Do you move your anchor and chain underway?

[El Pinguino]

Erling Tambs stowed the anchor below on Teddy... cost him his boat... he never did get to Chile....

[sailorboy1]

Why would I move the anchor and chain? It's already in its' best storage space.

[Kevin84]

Thanks for all the input guys. Reason I asked is I've heard of people doing this to keep tge weight out of the ends. Primarily racers. I certainly have no plans to do so, but was curious if others did.

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[svmariane]

For us, anchor and chain stay forward where they are best suited for use.

Any ocean, anytime, anywhere.

To balance the weight we stock beer, rum, and wine in the aft cabin.

When the vessel begins showing signs of tipping forwards, we pull into port, drop anchor (which re-levels the boat) and resupply provisions.

Simple, no?

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Randyonr3

We carry 300 feet and 3 different anchors in our forward locker.. thats their home while cruising..
Have thought about moving the anchor off the bow while traveling but never done it..
we dont have any "hobby-horsing".. I think it more to the individual boat and owner of how they pack a boat.........

Randy, you ought to try sailing to weather without the chain and anchors some time. We did take the anchors and chain out for regattas like the King's Cup and the Langkawi regatta and the improvement going into a chop was HUGE on our First 456, which is a pretty similar boat to yours. However, the anchors, chain, and rode sat on or under the dock at the marina, and that isn't possible on a passage. The only thing I did for passages was to lash the anchor down tight so it wouldn't come loose and beat up the front of the boat (again).

[Snowpetrel]

I prefer to leave it forward for shorter passages , say 1000 miles or so, but it depends on the boat, the landfall, and the crew.

Snowpetrel 1 had a second chain locker well aft from the bow. This normally held 30 meters with 40 meters left in the fwd locker where it self stowed. On long passages I could leave the anchor on the roller but drag most of the chain to the aft locker to reduce pitching. I still had the anchor instantly available to drop. Very nice when single handed!

Nothing worse than a stormy landfall on a nasty coast with your anchor buried below someplace!

A good reason to stow the anchor below can be water comming in through the spurling pipe. Without the chain it's easy to seal it up with a bung and tape. One yacht I delivered had a neat split bung that fitted around the chain and sealed the pipe. But I've resorted to tape and rags and expanding foam or concrete (on ships) to stop leaks. I guess most modern yachts have a self draining locker so this is less of an issue.

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[Roy M]

My Rocna 15 stays on the bow roller. For short hops between islands or anchorages in shallow water, enough chain is in the bow locker. When readying for a passage I pull the chain aft from its temporary home in the bow to a bilge locker just forward of midships. This is mad easier with having up/down windlass control rocker switches in both locations, as well as at the bow and in the cockpit. With a helper washing the chain at the roller, the chain comes aboard clean, and perfectly flaked down below or aft in the deeper bilge:

My primary anchor is 240 feet of 1/4 inch Hi-Test, with 100' of 1/2" yellow polypropylene attached to it, and finally, some 1/4 inch poly to cut with a knife if I have to cut and run. I also have two other rodes in wet lockers on deck, with anchors always attached, and floating tails if needed. Works well on a multihull.

[CruisingKitty]

Originally Posted by Jon Eisberg

Wow... Well, I certainly hope the anchor took that piece of crap with it :-)

They should consider themselves lucky, better to have a failure of a swivel result in the loss of an anchor, rather than the boat...

Hopefully, they've been cured of using a swivel?

:-))

Yes, they've been cured of swivels and stainless steel. They now have nice galvanized gear.

[Snowpetrel]

^^^Good idea having a windlass switch inside, near the chain locker so you can flake it aft without having to keep running on deck to pull in another few meters. If I've read your system right?

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[SimonV]

I did put the anchor below deck once on a long ocean passage, but the difficulty putting it back when nearing my destination has put me off doing it ever again. The anchor belongs at the bow, and at the bow it shall stay.

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[sailorboy1]

I bet a factor on taking an anchor off the bow is the size. For me to remove that 60lb piece of pointed metal off the bow when the boat is in the water is a big dangerous risk to the boat and my body.

[SimonV]

Removing the anchor in a marina berth, smart. Putting it back after 23 days at sea and in unfavorable conditions, not so.

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[zeehag]

i keep primary anchor and chain ready to deploy. it is secured to boat while sailing.
i keep secondary set aft and stowed while underway.
on anchor, i keep secondary ready to deploy in case of need, especially in anchorages with bad holding, like barra de navidad....

[wingless]

The only time I move my anchor and 200' of all-chain rode when underway is when I want / need to do this high-speed turn.

Anchor Drop

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by svmariane

For us, anchor and chain stay forward where they are best suited for use.

Any ocean, anytime, anywhere.

To balance the weight we stock beer, rum, and wine in the aft cabin.

When the vessel begins showing signs of tipping forwards, we pull into port, drop anchor (which re-levels the boat) and resupply provisions.

Simple, no?