Sarca "Excels"

[gspeak]

Originally Posted by brianlara 3

Anyone care enough to tell me why an Excel is sufficiently great that I might buy (yet another) pick and how the Excels work where deltas don't?? Because I've held both but no more than that. No up-close comparisons.

If this post were a troll (if I understand the meaning) or a stir then surely it would have been clear by now.

Crossing Bass St in a Triton 721 is bit of a leap for this 70 year old and kelp is a concern for me. (75 met 5/16 pwb chain, 35 lb supreme, muiir windlass. Fwiw)

Grateful for all advice should any be forthcoming.
Cheers Brian Metcalfe.

Brian,
Let me first say that I have no experience with either the Delta or kelp anchorages.

The Excel has a very sharp stainless steel toe & I would expect it to penetrate kelp well. BUT again I have no experience with kelp.

My best advice to you is to give Rex from Anchor Right a call & tell him your boat stats & intended useage. Rex (the designer & manager of Anchor Right) is a down to earth no b/s Aussie guy. He will tell it to you without the hard sell.

It is such a shame that he was hunted from CF & this forum a while ago for no other reason than telling it like we Aussie's are used to. No b/s & wanting to defend his excellent product. He was hunted by people who had no experience with his anchors.

Like I said when I started this thread, after holding well in 60+ knot winds with boats dragging all around us, we have every faith in the Excel.

I expect that you have looked at the excellent review videos by panope on this forum & his glowing reports of both the Sarca Excel & Super Sarca.

Dave

[brianlara 3]

Thanks Jim for taking the trouble.
Re: Kelp grows on rock only. I didn't know that until recently because other than Tollgate Islands (back in 2010) usually I'm anchored off Bondi or Palm or Ulladulla for various reasons.
The plan when I bought the 35 pounder was that surely being over anchored and ditto chained I'd never again have to send a mayday as I did in 2010 in a 50 from the west 10 miles east of BB.
Copy what you said re: Furneaux and now that I know about kelp/rock then in places like Port Arthur I'll anchor well out because in 50ft just outside the breakers off Bondi in 30 plus plus knots and with this little boat bucking like a crazy thing, most other places could well seem like protected anchorages.
Re the Mansons, Ive drilled holes thru the lower faces of the shanks so that in the event of anticipated horror I can shackle my 25 M/s with it's 8 metres of 3/8 shortlink onto the front of the 35 which I knew, and you've agreed, is overkill and having 250 ft of 5/16 and also a cockpit controlled rocker switch I felt that things should be ok.
Very few vessels, irrespective of flag, have the experience of Insatiable and I think that if you'd noticed any alarm bells you'd have let me know with your usual kind construct.
Not needing to get rid myself of a 25 lb m/s is a relief so I'll run with the status-quo
.
Nonetheless, I'm curious to know why the Excel affionados/devotees feel that their hook is better than a Delta because they 'appear' similar.

Thanks for watching my back Jim. (equations incl)
As always grateful.
Brian

[Factor]

Originally Posted by brianlara 3

Nonetheless, I'm curious to know why the Excel affionados/devotees feel that their hook is better than a Delta because they 'appear' similar.

Brian

They might look similar, but they are quite different. More importantly the Excel works better than any anchor I have owned.

An F1 looks similar to a Formula Vee, but they are worlds apart.

[lockie]

I am very happy with my Excel's performance, including holding in 30+ knots in sand. For the record it's a #3 and my boat is 28 foot displacing around 3.7 tonnes in cruising trim.


But it has dragged in very heavy kelp in a couple of places around the Furneaux. Both times were in around 25 - 30 knots with some shore protection keeping waves down to a couple of feet.


Some of that weed has incredibly tough and very thick flat leaves, and it seems to me that any anchor would need a lot of weight to push the tip down through it before you even begin to consider how it digs in. Brian, your anchor to boat weight ratio is much higher mine, so I'd give you a much better chance than me of setting in kelp.


Cheers, Graeme

[brianlara 3]

Originally Posted by Factor

They might look similar, but they are quite different. More importantly the Excel works better than any anchor I have owned.

An F1 looks similar to a Formula Vee, but they are worlds apart.

I can see, clearly, how the Super Sarca would stick like the kiwi etc anchors but I was hoping for a slightly more technical explanation F.

[brianlara 3]

Thanks Graeme. Jim told me, above, about the kelp / boulder (no sand) situation.
Like I said to Factor, I was interested in the difference between Excel and delta.
Why people rave about Excels wheras deltas seem to be loathed.
Why the diff?

[brianlara 3]

Originally Posted by Factor

They might look similar, but they are quite different. More importantly the Excel works better than any anchor I have owned.

An F1 looks similar to a Formula Vee, but they are worlds apart.

Yes, Haines Hunter Tramps and Corsairs....chalk and cheese.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Brian, everyone loves their anchor... until someday it meets a bottom it does not like, or conditions too severe to cope in a decent bottom.

