Anchors and Such

I got into a little trouble on a forum for suggesting folks try anchoring without chain. I thought I'd make my point here so I don't have to rehash it over and over.

When we moved aboard out 27' sailboat, I followed Chapman's advice on anchoring. It's a great place to start. But in those 3 years we lived aboard, over 1,000 nights on the hook, I discovered some things on my own.

The sailboat was our home and our security. It was of utmost importance that she keep us safe and we keep her safe. I carried 5 anchors, one of them with an all chain rode. We anchored up and down the Atlantic from Bristol RI where we took delivery of the boat at the factory, to the Caribbean. We anchored with one anchor. We anchored with two anchors. At one point in the Bahamas we had all 5 anchors out. After moving ashore and selling the sailboat we cruised in small cuddy cabin boats, sometimes anchoring 5 or 6 times a day for various reasons, spending a week or so aboard without ever going ashore.

Enough background.

I have concluded that not all anchors follow all rules. You see the big ships with Navy anchors.

They must work because otherwise you wouldn't see them hanging off the big ships.

I had a Navy anchor on the sailboat. It was properly Chapman's sized, with the appropriate amount of Chapman chain and the only way I could get it to set (even at 7:1 in sand) was to jump in the water and dig a hole for it. This tells me that the dynamics for anchors may change with their weight/size. What works for a heavy anchor, may not work for a lighter one. And I bore out this hypothesis over the years.

My 8# Danforth wouldn't set, but my 14# Danforth would. My 2# claw wouldn't set, but my 11# claw would. The 14# Danforth wouldn't set, but the #11 plow would. There's a point in weight where the anchor becomes unable to dig in. This varies by anchor with bottom type and current. The amount of chain isn't going to affect this if enough scope is used, in fact in the case of the Danforth vs the plow, chain actually hindered - the chain would hit the bottom before the anchor and the anchor would skate in the current - the plow with no chain went to the bottom and grabbed..

Oh, while we're on the subject of chain. I found that all chain is NOT what you want in a bad blow. When that chain fetches up there is a violent jerk. Scared the crap out of me wondering if the cleat was going to pull out of the deck. Nylon stretches for a gentle stop and retreat.

Chain can give the illusion of an anchor holding, but when put to the test and the chain comes off the bottom, the anchor has to be the one doing the work. With enough chain, this may only happen under severe conditions, but that is the time I want to know it's the anchor that's holding and not the chain.

Most of the time we're anchoring in shallow protected water. To me, this is an entirely different scenario than needing to prepare for the worst every time you drop the hook like we had to do on the sailboat.

Reminds me of the time we took friends offshore in the sailboat from Beaufort NC, heading for Charleston. We were well offshore rounding Frying Pan when because of increasing winds and seas, one of our passengers was extremely sick. We decided to head in at Cape Fear. Things got really rough as we cleared the shoals and headed north in the dark, but the wind was behind us so we polled out the jib and ran wing on wing. All of a sudden kabang, the gooseneck broke. We got the main down and layed the spar on deck, still making good time with the jib. Then the whisker pole holding the jib out snapped in two from chaving on the shroud.

OK, time to fire up the iron main. I lit up the single cylinder diesel to take us the 5 remaining miles to the inlet. About 15 minutes later an alarm sounded. I threw open the engine cover to see oil squirting out everywhere. It's dark, it's rough, we're wet, cold (and seasick), the main is useless and so is the motor. I finally got the jib back up. About an hour later we sailed into the dark anchorage. I dropped the hook and went below for some rest. The girl passenger knew her stuff and wanted to know why I hadn't waited up on deck to make sure the anchor was properly set. I said, "I'm cold, tired and wet. We just conquered life threatening conditions. The worst that can happen now is we'll get blown up into the mud. I'm going to sleep." They got on a bus the next morning.

The point is I guess, that there is an experience level where things change a little, the perspective is different. Sometimes the result of that new perspective might be a practice contrary to convention. For me, it's an awakening and I choose to share it.