Cat Owners: How Often Do You Use a Bridle ?

[off-the-grid]

...er, the title pretty much says it all.

[YOGAO]

So what prompted the poll, grunzster? Do you sometimes anchor without during a brief stop or in a very quiet anchorage?

[off-the-grid]

I'm just curious what more experienced cruisers do and why.

Delivery trip, I didn't have one.
9 days on the hook, earlier this season, had one every night except the first, when I was rafted up with someone.
2 nights back at the same spot, and haven't set it yet. It's been pretty calm.

[shipofools]

stopping for a few hours or lunch without a lightly occupied anchorage, then no.

otherwise I do pretty much every time.

Cheers,

[YOGAO]

We use ours every time. All chain rode for the first 180' means we are almost always on chain and we want to make sure to take the strain off the windlass.

Fair Winds,
Mike

[Tellie]

I use it every time I drop the hook. It' too easy to hook up not to do it. Cats handle on the hook a bit different than monos. I have all chain so the boat tends to spin on the chain when it is straight down. Where my chain pays out is to the back of the tramp about 10' back from the bows. If I were to get some wind or current the boat easily travels sideways over the chain and the chain rubs the bottom of the hull rubbing off quantities of bottom paint. If my chain payed off the front of the tramp like some do I might be tempted on a short stay to not hook up the bridle.

[Agility]

My answer of never, only speaks to the fact that I've only anchored out once. On my monohull I used a bridle every single time. On the cat with nylon rode, the A57 didn't see to need it so I'm not sure how often we will use it. Chris doesn't seem to use it very ofter but when you have more chain it becomes necessary.

[stacy]

Our cat tends to sail at anchor so we use it all the time.

[sailingaway221]

I like to back my anchor down and hate to load the windlass while I do it....and the boat springs in gusty or strong winds on a bridle much better than straight chain. Longer the better.

[paulrack]

The one person so far who voted no I hope never anchors in a strong wind or with a swell!

[Overlord]

The bridal system was designed to protect the cat from all concerns voiced here. Not using it is like parking in neutral and not using a handbrake !

[smj]

On the cat we own now we use a bridle. On our old Cherokee 35 catamaran we never felt the need to use a bridle. We would anchor of one hull which would angle the boat about 15 degrees away from the wind which would always give us a good breeze in our stateroom. The boat never sailed on the anchor even in winds up to 70 knots.

[gbanker]

use it any time we are anchored/moored more than an hour.

[senormechanico]

We've got a tri. Can I vote too?

We use a bridle about 99% of the time. (Eagle eyed readers will notice it's not used in the pic below)

Yesterday while all alone in our favorite anchorage, the wind was coming directly from the direction of the sun so our solar panel was shaded by the mast.

After a couple of hours, I moved the port end of the bridle to the aft starboard aka. We sat nicely sideways to the 3 knot breeze with sun in the cockpit and a fully exposed solar panel.

Nice!

[c.spots]

Set the anchor with reverse power, hook on the bridle, let out another 20+ feet of rode, then more reverse power to try to bury the anchor. Then let out lots more chain, so its weight will act as a kellet.
If your anchor roller isn't right at the bow (it is closer to the mast on Leopards), you must use a bridle. Otherwise, the chain will saw into the hull as the boat swings over the chain.
Can't imagine cruising without a power windlass.
Usually used a bridle on my F27 trimaran too. Otherwise it sailed at anchor faster than many monohulls' cruising speed!