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Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
Slight egg on face time having stated the above. My 60kg Delta dragged twice last week albeit in winds gusting up to F7. In both cases we were anchored in popular bays with sandy bottoms interspersed with patches of weed in depths of 7-9m with 4 x depth of chain laid out. I took care to drop the anchor in a sandy patch free of weed and in both cases I thought I had set the anchor well into the sea bed. In fact I know I did because I snorkelled out to inspect the anchor myself as the water was very clear. In the first case, the anchor started to drag a few minutes after I thought I had set it but it was the second case that spooked me a bit because we had been sitting in the bay for 2-3hrs before the anchor dragged. A sudden heavy gust of wind blew up after which I checked our position on the plotter (I always have the track function on when at anchor) and clearly we had moved. The anchor seemed to set itself again but a while later I noticed we were dragging again and so were a few other boats in the bay so we cleared out of the anchorage.
The only conclusions I can draw are these. As I said previously, we have had excellent experience with Delta anchors both in the UK and the Med and this is the first time the Delta anchor has dragged on us. I know that in both cases the anchor was set into the sea bed because I saw it for myself so I guess that the sand on the sea bed was so so soft and sugary that it was unable to resist the load imparted on it by the anchor. Both anchorages are very popular and I guess that the sea bed gets very churned up after years of boats anchoring in it. Possibly an anchor with a greater surface area, such as the Bruce which I slagged off before, would have worked better in this material?
