Spade anchor in hurricane force wind?

[Krusty]

Has anyone personal experience of the performance of the SPADE anchor in hurricane-force winds, ie more than 64 knots, sustained; and measured, not estimated? The reason for my interest can be found in the recent posts on CQRs.

 

[craigsmith]

Go to the respective manufacturer's websites. Spade have testimonials on theirs in both French and English, as do we.

The other place you'll more likely get useful responses from people with the experience are specialist cruising forums, such as the American SSCA (www.ssca.org). Not many hurricanes in the UK /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif.

 

[john_q]

I used a Aluminium spade anchor during hurricane Emily (cat 1) last year. I was in the mangroves in Tyrell Bay Carriacou Grenada with a spade and a bruce set as stern anchors. both stayed put after digging in.

I have managed to bend the shaft of the spade (before Emily) and this adversly affected the anchor digging in as the pull was not over the weighted point. I had the shaft straighted localy and SPADE (eventually) sent me a new anchor under their warrenty BY POST FROM TUNISIA to Grenada found it eventually

Generally a very good sand anchor. if it goes in it stays there. I have had things catch on the point (old spray gun assembly) and this stopped it digging in. I am currently based in the carribean and use the spade as the main anchor in the winter and double it up with the bruce in the summer

 

[Krusty]

Hi, Craig: Right, we don't have hurricanes in UK, but we do have winds above the 64kn threshold, sometimes well above, especially on the north coast, Orkney and Shetland; 70 to 90 knots does occur, very occasionally touching 100. Admitted, not many UK yachties come up here and stay long enough to experience it, but those of us who live here and sail a lot need anchors to cope! And when we have the ground tackle that does cope, we take some persuading to change it!! All the best..

 

[Krusty]

Thanks for the response. Glad your anchors held!
Do you know the actual windspeeds where you were, in the mangroves?
We do not have the benefit of such locations on our coasts. Anchorages are often well sheltered from seas, but turbulence from mountains to windward can render them pretty darned exciting!

 

[john_q]

Re the wind strengths Emily was categorised as a category 1 Hurricane and passed about 10- 20 miles south of us. We were in the mangrove hurricane hole so have no storm surge or swell.

I am told the winds went up to 92 knots ( I stopped looking and going outside at 50 knots (even leaves hurt at this speed)

Cat 1 Hurricane definition below

Pressure 980mb

Wind strength 65-83 Knots
Storm surge 4-5 feet

Some damage to buildings and loss of trees, minor flooding

 

[Krusty]

Hi! John. I take your point about flying leaves hurting at 50 kn: seaweed does too! Thanks for the details.

 

[hylass]

Sorry for the delay to answer your question Piotaskipper
I’m traveling now and I’m not always connected to the Net.

Yes, As Craig said, we have a large number of testimonials, and quite a lot in difficult situations: earth quake, tsunami, hurricane etc..
You will understand that I can’t publish all of them on this forum, as it is quite difficult to respect the limit between answering technical questions and advertising..

You will find some of them on the English part of the Spade’s Web page (www.spade-anchor.com ) web page
Testimonials
and if you contact me on my private E:mail hylas@free.fr I will be pleased to send you some more.

 

[Krusty]

Thanks, Hylas. I had already read the accounts on the website for Spade. Some are dramatic, if a bit short on windspeed observations in the immediate locality; -- (understandable of course: I've known hardware blown away!);-- but there does seem to be a catalogue of anecdotal evidence and personal approval of the SPADE buiding up.
I have reason to believe this is a better indicator of performance than the various short tests attempting to simulate real conditions, which always seem to produce a different 'winner' from previous tests. (And of course discredit the commercial opposition!)
I am in no hurry to change what has been, for my vessel, a reliable and very secure anchoring system, but I continue to monitor new developments with, I hope, an open mind.