Kedge Anchor Thoughts and Questions

[barnakiel]

We have a small (22 lbs) kedge with some chain (20' I think) and then the rope. I row it off and later either pick it up from the boat or, if for any reason I cannot, from the dink. It did happen once I could not pick it up - it locked on a rock or else in thick mud.

One time, we had to leave the kedge behind. We asked fellow sailors and keen divers who stayed longer in that spot to retrieve it and they delivered it onboard on next visited island.

The only thing I would change here is to have a Fortress for the kedge. Now we have a galvanized Danforth that is just too heavy at times.

b.

[beetle]

Originally Posted by Bash

Interesting. I'd be interested to hear if any cruisers are using rolling hitches to snub 12mm or 1/2" chain, rather than chain hooks, et cetera.

I do this routinely on 5/16" chain; it's not clear to me why the diameter of the chain would matter.

- rob/beetle

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Bash

Interesting. I'd be interested to hear if any cruisers are using rolling hitches to snub 12mm or 1/2" chain, rather than chain hooks, et cetera.

I have always used a rolling hitch for snubbers. We have 12 mil chain and my main snubber is 18mm nylon octoplait. It works very well.

I do have a chain hook, too, but I use this for making off the chain at the bow to take the load off the windlass. I'll be putting on a chain stopper this summer to fulfill this function.

I wouldn't really want to use the chain hook for the snubber as it seems to me that it might fall out of the chain. Everyone talks about chain hooks tearing up galvanizing; I don't really see this, but for me it's a moot point, since I don't use them for my snubber.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by beetle

I wouldn't call a stern anchor a kedge - as I tend to think of a kedge anchor as a hook set out just to pull you over when aground. I would think of what you're doing as using a stern anchor in an attemp to rotate the boat such that it doesn't lay beam-to the incoming swell.

Kedging is, of course, carrying an anchor out in a tender and using it to move the boat, as when you're aground, or becalmed (sailing ships in the old days).

In my opinion, a kedge anchor is an anchor intended for use this way -- so light enough to be taken out in the tender, and perhaps easier to handle than your regular bower anchor. But just because your kedge anchor is intended for this purpose, doesn't mean that it ceases to be a kedge anchor when you use it for something else -- like anchoring from the stern to prevent you from swinging.

So I think the term "kedge" or "kedge anchor" is any anchor not intended as your main anchor or as a bower anchor, but rather for auxillary purposes like kedging and other lighter tasks. I think that's the way most sailors use the term.

[barnakiel]

Kedge: definitions -

There is some sort of definition somewhere. I do not call a stern anchor kedge although if I drop the kedge behind and tie it to the stern, I will probably use the terms interchangeably. Our kedge is quite biggish and it can double as a stern anchor in any case.

There is a separate stern anchor in our boat. A kedge we name the thing we use for various jobs - like e.g. keeping off a nasty coral head, etc..

Rolling hitch-

This is how we will tie our snubber onto the chain but we use other methods too. This far we do not have a chain hook proper in our boat.

BTW Having only 60' of chain in the locker and then rope, we try to drop the hook so that the early run of the rope works as a snubber.

When we tie off the anchor rope we also use the hitch - except we will use finer dia rope as our anchor rope is 1/2 inch.

b.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Kedge: definitions -

There is some sort of definition somewhere. I do not call a stern anchor kedge although if I drop the kedge behind and tie it to the stern, I will probably use the terms interchangeably. Our kedge is quite biggish and it can double as a stern anchor in any case.

Agreed. Our Fortress 37 is, to my mind, definitely a kedge anchor. It's aluminum and lives in my lazarette, ready to be thrown off or rowed out in case of any miscellaneous anchoring need, like keeping off that nasty coral head (not a lot of those in the English Channel but still), or kedging off out of a light grounding situation. Since I don't have anything for use exclusively as a stern anchor, it fulfills that role as well.

[mrohr]

Hi all:I try to avoid anchoring off stern if at all possible because many complications will be introduced while riding to it (tangled rodes,keel fouling,boat going side on to a storng current preventing retrival of either anchor due to thousands of pounds of pressure on the keel driving both anchors deep into the bottom,etc,etc.)
Retriving from the stern can also be problematic for some of the reasons discussed,but surely there are some clever arrangements out there. Best arrangement overall seems to have 1 mainn anchor /retrivial system that you will bet your life on and can be gotten up and under way when things become untenable in your chosen anchorage. getting multiple anchors up in deteriorating conditions could easily prove impossible.
Going to use the motor to help with the retrival? you may find yourself anchored by the prop! Don,t ask how I know this stuff. BTW, I wouldn't go anywhere with out my fortress in the sterm locker ready to be deployed if it becomes necessary.

[Kettlewell]

Yes, theoretically there might come a time when you have to depart an anchorage under duress in the middle of the night and a second anchor could prove to be too difficult to get up under those circumstances. It does happen, and I have read stories of such midnight escapades, but so far in more than 30 years of sailing up and down the East Coast, using two anchors for hundreds of nights at anchor, it has not happened to me. However, I do keep in the back of my mind a "what-if" scenario and my plan is simply to drop the second anchor rode over the side tied to a fender so I can easily retrieve it later. That doesn't sound too onerous to me.