Further to this, I thought I would relate an observation from a trip this weekend.


We have an older Sarca, which has looked after the boat all through the South Pacific over 42,000 miles and 20 years. But at the advice of locals I have put it down below and replaced it with an older stockless design, a local variant produced by a now defunct company called Marsh.


To be honest, I hate the stockless with a vengeance. Having spent AU$700 I now find myself with an utterly inferior anchor that seems to take around 10 or more boat lengths before it decides to bite and that weighs nearly twice as much as the original Sarca. After the Sarca it feels like a VERY big step backwards.


So imagine my surprise this weekend to be tied up along side a local cruiser sporting an equally old Sarca on their bow. I asked them about it, explaining my surprise that they were going against the conventional wisdom of the Gulf St Vincent in using it, and telling them that I was having serious misgivings about the stockless and was thinking of refitting the Sarca.


To my astonishment they were adamant that the stockless was most certainly the better anchor for the Gulf St Vincent, and as much as they loved their Sarca, it was only there because of some obscure reason unrelated to the performance of the anchor itself. They cautioned me that the Sarca would give me no end of trouble at the Northern end of the Gulf St Vincent where the seagrass is at its most dense, and that the stockless was still the best compromise for my needs.


So the Sarca remains stowed down below for the time being, and will remain there until we leave these local waters. But I miss it, and I will sleep better when it is returned to its rightful position.

Matt

[brianlara 3]

After endless research I find that The Marsh is nothing less than ledgendary in both Gulfs.
But in a storm ??
I googled Marsh last week to find that the company has closed its doors. Yep, still available
Anyway, Jim and others have convinced me to stick with my oversized MS's and all chain.
Two piggy backed if necessary.
Cheers Matt.

[GILow]

Yep, I bought my Marsh the day after the company closed its doors. I suspect I will never know if I wasted my money. I have endless streams of locals telling me it is essential for the Gulf St Vincent, but I never had a moment of trouble with the Sarca while the Marsh is proving a right PITA. I am not sure if the Muir anchor winch will give out before my back gives out, and learning to drop anchor half a mile from my intended stopping spot to give the thing time to bite is taking me a while to grasp.

The only thing I have that is more dubious is the 85 lb fake CQR, which really should go to the chandlery.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[ranger58sb]

Originally Posted by brianlara 3

Thanks Graeme. Jim told me, above, about the kelp / boulder (no sand) situation.
Like I said to Factor, I was interested in the difference between Excel and delta.
Why people rave about Excels wheras deltas seem to be loathed.
Why the diff?

If you talk to Rex, he will describe the Delta as a plow -- although he spells it funny -- and he will bang on about how his anchor is NOT/NOT a plow.

His meaning is that the Delta WILL plow, like a farm implement, and his anchor will not. They look very similar, at least in pics.

There's a (hundred?) thread(s) about anchors here and in trawlerforum (sister site). I think it was over there, in a thread that focused on specific design features, that he went on about the differences. I think it was something about the weighting at the toe...

But the Delta we had -- original Simpson-Lawrence, not the current Lewmar product -- was weighted in the toe, too.

I haven't seen one of his in person, so can't really compare it firsthand to a Delta. I do know that a Delta like we had, even weighted at the toe, will sometimes drag in soft mud.

Here in the Chesapeake Bay (eastern U.S.), we use anchors well known for better performance in soft mud.

-Chris

[brianlara 3]

Thanks Chris.

[savoir]

Originally Posted by gspeak

Brian,
Let me first say that I have no experience with either the Delta or kelp anchorages.

The Excel has a very sharp stainless steel toe & I would expect it to penetrate kelp well. BUT again I have no experience with kelp.

My best advice to you is to give Rex from Anchor Right a call & tell him your boat stats & intended useage. Rex (the designer & manager of Anchor Right) is a down to earth no b/s Aussie guy. He will tell it to you without the hard sell.

It is such a shame that he was hunted from CF & this forum a while ago for no other reason than telling it like we Aussie's are used to. No b/s & wanting to defend his excellent product. He was hunted by people who had no experience with his anchors.

Like I said when I started this thread, after holding well in 60+ knot winds with boats dragging all around us, we have every faith in the Excel.

I expect that you have looked at the excellent review videos by panope on this forum & his glowing reports of both the Sarca Excel & Super Sarca.

Dave

Ha ! I remember that incident well because I was the guy Rex was giving tips to about the Super SARCA when he was chopped by the mods.

Nice.

[brianlara 3]

Thanks Dave from Innisfail sooo close to the equator..

[groundtackle]

I am going to be honest with you all.
I know for a fact these EXCEL's and SARCA's will really surprise you, they just work.
I can and will explain it along with the differences, so will Rex.
What we want is owners and folks with real experience to chime in, thats the credibilty we all want as consumers. Good or Bad I want to hear them. We have a pile of testimonials that will be up on our site soon, some very interesting stories.
So thanks for sharing everyone and we will comment as needed.
ce
www.groundtacle.com