Anchors - opinions from elsewhere
- Thread starter Sybarite
- Start date
robmcg
Well-Known Member
Here we go again...............
sailorman
Well-Known Member
SteveTibbetts
Well-Known Member
Be CQR in that knowledge
Despite owning boats for some years I've only just realised why them anchors were called CQR. duh!
Pleiades
Well-Known Member
Oh I do like to be beside the sea-side...
Can understand why folk get fed up with anchor threads - but one does not have to read em! If one rarely uses one's anchor or only uses it in benign conditions then it is all a bit much. On the other hand, if you anchor a lot and tend towards more extreme anchoring then why not indulge? I am not sure if there is much to choose between broadly similar types of anchor - basically they are just heavy hooks which hopefully will grapple with a sufficiently lumpy bit of seabed to stay put but be retreiveable when you want to go.
Being confident in staying put is for some of us extremely important - far more so than other niff naff and trivia of cruising.
As an example I spent a few days on the hook off the Dorset coast this week - fine on first night tucked in under the cliffs at Osmington while a NEly blew over the top. Next night however I was tucked in under White Nothe - the East end of Ringsted Bay - Bag's Hole I think is the local name - where the holding is poor. I put out the 20kg Delta on 60m of 10 mm chain in 7m of water.(Motored astern to dig it in.) Nice to have down there when overnight the wind swung right around to the South and by 5am it was blowing hard with a 4 foot swell and some breakers -presenting me onto a lee shore. In such conditions one of those floppy shanked wonders would quite possibly have folded over when the wind shifted and we would have been on the beach. So well done old fashioned Delta -held fast even though the cable was bar taut at the tops of each swell. Recovered no probs by motoring up the hills and reeling in the chain on the Lofrans when it went slack as we came off the tops into the troughs. Happy hooking! Shall keep the Deltas for a wee while yet but keep the threads going.
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside ......... but not on the seaside!
Robin
Pleiades of Birdham
MXWQ5
Can understand why folk get fed up with anchor threads - but one does not have to read em! If one rarely uses one's anchor or only uses it in benign conditions then it is all a bit much. On the other hand, if you anchor a lot and tend towards more extreme anchoring then why not indulge? I am not sure if there is much to choose between broadly similar types of anchor - basically they are just heavy hooks which hopefully will grapple with a sufficiently lumpy bit of seabed to stay put but be retreiveable when you want to go.
Being confident in staying put is for some of us extremely important - far more so than other niff naff and trivia of cruising.
As an example I spent a few days on the hook off the Dorset coast this week - fine on first night tucked in under the cliffs at Osmington while a NEly blew over the top. Next night however I was tucked in under White Nothe - the East end of Ringsted Bay - Bag's Hole I think is the local name - where the holding is poor. I put out the 20kg Delta on 60m of 10 mm chain in 7m of water.(Motored astern to dig it in.) Nice to have down there when overnight the wind swung right around to the South and by 5am it was blowing hard with a 4 foot swell and some breakers -presenting me onto a lee shore. In such conditions one of those floppy shanked wonders would quite possibly have folded over when the wind shifted and we would have been on the beach. So well done old fashioned Delta -held fast even though the cable was bar taut at the tops of each swell. Recovered no probs by motoring up the hills and reeling in the chain on the Lofrans when it went slack as we came off the tops into the troughs. Happy hooking! Shall keep the Deltas for a wee while yet but keep the threads going.
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside ......... but not on the seaside!
Robin
Pleiades of Birdham
MXWQ5
Dockhead
Well-Known Member
An interesting article -- thanks for sharing it. I hadn't seen it.
I have a good deal of experience with both anchors, and my experience corresponds very well with what is written there. I prefer the Spade, for pretty much all the reasons mentioned there. Particularly, the Spade seems to penetrate weedy bottoms better, where the Rocna would often just skip along. But both hold perfectly once set -- never dragged either one despite having anchored in some very tough conditions.
I have a good deal of experience with both anchors, and my experience corresponds very well with what is written there. I prefer the Spade, for pretty much all the reasons mentioned there. Particularly, the Spade seems to penetrate weedy bottoms better, where the Rocna would often just skip along. But both hold perfectly once set -- never dragged either one despite having anchored in some very tough conditions.
NormanS
Well-Known Member
Most peoples anchors are perfectly adequate as lunchtime hooks ---but that's it. Walk along any pontoon, and look at the tiny little anchors that some boats have, and wonder.
prv
Well-Known Member
True!
Our new 34 footer has a smaller anchor than the old 24 footer
Good excuse to buy new gear!
Think it will probably be a Spade. Plus a Brittany as a kedge.
Pete