Safely Deploying a Luke Anchor

[witzgall]

Our "New" boat came with a Luke 70lb anchor as a storm anchor. I can imagine that the safest way to deploy this would be to use a halyard to hoist it overboard, with a long trip line on the shackle? Is there a better way?

Chris

[witzgall]

bumpity bump bump

[Sailmonkey]

That's the way a pirate ship would do it........just without the safety concern and the use of a snap shackle.

[klem]

They are traditionally launched from a cat head. It will stick out from the side of the vessel a foot or more at rail height. The anchor is attached with a catting line for small anchor and a chain is used on a bigger anchor. The line is doubled through so that it can be released to let the anchor fall away.

For your application, having a cat head probably doesn't make sense. A halyard would be a good way to lift it but you need a way to hold it away from the hull. With two people, one could hold it away. Tripping could be accomplished with a doubled line. You would have to think about whether you want to drop it to the bottom or lower it. Dropping it in traditional but it means you either need to pay out enough chain so that it will hit the bottom without the chain coming tight or you need to lower it far enough to transfer the load.

Something to keep in mind when setting this type of anchor is that the chain often fouls on the stock of the anchor. This can happen with a tide or wind change but also when you drop/lower the anchor. I have had fisherman anchors come up fouled in all sorts of ways.