Anchoring and shifting winds

[Comodave]

Set two anchors in a straight line using two seperate rodes with the boat in the middle and both roads connected at the bow. Expect some twisting.

This is called a Bahamian Mooring. Good for currents that reverse. Not so good if you are the only one using two anchors and everyone else is using only one anchor. They will swing and you won’t swing much so they may swing into you.

 

[offshoreskiff]

A well set anchor of about any description will hold most if not all of the time; very liquified bottoms can be problematic especially if you haven't been able to take the time let the anchor sink deeply.

Like he said, giving the anchor time to sink especially if you are in sand is the most important thing. After diving and watching ours in different conditions it only gets pulled in a little on the set but after 20 min with a little wave action it will be sunk up to the flute (Bruce). I've seen the anchor completely backwards with the chain lying in the sand in a big loop half buried holding great. Most good anchor designs will stay buried and slowly spin or straighten out without moving much at all. I would never want to re-anchor in the middle of the night because you are just resetting the time it needs to naturally sink into the ground.

 

[FF]

Anchor away from the mob and set 2 anchors at 180 deg to each other.

The easiest is at an end to a mooring field where the boat not blowing hundreds of feet with any wind shift is normal.


Hoist an anchor ball .

 

[Group9]

Although our Rocna, Manson Supreme, and Mantus have all been very good about resetting in a wind shift, we always set an anchor alarm with the distance set so as to be awakened in a wind shift.

That way I can get up and make sure the anchor has reset. In two years of cruising, that's how we did it.

One night, anchored off Frazier's Hog Cay in the Bahamas, I forgot to set the anchor alarm, where we had a major wind shift and 20 knots of wind. Looking at the GPS track the next morning, I realized our Rocna had drug for 200 feet toward a rocky beach before it reset!!!

But, it did reset!

 

[C lectric]

Be sure the anchor is what you think it is. THere are a lot of poorly done copies out there, especially the Bruce but also the Deltas and I have seen a few questionable CQRs, not to forget about the Danforth. Those copies are mostly a waste of otherwise good metal. Maybe not all but far too many.
THe angles and shapes are wrong, the blades don't match, the metal is thinner, shanks twisted, maybe even the metal is questionable and so on.

The original designers put a lot of effort and thought into their designs ensuring consistency and that they worked. They may not be quite as good as the good/best of the new ones but they were still good anchors if chosen properly.

BUT ALMOST NONE OF THE COPIES are worth the chance. They fall way short of the anchor they copy.

I agree that a 35# anchor for a 40' boat sounds too small. I have a 5Kg [33#] for my 32' boat.
I suggest at least a 50# for your boat., maybe more as Hatteri were built heavily.

And of course as discussed, scope, tackle and bottom plays into it heavily. Not to forget windage, wave action and current.

JMO

 

[Nomad Willy]

JMO,
I have an 18lb anchor that would probably hold your boat in a 50 knot wind. But you (like me) wouldn’t have it on your boat because it has setting problems. Could make you look like an igigit in the anchorage. But if you were to get it set you’d be good for a gale.

It’s an XYZ and it’s lightyears ahead of the first XYZ sold. It was 13lbs and held Willy in a 50 knot wind for many long hours. But I put it in a landfill in Alaska almost 20 years ago.

The new XYZ (w a slight modification) I used on our trip south from Alaska and it worked flawlessly .. that is it held the boat (one night in another 50 knot gale) and it set every time. BUT it failed to set on grass in Fisherman Bay in Wash. state later on.

And generally speaking I agree with your post above. But I have thought that there probably is a Bruce copy that is better at anchoring than the Bruce. Not as strong though. I have a 7lb Claw (that may out perform a Bruce). It’s a Sea Dog brand. And probably would mud-clog worse than a Bruce or other Claw.

Edit;
I read the OP and see he anchors a 40’ Hatt in an anchorage w shifting winds. He is, then a skipper needing an anchor that does reversals well. I would suggest to him he get an Australian (ARA) anchor SARCA or the Excel. Both had excellent reversal performance in Steve G’s Anchor Setting Videos. And yes ... bigger than 33lbs. Steel Spade is also excellent.

 

[C lectric]

******I have a 5Kg [33#] for my 32' boat.**********

Oops, meant 15 Kg, not 5Kg

 

[NightCrawler]

After doing the Loop we were tempted to rename Shangri-La "Drag Queen". Nothing is more effective than practice. We're nearly 6,000 miles under the keel. A Fortress 55 and a very heavy (sorry, don't have the number) Delta. Both are great anchors - for certain bottoms. We just spent 15 minutes getting a set in the marshes of SC in a microburst. Fun times.

 

[FF]

This is called a Bahamian Mooring. Good for currents that reverse. Not so good if you are the only one using two anchors and everyone else is using only one anchor. They will swing and you won’t swing much so they may swing into you.





The concept that a new super whatever is going to reset perfectly multiple times does not sit well with my experience .


IN many locations I have had to reset to get a good set, with a 2 anchor set one has 2x the chance of regrabbing the bottom .