Anchors and Other Ground Tackle

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This is not intended to be a tutorial on anchoring. Rather, it may give you some tips on anchoring in conditions that you may not have seen.

My wife, Mari, and I were crewing for friends down in Central America in January '98 (before the big storm hit). The boat was an Endeavor 42, similar to a lot of charter boats. It has a lot of space inside, but that is the cause of a lot of the problems we encountered. The deck is about 6-7 feet off the water. To say it has a lot of windage is an understatement. The boat constantly sailed at anchor. The primary anchor was a CQR knock-off with about 15 foot of chain and 5/8 rode. The captain elected to go with that anchor most of the voyage.

We dragged anchor in situations where it should be easy to anchor. We sailed, motored actually, from the Rio Dulce, Guatemala to Placencia, Belize and anchored behind Placencia Cay. While there, the weather turned very bad and we decided to run for better cover. Big Creek, south of Placencia, is a deep water port with good shelter in a nearby mangrove swamp. We anchored in mud in about 10 feet of water. When the wind came up we dragged anchor and almost hit another boat also taking refuge. They held, we didn't. We couldn't get the hook set again until the storm blew itself out. If you can't anchor in mud, you ought to quit sailing and take up Ping-Pong.

Mistakes #1:

• Don't sail in boats with more windage than sail power (most charter boats).
• Don't buy knockoff copies of good anchors.
• Don't anchor in mud with anything but a Danford if you expect any sort of trouble.

We meandered up the coast, eventually getting to Mexico. With more bad weather on the way, we tucked into Bahia de la Ascencion, south of Cozumel. We anchored just inside the reef because we were going to motor north again tomorrow - - NOT. The captain checked, on snorkel, the set of the anchor. He was happy with the set. About 1000 hours, the wind came up and guess What? We dragged again. I recommended that we put to sea; if you can't anchor in daylight, you don't have much chance at night. We tried to set the hook 5 times before we finally put out to sea again. I rigged a sea anchor from the cover for the dingy. We had wind from the North and Gulf Stream current from the South. We only moved about a mile all night. Remember the sea can be used as an anchor even if you don't have a formal sea anchor. It worked for us.

Mistake #2:

• Don't think that just because your anchor appears, on snorkel, to be buried that it is set. The sand 3-4 inches down in that area has been packed by hundreds of years of current flow from the Gulf Stream. It is about as yielding to an anchor as concrete. If the wind blows, you drag.
• Tandem anchor before you need to. Or set two anchors. Or both.

As you might imagine I was getting tired of dragging anchor every other night. We came back into Bahia de la Ascencion at first light and anchored further in behind Culebra Cays in about 12-15 foot in mud. I insisted we change anchoring technique. We tandem anchored. I put the Danford ahead of the fake CQR; the CQR was essentially a rode hold down for the Danford in mud. No problems.

Conclusions:

• Heavy anchor and lots of chain. I came back and replaced the 22# Bruce on my Nor'Sea with a 33# Bruce (not a knock-off Bruce).
• Change anchors like you change shirts. What works today?
• When you sail on other people's boats, check out the ground tackle. They are blind.

Recommendations for Nor'Seas:

• Go with mostly chain rode. My primary is a 33# Bruce with 100 foot of 1/4; inch High test chain and 150 foot of 1/2; inch line. The Bruce seems to hold well in kelp, a real problem here in the Northern California area.
• My secondary anchor is a 25# CQR with 50 foot of 1/4 high test chain and 150 foot of 1/2 inch line. I figure this is about the max that I can row out if I have to kedge off. I also have an 18# Danford stored aft.
• Chain means you need a windlass. I have a Simpson Lawrence Hi-Speed manual Windlass.
• If you anchor in an area with much mud, get a chain scrubber. Screw the boat hook approach. I bought a cheap plastic covered Dumb-bell and attached it to the scrubber and attached a 15 foot tether. I put the scrubber on the chain and let gravity do the scrubbing. 5 pumps on the windlass then scrub, scrub, scrub, up and down using the tether. Works very well.
• When you have the choice, go up rivers for good holding. If the weather is a factor and you are exposed, anchor in shallow water and take a line or two ashore. Tie them to mangroves if you expect high winds. Don't worry about being blown aground. Nor'Seas have fallen off trailers with little damage to the hull. Just kedge off if you are blown aground. The boat will be just OK.
• Use the guides for this area to help you decide where to anchor. The two we used were Freya Rauscher's "Blue Book" and Nigel Caulder's guide.

Please forgive my whining; anchoring should not be that difficult. I, heavy sigh and knock on wood, have never dragged except while setting. Pick a protected spot, put down heavy tackle with much chain and you will live happily ever after.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please email me.