Your best bridle recipe?

[OS2Dude]

I made my own bridle for our 1985 Catalina 30. I used the specs for a Mantus bridle. I did not use an anchor hook, rather a snubber pendant, again designed after the Mantus specifications.

[Cpt Mark]

Lot of info and no thread drift LOL.

I put a rode counter on my boat. I love it. I can watch the numbers as it goes down and since I know the depth I know when it has hit and I can let out exactly what I need. More importantly tho is on retrieval. I know exactly when it has left the bottom. In very tight situations after emergency dropping the anchor (line wrapped around the bottom of the boat, couldn't tell where) when I raised the anchor I knew when we were moving and could maneuver just enough to avoid everyone. Many boats within 25 feet of me.

On my cat which I've only anchored once as an emergency I plan to run my snubber lines separate and all the way aft. The idea here is that when anchored and the boat starts sailing with the wind making the boat crosswise to the swell I can adjust my bridle to keep the boat into the prevailing swells.

[Brian Renwick]

A Prussik hitch is fine for attaching to a chain, but has a high risk of slipping when attached to a rope unless it is constantly under tension, in which case a rolling hitch would be a better bet.

[Brian Renwick]

have been known to anchor in hurricane force winds and big, awful chop/swell.

The boat stays at anchor. It’s not a dock boat.

So this is equally important if not more important than the rigging itself to the safety of the boat.


In view of your habits, I believe you should not skimp on your ground tackle. Work out what you think the correct sizes should be, for every component, then go one or two sizes up.

[Kurlie1]

I use this system to spring the bridle - works great.
I also use soft shackle anf climbing loop to attach to chain

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Kurlie1

I use this system to spring the bridle - works great.
I also use soft shackle anf climbing loop to attach to chain

I used to use those rubber shock absorbers but too many of them tore apart on me. Looks nice though

[Chotu]

Quick and dirty (very dirty) bridle I'm using for the trip up to the rigger.

A single 50ft, 5/8" dockline with eye splice on one end.

I cut the rope in half. I didn't bother splicing a new eye splice on the half without one.

I did the multiple wrap Prussik with the eye splice loop and just tied a bowline in the other 25ft half to tie it directly to the prussik.

Cleated both off to the bow cleats and they rub on the cross beam hardware. Yuck.

But that's the very quick and dirty bridle I'm using. It definitely stopped my boat from winning the America's Cup at anchor. Now I'm more like a demonstration boat rather than a true race contender. Ha ha

Looking forward to doing something a little better after the rigger.

[OS2Dude]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I used to use those rubber shock absorbers but too many of them tore apart on me.

The rubber bone type snubber gets brittle with a few years exposure to the sun. I can't tell you how many broken ones I've seen around the marina. For our boat I use 'shockles' on our dock lines. Graduated resistance with a nylon web core so they are much less likely to break.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by OS2Dude

The rubber bone type snubber gets brittle with a few years exposure to the sun. I can't tell you how many broken ones I've seen around the marina. For our boat I use 'shockles' on our dock lines. Graduated resistance with a nylon web core so they are much less likely to break.

Is that all it was? I thought they were defective. I don’t think mine ever even lasted a year. Usually some big storm would come up at anchor and they would just rip apart.

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Cleated both off to the bow cleats and they rub on the cross beam hardware. Yuck.

I found this was a typical failing or at least poorly executed arrangement on many cats. I opted for opposing cleats that work for anchoring inner and alongside outer.

bow cleats.jpg

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

I found this was a typical failing or at least poorly executed arrangement on many cats. I opted for opposing cleats that work for anchoring inner and alongside outer.

bow cleats.jpg

That’s a nice setup!

I might have to add the inner cleat.

It’s a real difficult reach to get up there though. I have the bow beam bulkhead with a little round hole to reach through. 2 person job or else some lost vice grips. Ha ha

[team karst]

Now u made me go into the rain for these pix [emoji847]

Inside structural ring for full length bridal deployments. Outside cleat for shorter lengths, where wind is fighting current.

[JebLostInSpace]

Well I'm late to the party, but I strongly agree with your views on simple being better, and highly recommend something similar to your "quick and dirty" solution. I've been using rolling hitches for the snubber for the past 3 years, and never had it slip on chain, even in 3 days of sustained 40+ kts. No need for an eye splice, continuous loop, or anything fancy. A simple rope with a simple end, tied around either rope or chain. The other end goes to my bow cleats, much like what you are doing now. It's cheap, you can cut the ends off if they start to wear out, it rolls over an anchor roller no problem, you easily adjust the length at the bow cleats, and there's no hardware to buy or maintain.

I can see having an issue with thicker bridle/snubber lines. The rolling hitch works best when the snubber line is thinner than the anchor rode, but in my experience it doesn't need to be by much.

I imagine the icicle hitch would work a treat, though I admit I don't know how to tie it without access to the end of the "icicle" (the rode in this use case).

Prussik seems like it should also do the trick, but you need a little loop to tie it with to avoid the tedium of hauling the whole bridle/snubber through twice. That takes it from a few seconds to set up to a few minutes, and would drive me crazy. But if you have the little loop, you can probably then just tie the snubber to the loop. Might have to worry about chafe though, so I'm not sure on the whole prussik solution.

For my money, I'd still go with the rolling hitch. You're using two, so even if one slips on the chain, you haven't lost all snubbing benefit, but the boat will probably start to swing badly. I imagine that would wake you up and you could then re-tie if needed. Maybe someone smarter will suggest the perfect hitch for the job. but as I said I've had no problems in 3 years.

Once you start tying these two snubbers every time you anchor, it will get real easy to remember how to do it.

I can't really comment on the problem with the snubber rubbing on the cross beam. I wonder if you could install a smooth steel plate for the lines to sit on to avoid chafe and protect the hull? Or add cleats in better locations. Or just stuff some fire hose in there and let it go.

[OS2Dude]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I thought they were defective. I don’t think mine ever even lasted a year. Usually some big storm would come up at anchor and they would just rip apart.

To my understanding, the hard rubber bones do not dissipate wave energy so much by stretching as by twisting. In a storm, it is possible to twist them too much and tear them apart, especially if there are too many turns. As they age and get harder, the amount of twist required to destroy them becomes less and less.

[Chotu]

Jeb: I’m definitely feeling this way too. I remember making the transition from “buying stuff” to “learning stuff “ on monohulls with this type of problem.

It’s so satisfying to just tie it up and it’s good.

I sat out a category 1 hurricane that got downgraded as it hit with that rolling hitch I learned and then forgot since.