I fancy myself to be a good and thorough reader, but it took me three readings to, perhaps, have assimilated all the accumulated knowledge presented within this thread. Many important bits of information are contained in offhand
single sentences, or even just a phrase. I missed some important pieces of information in my first, and even my second, readings of this thread. What's more, I am a bit chagrined that I did not read the wealth of information available on Evans and Beth's website
Beth & Evans until after I began asking questions. Evans' response included a link which I then followed.
While I highly value and trust Evans' experience, and would like an
anchor with the qualities he has experienced with both 44lb and 110lb Bruce anchors ("flawless performance with both these anchors") even in rock, kelp, sand over
coral, and at short
scope, I do not want to regularly
anchor with a 44lb anchor plus chain, but no windless . At 1.2 lbs per foot, 75' of 5/16” BBB chain weighs 90 lbs. It provides 1900 lb SWL and 7600 lb breaking strength. Given the working/breaking strengths of 5/16” chain and 1/2” nylon three strand
rope, a 22 lb new generation anchor will be about all the holding
power the
rode can stand if the anchor is set well and has good holding ground. There doesn't seem to be a good anchor for kelp or rock, though claws of sufficient weight seem to do better than most, according to those
posting on this forum. Someone suggested it was good to have an anchor that either set definitively, or not at all, so that you would be sure of what was what (my paraphrase). That was something that person said they liked about the Rocna and Supreme in response to Evan's experience with those anchors. Doesn't set? Go to an anchorage where it will set.
Maine Sail's cruising ground is rocky
Maine and his anchors of preference are the Rocna and Supreme. He states that his Rocna has set first time every time, always reset with change of tide or
wind, and never dragged after more than 170 times
anchoring, even in locations where his two pound heavier
CQR had dragged or failed to set. Several other posters to this, and other
forums I have been reading, echo Maine Sail's experiences with plows and either Rocna or Supreme. Maine Sail, and other cruisers from other areas I expect to
cruise, or might want to
cruise, state that a Rocna or Supreme has worked well for them in those areas. My choice between the two is the Rocna. I find it is worth the extra $100 for the hole that allows proper joining of a tandem anchor to the Rocna, and for the lower profile roll bar. There is also some sentiment that the Rocna is built a bit better than the Supreme. Furthermore, I don't want a slotted shank anchor on my
boat. Though the 22 lb Rocna 10 will probably hold as much as the rest of the
anchoring system can tolerate, backing it with a Danforth type (tandem on same rode) that has been properly set before attaching it to the Rocna and then setting the Rocna will add peace of mind when preparing for a storm or when leaving the
boat for a while. As for the cost of the Rocna, I'm going to have to replace 1/4” chain with 75' of 5/16” chain. Why would I begrudge spending little more than the cost of the chain for what on balance is my best choice for an anchor? My anchoring system is my boat's
insurance policy.
Using a 22lb Rocna 10 with 25' of 5/16" BBB chain as my primary anchor will ensure that I use my primary anchor every time I anchor. There will be no temptation to use a "lunch hook" and not bother with the heavy, difficult to handle primary anchor. At 52lbs including 25' chain, my primary anchor will not be difficult to handle. Fifty more feet of 5/16" BBB chain will be in reserve for storm or when abrasion resistance is needed.
Mainsail states that if his Rocna and Supreme were stolen he would use his genuine Bruce. This endorsement, along with Evans' endorsement, make me want to have a
claw type of about 40 lbs as my secondary anchor. I'd like to have the short
scope, rock, and kelp capabilities Evans attributes to the Bruce. The problem is, I don't want to pay the
price of a Manson Ray (twice the cost of a Rocna 10), the Bruce is no longer made, and though I am not worried about the strength of a knock-off if it doesn't break when I whack it hard in various places with a rubber mallet (or other means of shock loading it without marring it), I do worry about whether the shape of whatever knock-off I might buy is close enough to the shape of a Bruce to be effective. The other problem is storing a 40lb Bruce in my boat. There is no good place, especially not low down where heavy weights should live. I already have a 50lb stainless plow which stores low and out of the way in two pieces. It is heavy enough to get down through kelp. Perhaps it will do a better job than the Rocna in rock or kelp. Additionally it has a hole in a good location and strong enough to function well for tandem anchoring on the secondary
rode. Even if it is little more than a kellet it will make my
Fortress function better. For the time being I will keep my plow. But I will be on the lookout for a genuine Bruce.
