Last fall Tom and I made a pilgrimage north to Annapolis, the center of the sailing universe, to take advantage of the Boat Show specials and make our "big buy" of equipment that was needed to finish outfitting S/V Jean Marie for our next cruise. As we discussed ways of accomplishing our goals with the various "technical experts", two realities soon came home to us both: First - choosing the various equipment and systems that go into outfitting a BlueWater cruising yacht is a very difficult process, with many interrelated decisions. Second - we were about to spend a lot of money and the effects of our decisions would not become apparent until we are back out cruising, and we will have to live with the results. Although we had the benefit of 30 years’ experience sailing, we were surprised when we were almost overwhelmed by the process of selecting these new systems! As cruising becomes more and more complex, anyone who claims that he has all (or even most) of the answers is only fooling himself. The more experience we gain as a cruising couple, the more apparent it is to us that there are as many ways to successfully put a BlueWater boat together, as there are boats and crews out there just doing it.

At the Naval Officers Candidate School I was taught that there were three subjects that were not discussed in a proper shipboard wardroom: sex, religion and politics. When I got back out to the Fleet, I found that those subjects were all we talked about! Likewise, there are three subjects that seem to dominate cruisers’ cockpit discussions - at least the corner where the men are huddled: anchors, self steering and guns (I’ll bet that the women are talking about sex, religion and politics). We would like to take a few moments and discuss a critical element of any cruising yacht, her ground tackle.

With the possible exception of the integrity of your vessel’s watertight hull, nothing will impact the safety and security of your life afloat more than your ground tackle. Saving money or weight when selecting this vital gear is the height of folly, and against all the principles of good seamanship - an offense that seldom goes long without its reward. Even long distance cruisers spend close to three-quarters of their time at anchor. Although all the various elements of your ground tackle system work together to provide the final effectiveness, this discussion will primarily deal with anchors and rodes.

Without first hand experience with all the sundry types of anchors, how do we choose the best type and correct size? A review of the various anchor tests - US Navy, Boat/U.S., "Practical Sailor", and "Cruising World" - seem to produce some conflicting results. Since none of the anchors available can meet all of the various types of demands cruisers put on them, the key is to establish your priorities, then evaluate the choices by those criteria. I require three principal attributes in an anchor: strength, setting and holding (in descending order of priority). Many of you will note that this is exactly the opposite order most of the published anchor tests use to evaluate ground tackle, if they address strength at all. Most anchors will perform successfully under light or moderate conditions ("boys’ weather"), on a homogeneous bottom. The focus of our considerations should be, how does an anchor perform in heavy weather on a mixed bottom? Using this realistic criteria greatly simplifies the process, as many anchor types quickly disqualify themselves.

Strength - As the wind gets up to the point where the catenary of your rode is removed, there are only two outcomes; your anchor will either hold, or it will drag. As the wind goes from a full gale to storm force, most anchors will drag. Since real world anchorages have mixed bottoms (tropical latitudes - sand and coral, temperate latitudes - mud and rock); more times than not your anchor will drag until it hooks into something hard. Then you can conduct your own private anchor strength test, with all your marbles on the table. If you have a structurally strong anchor, it will hold together; if not, it will come apart, and you will be underway. To me, the principal attribute of an anchor is that it must be strong, the stronger the better. In September 1990, we were anchored in 85 feet of water in a Chagos Archipelago atoll and were caught by an out of season tropical cyclone. The Bruce, on all-chain, was hooked into a large coral bommie (about the size of a ’57 Buick) and held until the coral formation broke at the base, and then we fell back on the CQR. With heavy surf breaking on the reef only about 50 meters astern, our lives depended on our ground tackle. Thankfully the CQR held for the duration of the blow; an uninhabited atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean is no place to find yourself on the beach. When the dust settled I had to dive the CQR to get it out. The plow was buried three-quarters deep in solid coral. It took about 45 minutes work with a hand sledge and a pry bar to get it out. Although a very heavy strain was put on this anchor, it did not structurally fail because it is constructed with forgings. Forgings are strong, and welds are inherently weak. Don’t try this with an anchor fabricated with welds, the results will disappoint you. Welded plows and aluminum fluked anchors will simply come apart under these conditions. The Boat/U.S. anchor tests found that the Bruce and CQR anchors are by far the strongest anchors available.

Setting - The ease with which an anchor sets is really a matter of convenience, you just keep plowing until it digs in. It is the ability of an anchor to reset itself, unattended, that is critical. Unless you don’t plan on going ashore, and only then if you are a light sleeper, smart money would buy an anchor that resets reliably when the wind or current change direction. Both the "Practical Sailor" and "Cruising World" anchor tests showed that the Bruce was the best setting, and resetting, anchor available.

