Why do I have a kedge anchor?

MoodySabre

MoodySabre

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When I bought my first 'proper' sailing boat about 12 years ago I set about equipping it. Something I read lead me to buy a small kedge and attach 20m of chain and 30m of octoplait. It has sat it taking up valuable space in the limited cockpit locker ever since

So, do you have one, do you ever use it, and why am I wasting valuable storage with it?
 
OK, I'll bite. (Partly because I've been pondering the same question.)

I think that traditionally it was (1) so you've got a spare for safety if you lose your bower anchor, or (2) backup if your bower starts to drag in a situation where it's not appropriate/possible to retrieve it and try again, and (3) if you ground you've got something easier/lighter to run out in the dinghy to haul you off or stop you getting blown any further on.

I've only ever used the kedge once, for the latter (3) scenario, and on that occasion it refused to bite! (Fortunately assistance are along soon after.)
 
In my experience, you do need an anchor that you can deploy from the dinghy, either when you go aground or think a second anchor is necessary (as well as in case of loss of the bower).

On larger boats, there comes a point where this 'second anchor' would need to be smaller than the bower which would have traditionally been a) massive and b) on an all chain rode. But these days on average size boats (and with the advent of Fortress anchors), there's no reason why the second anchor should have less holding power than the bower and still be deployable from the dinghy.

So a 'two anchor armoury' is sensible for a cruising boat in my view, but the talk of kedge anchors, lunch hooks, etc belongs to a by gone age.
 
They are sometimes used in Greece to enable you to go bows to a harbour wall, if it is shallow or has rocks sticking out etc. We do have one but never use it and never used it on my previous boat, but suspect it will sit in the locker, just in case:D
 
I use mine at least a dozen times per season in Greece, as a fork moor and where wind direction is somewhat uncertain. In UK I am just about to buy one, partly as a spare but also for similar possibilities to Greece. To some extent I suppose it depends where and how often you anchor.
 
I've occasionally used the kedge (now a Fortress: light, easily deployed, lives on bracket on pushpit) in much the same way as Vyv. Additionally, it's been used off the stern to hold the bow to a gentle but rolly swell at anchor: the difference between a good night's kip and a lousy one.
 
I've used my second anchor (kedge) in two situations, it's a good sized Fortress.
1. When the Delta dragged in soft, silty sand/mud i attached it with 5m chain ahead if the Delta.
2. To hold the stern so that we were bows on to waves/swell.
 
I witnessed a Kedge/stern anchor being used as a break when a yacht was being towed into Wells Next the Sea by the RNLI as the boat had engine failure, the yacht in question was about 34 feet and the only safe area to stop the yacht was along side a wind cat, for this reason alone I would carry one
 
I've used the kedge for hauling off when grounded, going bows to in Greece, holding the boat off the quay when moored alongside and the wind changed direction so it was pushing us on, as a second anchor in a fork configuration in a blow and to hold the bows to a swell. It also provides a sense of security to have a spare anchor if needed, although we do have a third anchor buried somewhere down below as well....
 
When using yacht legs to dry out.
For kedging off if one runs aground.
Plus the previous reasons given here.
 
Having seen anchors lost, and having once had to cut and run when the anchor fouled when I was anchored off what was becoming a lee shore, I carry one 20kg Delta, one 20 kg Brittany type, and one 25lb chunky little anchor that came with the boat, whose holding power never ceases to amaze me! I succeeded in stopping my boat and another from going ashore when the other boat had laid over my chain and tripped my Delta.
So how anyone can cruise with only one anchor, I don't understand. Marina day trips, ok, but cruising??
 
Just reading Adlard Coles' "Sailing Years" and his description of anchoring for the night amongst the Frisian Island sandbanks, weather worsening, having the rode of his main anchor part; his kedge and a thin warp saved him from the breakers. Since the 1920s I guess the advent of weather forecasting, inboard engines, and marinas has reduced the reliance on the kedge as an emergyncy anchor becuase modern yachts are more seldom in comparable situations.

In the inner Bristol Channel you don't use your anchor much especially overnight. As a result my "kedge" is a 6kg delta which lives in the anchor locker as a lunch hook. My "best bower" is a 12kg Kobra2 which lives in the stern lazarette. That's because there is little call for it, it won't fit in the anchor locker, and the boat's trim is very sensitive to weight up front.
 
Quite surprised at people sailing for 20yrs and never using more than a single anchor.
I've only had a yacht for about... Oh wait I was going to say five years but it's actually seven- but still, I've laid a second anchor more times than I can remember. Admitedly until last year my bower was a very poor example, now replaced by a new gen.
Primary use of the kedge is to reduce swinging circle in tight anchorages
Secondly, as a fore and aft moor when drying out on legs
Thirdly, as a tandem moor in conditions where I had chosen a poor anchorage and wasn't 100% happy.
Fourth, I have had to use a second anchor to stop us from dragging ashore when the bower (poor delta copy) fouled on kelp and didn't set. I had been planning to lay the kedge anyway (was preparing to dry out on legs) so it was faster just to row out the kedge than to recover the bower and motor round again.
 
I use my 10kg kedge anchor many times a season, but I've only used my 15kg bower anchor twice. I sail in the Baltic, where we generally use the kedge off the stern and go bows-to a rock or jetty. Why fuss with pumping up the dinghy when you can just step ashore ;) . My boat has a step-through gap in the pulpit, but no bow anchor roller.
 
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