That's a good question! I always figure that if you walk down the
dock and see one type of anchor over and over again - there's a good chance that is the best anchor for the area.
I am usually sailing on someone else's boat - often a
charter boat. Most of the
charter boats I am on in the
Caribbean have some sort of a plow on the bow with around 200' of chain. Then a large Fortress as a spare - usually with all nylon rode. Most of the anchorages I am in are nice soft sand bottoms with steady
wind to hold all the boats in line. Works well. Seldom have any need for the second anchor.
However - last spring had the opportunity to deliver a
race boat up from
Antigua to
New York, positioning it for the
Newport -
Bermuda race. We left the first day of
Antigua Race week and had hit the pre-regatta parties with my crew the night before. So planned to just make it to Barbuda that day - a short 30nm run. Spend the night there and get a fresh start early the next morning on our first leg up to
Bermuda. The boat was equipped with a
single anchor - a large Fortress with maybe 50' of chain and 150 feet of nylon rode. I have anchored many times in the lee of Barbuda - nice sandy bottom with no obstructions as long as you stay away from the
coral heads further out. The anchor set well and I set the anchor
alarm. We lit the BBQ and made "Cheese Burgers in Paradise". The crew all turned in and just as my
head hit the pillow, the anchor
alarm went off. I hate those things and usually don't use them due to false alarms from not getting them set right. As I cursed what I assumed was another false alarm - I saw that the boat was moving at almost two knots toward the reef!!! We fired the engines and pulled in the rode to find a frayed end - no chain - no anchor...
So - no spare - only choice was to start watch rotation and get going!
On the return
delivery from Bermuda to Antigua, we made a point of stopping for the night at Barbuda again. I had marked the spot where we had left our anchor and spent a couple of hours snorkeling around the area looking - but to no avail!
Lesson learned? One anchor is definitely not enough!!!