Holding - In those unusual anchorages that have homogeneous mud or sand bottoms, the lightweight style of anchor (Danforth, Fortress) is tops for holding. The problem is that these anchors are easily fouled by even small rocks caught in the close clearance between the pivoting flukes and the shank (and since they are dependant on welded fabrications, they are the weakest anchors structurally). If the theoretically best holding anchors are the least suitable for actual conditions, what’s a sailor to do? As a US Navy Diving and Salvage Officer, my work taught me three ways to insure that anchors hold in the worst conditions: use multiple anchors, keep a catenary in the rode, and when it really counts, swim out your hooks and visually check them - before you lean on them. We use these methods on S/V Jean Marie, and thus far they have successfully worked for us in up to, and including, Tropical Storm force conditions.

• Multiple Anchors - Once the wind gets into gale force (or beforehand if it is forecast to do so) we deploy a second anchor about 45 degrees from the first, with the two anchors approximately bisecting the axis of the wind. The best way to keep an anchor from dragging is to keep excessive dynamic forces from surging the rode, and the most effective way to do that is to hold her head and keep her from "horsing." As the wind builds, most vessels have some tendency to sail back and forth across the anchor as a result of the wind working on the hull and rigging. As the vessel builds up way, and sails obliquely across her anchorage, she snubs up short at the extreme end of each tack. This puts a great deal of strain on the rode, and often results in the hook being pulled right out of the hole - and you are under way. Using two anchors in a 45 degree spread will usually hold her head and she will quietly lie weathercocked head to wind. Additionally, US Navy salvage tests clearly demonstrated that two anchors, set independently on their own rodes, have far more resistance to drag than a single anchor equal to their combined weight. Since no one type of anchor holds best on all bottoms, it makes sense to carry different types of anchors aboard. We have outfitted S/V Jean Marie (37,000lb displacement) with the following anchors: 66lb Bruce, 45lb CQR, 75lb Fisherman, and a 40lb Danforth. The anchor sizes recommended in the marine discount catalogs are for light boats in light conditions. (One major catalog states that its chart is based on 30 knots of wind with a sand bottom; not the conditions bluewater cruisers need to rig for.) My advice is to go up to the next larger size from what the charts recommend. Your boat will be more secure, and you will sleep better.

• Catenary - A long gradual sag in your rode (a catenary) will very effectively act as a shock absorber, dampening the boat’s motion and insulating the anchor from the shock loads generated by the vessel. Proven ways to keep an effective catenary are: deploy a correct scope in the rode (7:1 in normal depths, and 3:1 for deep anchoring - over 50ft of water for yachts), utilize an all-chain rode of the correct size (both strength and weight), and in extreme conditions shackle a heavy weight to the rode at about one third of the distance from the anchor. This will act as a catenary multiplier (it is especially effective on a mixed chain and synthetic leg, connected at the interface). We carry a 50lb lead clump for this purpose. It is difficult to deploy and recover (so get it out before the storm force winds set in), but the difference it makes in the holding ability of a ground tackle leg is dramatic. In my opinion, the currently popular movement to substitute 5/16in high test chain for 3/8in proof coil is the height of folly. I fully agree with buying the high test chain, but don’t downgrade your chain size to save weight. A Blue Water cruiser needs that weight to keep an effective catenary in the rode. Nothing beats an all-chain rode for catenaries, strength, or chafe resistance (coral or rock will eat right through a synthetic rode in a matter of hours). If not already so rigged, installing all-chain on your primary anchor is probably the best change you can make to your ground tackle. Those legs that are mixed with chain and synthetic should have a minimum of one boat length of chain next to the anchor.

• Visual Check - The only sure way to know that the anchor is not fouled and is correctly set, is to put your snorkel gear on, swim down the rode, and look at your hook. This provides great feedback on how to correctly anchor a vessel. You will see first hand what works and what doesn’t. Make it a regular practice in warm tropical waters, and you won’t be so hesitant to check out your hooks when it counts the most (when it is cold and getting ready to blow).

Perhaps some of Tom’s comments regarding anchor selection don’t quite follow your ideas. Again, we both understand that there is no best way, to set up a cruising yacht. We feel strongly about the subject of anchoring, because we have been in survival anchoring situations where our very lives were on the line, and we know how important this is. Some of the anchoring gear we see showing up on cruising boats gives us serious concern for current trends in this critical area. Cheaper, lighter or easier are not primary considerations for ground tackle. Think about it...

From the US Navy’s Captain’s Night Orders Log - Eternal vigilance is the price of safety.