In addition I will carry a Danforth 13S, a Viking 20 (which is about the same size as the Danforth), and a
Fortress that is about the same size as a standard 22lb Danforth. I own them. They are light and easy to stow. I can use them for
dinghy anchor, kedges, mud anchor, backing the primary and the secondary anchors, each on their own rodes, or even use them for making a three anchor
mooring. (Read what Evans says on his website about weight and ability to set. I am hoping that my choice of a 22lb Rocna will be a good combination of sufficient weight to reliably set and yet light enough to be relatively easy to handle.)
Regards slotted shank anchors, and the much more risky practice of shackling the rode to the hook end of the anchor with a cable tie holding the shank of the anchor to the rode... CRAZY!!! Risk a boat to save the cost of an anchor?!? Buoying an anchor can lead to some fool thinking the anchor marker is a
mooring. I'll use cable ties or knitting yarn to secure my anchor retrieval line to my anchor rode. If I can't get the anchor up, the retrieval line can snap off the knitting yarn or cable ties and haul up the anchor.
I've been doing some thinking about anchoring in storm conditions. One thought is to make use of local sand or rock to make one or more kellets of sufficient weight to do some good. Dry sand weighs 100 lbs per cubic foot. A five gallon bucket with lid (already aboard and a second can easily be stored within the first) will hold approx. 67 lbs of sand. (Wet beach sand/gravel for filling the bucket will weigh more but the
water weight will be neutral weight in
water. Of course the sand will displace some weight of water, but so will lead, iron, cement and other weight that might be used.) Placed appropriately, this will have at least as much catenary effect as fifty feet of 5/16” chain. The point is to use freely available weight that does not have to be carried on board. Weight that can be discarded harmlessly when no longer needed.
However, with sufficient warning of a severe storm I can take advantage of my boat's characteristics to keep boat and crew safe. ROGUE's shape below the water line is that of a fat canoe. ROGUE's dead flat bottom is reinforced against abrasion and moderate pressure from rocks. I
trailer ROGUE on a flatbed
trailer. I can set or pull the masts without shore assistance. ROGUE floats in one foot of water. These are qualities I can take advantage of. I don't have to prepare to anchor out in a severe storm or
hurricane. In a
hurricane I would hope to have ROUGE well away from wave action up some creek, or in some mangrove swamp, or in some marsh, or on dry land well away from surge water. Caught unawares, I will be glad of my anchoring system preparations and capabilities.
I didn't plan to order an anchor until late in the Spring. That would have given me several months to change my mind if new information became available. However, I think I've been able to look at all, or nearly all, the information currently available. (Information that has changed considerably from when I last did a thorough investigation of anchoring almost twenty years ago.) Testing data from the past fifteen years and consensus of anecdotal experience have made me so comfortable with my decisions that tonight I took advantage of the West
Marine sale and nearly free
shipping to order 76' of 5/16" BBB chain and a Rocna 10. Great
price on each order including $45 reduction for orders over $300 and $4.50
Christmas shipping charge. LennyR, thanks for the heads up about West Marine.
Useful link:
Anchors; Plow v. Claw v. Delta v. Fluke - Page 4 - SailNet Community
(This forum is another intelligent discussion of anchors/anchoring.) kckclass has several posts discussing his experiences and methods using tandem anchors instead of a mooring. He has experienced winds from 60kts to 80kts several times over the past ten years. Maine Sail discusses his experiences with his Bruce (85% to 90% first time settings, but too many experiences of slow dragging (36' sailboat, 33lb Bruce).
One final aside. On Evans and Beth's website are photos of an
Oyster 72 anchored in 63.7
knot wind and seas.
Storm Winds Dramatic! Now look at the spiderweb of standing and running
rigging, much of it high up where the wind is strongest. Go buy a handful of standard three foot long dowels about the same width as your
rigging lines and hold them out the car window at 73 mph. Instructive! Somewhere I read that rigging lines should be calculated as three inches in diameter when calculating a boat's windage because of the amount of air they displace in high winds. Including the two furled jibs (actually much greater diameter), I counted twenty lines above the height of the boom.
Mast height is 109.6'. Even assuming an average line length of just 80', all that rigging amounts to the equivalent of more than 400 sq ft. 400 sq ft!!! Assuming an
Oyster 72 has an average 9' freeboard, 19' width, and 72' length that comes to 171 sq ft. frontal area plus 1/3 of 648 sq ft side area to total 387 sq ft of
hull wind resistance at anchor. It is quite possible that the rigging on that Oyster amounts to more wind resistance than the
hull itself. That Oyster must have a very good anchoring system.
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