces and Deltas.

Clearly the magasine 'test results' aren't mirrored out there in the real world. If in practice, the CQR was as bad as the articles would suggest, then I would have thought there would have been a widespread migration to the latest designs, especially in such a rugged cruising area. Admittedly the new anchors are expensive, but not impossibly so for something that at a minimum, would improve the quality of your cruising experience and at best save your boat. But that being said, there's obviously a lot of cruisers who are satisfied with the performance of their CQRs, Bruces and Deltas.

The test I want to see is not between anchors of the same weight, but those of the same price. Assuming on a cruising boat you have the ability to carry a larger anchor, should you spend your money going high-tec or simply bigger? People like Evans and Beth on Hawk down in the Patagonian channels seem to favour spending their money on an older design, but as big as they can manage.

 

[Talbot]

People often forget the second major principle of using an anchor.

The first is obvious and has been addressed already on this thread>

Will it hold my boat in the worst case holding/wind strength scenario that I plan to use the boat in?

However, the second is more of a problem, especially in today's push button world.

If my windlass stops working, am I able to recover it?

 

[KellysEye]

>If my windlass stops working, am I able to recover it?

That's why you have crew ;-)

 

[Conachair]

If my windlass stops working, am I able to recover it?

as long as you have a winch each side of the mast you can leapfrog lines from those rolling hitched onto the chain. Takes a while but it works. Done it before solo and engineless in a deep anchorage, stressy but gets the anchor up in the end.

 

[Roaring Girl]

"in ordinary weather" I agree with you. The worst offenders for causing havoc where we sail are usually the weekenders in mini gin-palaces who drop their toothpick sized hook close alongside with a pile of chain on top and within minutes dinghy off for the restaurant, leaving the boat to drag or sheer around out of sink with all the keel boats.

+1

 

[NormanS]

Weed can be a problem for any make of anchor. The answer is to avoid it if at all possible. I find that a fishfinder, (an optional extra on my plotter) is invaluable for checking the condition of the seabed.

The old "Seafarer" rotating type of sounder were quite good for that also.

 

[Caladh]

We changed to a Rocna from a CQR this year (and installed a large Lofrans electric winch) in Greece and have never looked back. Last season we dragged .5 nm down Vlicho anchorage in a 180 degree windshift which rather unnerved me! We had not had much trouble withe the CQR previously other than re-anchoring 9 times in a weedy bay in Majorca. The Rocna (so far) seems to set first time - however I am realistic to know this won't always be the case.

 

[CaptainBob]

We changed to a Rocna from a CQR this year (and installed a large Lofrans electric winch) in Greece and have never looked back. Last season we dragged .5 nm down Vlicho anchorage in a 180 degree windshift which rather unnerved me! We had not had much trouble withe the CQR previously other than re-anchoring 9 times in a weedy bay in Majorca. The Rocna (so far) seems to set first time - however I am realistic to know this won't always be the case.

We found the same. Spent a lot of nights in more than gale force winds on a Rocna. Never budged an inch. We got more and more complacent over the course of time with less and less scope and less and less - then none - use of the drag alarm.

Our new boat though won't take a Rocna

 

[PaulJ]

No anchor will hold every time in all conditions. In the last six years of anchoring in a wide variety of conditions our 55lb Delta has only failed to set or dragged on a handful of occasions..... When it failed to set, further attempts have always been successful and on the very rare occasions when it has dragged, it has always reset at the first attempt. With change of direction, IF it broke out, it has always reset very quickly. I think the biggest problem for many anchors is weed and with it's heavily weighted point, the delta seems to break through and (so far) has never failed to set in the weed/grass so common in Greece and Turkey. Let's just say I have no plans to change it because I don't think anything else could do better.

If you are concerned about space in crowded anchorages, you could always consider using heavier than the recommended weight of chain. We have 60m of 11mm chain (10mm would be the recommended size) and though I do usually use 4 or 5:1, on the occasions when I have had to use 3:1, it has never dragged....... though I never use less than 30mtrs, even in shallow water.