geem
Well-known member
Agreed. Free dropping just makes it way easier when it's 25kts or more. It reduces the risk of plough the seabed with the anchor. It's not an issue in clean sand but it's very much an issue is a seabed that is grass. You may never know that you are dragging your anchor backwards like a plough if you only every anchor in sand. I believe it is the single biggest reason why so many charter boats here fail to set their anchors.It’s nothing to do with whether you free drop or not. (I know Geem is addicted to ‘free dropping’ his anchor). It’s simply a matter of not allowing the boat to plough the anchor backwards and snag loads of weed before it’s had a chance to dig in. How you pay the chain out is irrelevant.