About NOT power setting the anchor

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by Mr B

Yours might be a real one, Mine is Chinese, Came with the boat,

one of my biggest take-aways from panope's anchor tests was the major diff in performance between any 'genuine' brand anchor and any 'copy' of that anchor - even if there was no discernable diff in appearance.

we had a genuine bruce on a previous boat and were very happy with it.

cheers,

[Jim Cate]

Voila. You’re anchored and you didn’t power set it.

Chotu, if you would go review Nolex's pix of anchors in use you will find a number of them where he reports significant wind speed and yet the chain is still lying in big loops and the anchor is lying on it side on the surface.

I personally have seen the same with my own anchor when I thought I had set it (in days of yore I did not use much power to check the set).

I find this sort of evidence, as reported by the above and many others who have responded in anchoring threads, more compelling than your confidence. I absolutely doubt that in zip wind and the sort of currents that are in many anchorages the drifting boat would even straighten out the chain let alone set the anchor.

And you still haven't responded to the question of what happens when your anchor falls upon debris which prevents any set at all... and you don't check it by a tug with the engine (or sails).

Dropping the anchor with some way on can do the set, but dragging the chain back along the sides of the hull isn't cosmetically appreciated (by me, anyhow). Doing so under sail when required is one thing... as a normal practice it has drawbacks IMO.

Anyhow, that's how I see things...

Jim

[Martin Sea]

I believe dealing with nature forces us to do the same,dealing with ourselves first abd our own nature and understanding.
But this is not what I wanted to share with you.
Let nature do its thing....
Ok,fine,but nature changes always.
One time there is wind,other times there are currents,then there are both,which one is stronger at any given time and to what degree is not predictable.The vessel definitely turns into the current easier than into the wind.Then it makes sense to use additional force in line with the current.The purpose of the anchor is to be dug in,not to hold the boat by its own weight only,this would be like parking a car without breaks set on an even area.As the vessels weight causes forces always being greater than the weight of the anchor,set and forget looks like the worst option.
Monitoring conditions always and figure out what probably can happen next at any given time looks like the way to go for me,and still be able to go to sleep in peace and relaxed sounds like the art of living on a sailboat.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by chrisr

one of my biggest take-aways from panope's anchor tests was the major diff in performance between any 'genuine' brand anchor and any 'copy' of that anchor - even if there was no discernable diff in appearance.

we had a genuine bruce on a previous boat and were very happy with it.

cheers,

My Chinese Bruce was a total 100 % DUD, Its now a garden ornament,
There is no way I would ever sell it, Its just dangerous,

Panope's video's were great for me, Learning how to put the weight on the point, By weighing my anchors on 3 points,
Scales under the point, And blocked up to make it level on all 3 points,
It made a huge difference,

My 24 Kg anchor started out as a Dud,

I splayed the hoop out one inch on each side and put ears on it,
Over 2/3rds of the weight is now on the point, Instead of 1/3rd,

Its digging in on the point now matter which way it gets dragged around,
Its held in over 40 knots and a strong running current in all current reversals for 3 days,

My 40 Kg anchor near rips the cleat off the Bow, It stops the boat in a Dead stop,
Neither of my anchors can get tangled in the chain,
I measure the depth with the chain laid out on the deck first to hit the bottom,
Lower the hook and chain over and cleat it off, When it bites,
I Then lower out the excess that I have measured approx on the deck,
The boat is moving by either wind or motor,
Then I motor around in large circles to make sure its solid,

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Dropping the anchor with some way on can do the set, but dragging the chain back along the sides of the hull isn't cosmetically appreciated (by me, anyhow). Doing so under sail when required is one thing... as a normal practice it has drawbacks IMO.

Anyhow, that's how I see things...

Jim

Yeah I hate dragging the chain or line along the side of my boat too... though my boat's not looking all that great right now! It might help to drag some chain over that old paint! But when I have done this, I do it in a big arc so that the rode is always off the hull as I pay it all out. But that is 50 feet of chain and the rest nylon. AND it doesn't get that big a pull on it, not like running it from the stern running at 4 knots!

I was just thinking about something else, and not sure where this fits in the mix, but there is at lest one anchorage near here where there is a (usually) invisible patch of eel grass on otherwise sandy bottom. I am pretty sure most anchors will hit that and feel like they are secure, even with some backing down, especially if 7:1 or more is laid out. But that eel grass will have fouled the anchor and will release at the worst possible time.

Also, about laying out long scope and feeling for a solid tug, I did that once right before a dive on a breezy day. I thought I'd go check the anchor, certain it was deeply set. I was shocked to see the anchor laying on the bottom, not set at all. I followed the chain back to a rock outcrop that had one link jammed in a rock. It would be interesting for Steve to test the resistance of chain laying on the bottom with no anchor attached!

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Chotu

So what really is going on in my technique is this:

......

If you have a good wind/current going, that should work fine as you will give it a good yank. Not as good as purposely testing but better than nothing.

If you are ghosting in in calm conditions, that's toss & hope territory.