Hilton Head Island: anchoring; essential

 

In a comment on a recent journal entry Matt asked:   What do you have in the way of ground tackle? And if you don't mind can you go through your MO when it comes to anchoring single handed.... Under sail? Head up and drop from bow? Or drop from cockpit, set and walk the rode to the bow? And how do you weigh anchor?  I replied that they are good questions and I would answer in a journal post, which I am now doing.

I expect that Matt is interested in how I anchor GANNET, but I anchor GANNET differently than I did my bigger boats.  On RESURGAM and THE HAWKE OF TUONELA I used all chain rodes.  Chain has the advantages of providing a catenary between boat and anchor and resistance to chaff around rocks and coral and being self-stowing.  It has the disadvantages of lacking elasticity and sending shock loads from boat to anchor if the boat is pitching or swinging harshly and of being more difficult to retrieve.  All these can be solved with a good bow roller, snubbing lines and a windless.  I have never owned an electric windlass.  My observation of others is that they often need repair and I found that with an Anchorman manual windlass which operates with a normal winch handle I could raise anchors quicker than those with electric windlasses. 

On RESURGAM my primary anchor was a 33 pound Bruce.  On THE HAWKE OF TUONELA it was a 26 pound aluminum Spade.  I have read some anchor tests in which Bruces do not do well.  Neither do CQR Plow anchors.  Because I have used both for multiple circumnavigations without problems this causes me to suspect the anchor tests, not the anchors.

On GANNET my primary anchor is a 10 pound aluminum Spade.  I think I read that Spade advises that for heavy use you should use a steel version. I have not found that necessary and the weight difference makes anchoring with the aluminum versions dramatically easier.

There are some newer anchors which may be good.  I have no experience with them and cannot say.  

To me the primary disadvantage of Spade anchors is that they are very expensive.

Because ultralight GANNET cannot carry the weight of a chain rode, my rode is 20’ of ¼” chain followed by 220’ of ½” nylon line.  This is bigger than GANNET needs, but the extra diameter is some protection against chaff.  The rode is kept in the blue deployment bag shown in the photo above.  It is excellent.  I may have bought it from Defender.  It has a velcro closed slit in the bottom so you can cleat the end of the rode before anchoring, which is certainly a good idea, and is mesh so the rode dries.  Plastic markers are on the line at 30’,60’, 90’, and 125’.

I had to install the small bow roller off to starboard.  it would be better directly off the bow, but there is no room on GANNET.  On the deck you may be able to make out two self-adhesive non-skid pads that I bought in New Zealand to try to prevent the anchor before and after anchoring from scratching the deck.

Both deployment bag and anchor normally are stowed in the bow forward of the v-berth.  When I intend to anchor I first move them back under the forward hatch.  I put a plastic sheet beneath them to protect the v-berth cushions.

With my bigger boats I sometimes anchored under power, sometimes under sail.  On GANNET I always anchor under sail.  Usually under main alone, but I have anchored under jib alone.  I have never anchored with both sails set.

About a quarter mile from where I want to drop anchor, I lower one sail or the other, usually furling the jib, and go forward, open the forward hatch and pull the deployment bag on deck.  It has a clip to attach to the lifelines, and I cleat the end of the rode.  Then I pull the anchor on deck.  The rode is permanently attached to the anchor with a shackle whose pin is wired in place.  I place the anchor on the pads.  If the water is not smooth, I tie the anchor to the pulpit so it can’t fall over the side.  I then open the deployment bag and pull out about three times the depth of water I will be anchoring in.  I flake that down on the deck and tie it off to the starboard cleat at about twice the depth of the water.

I then return to the tiller and sail to where I want to anchor.  Because GANNET is light and moves around a lot and because I will be on almost all line rode and because I like space around me, I usually anchor father out than other boats.  Taking into consideration wind and tide— sometimes tide is the more important—I slow and turn GANNET into the wind, put the tiller into the tiller pilot so it remains amidships, and go quickly forward and let the anchor go over the side, trying to keep it away from the hull.  When the tide is stronger than the wind, I lower the mainsail and anchor under jib alone, turning the bow into the tide and furling the jib just before I go forward.

The rode should run out smoothly until it reaches where it is cleated.  Sometimes I have to help it along, particularly the 20’ of chain.  The roller helps keep that from the hull.

When the rode comes taut, I check to see if the anchor seems to be set and then I let out more rode.  The reason for not letting out all the rode at once is to reduce the possibility of snarls catching on the anchor.  

Depending on conditions and depth and room, I usually let out 75’ to 125’ of rode, though I have let out on rare occasions more than 150’.  One of the best qualities of line rode is that it is easy to retrieve and I don’t hesitate to let more out.

I look around to be certain we are holding, then go back and lower the mainsail if it is up and flake it down and secure it to the boom.

When I am ready to weigh anchor, I turn on the tiller pilot in standby with the tiller amidships, then I take a bucket which has a line attached to it with a carabiner hook at the other end forward, hook it to the lifeline, drop it over the side and bring it back up mostly full of water.  I also take a scrub brush forward and a floatation cushion to sit on. I will have already attached the main halyard to the mainsail, sometimes I raise the mainsail before going forward with the sheet slack, but more often leave the main down and sail off anchor under the jib which I can unfurl quickly when I return to the cockpit.  Often earlier in the morning I will have already brought in some of the rode, so that usually at this point I only have about 75’ out.  I sit down on the cushion, feet braced against the pulpit, uncleat the rode from the starboard cleat, place it over the roller, and start pulling.  As I bring up the rode, I pause ever few feet and either hold it in my right hand or if necessary take a turn around the cleat, and with my left hand flake what has just been brought up into the deployment bag.  When the rode is perpendicular I am over the anchor and give a pull and the anchor comes free.  There have been times when the anchor is deeply dug in and it takes more than one attempt.  

Once the anchor is clear of the bottom, the boat is out of control and speed matters.  Another reason to have room beside you.  I bring the anchor up as quickly as possible.  If it has come up clean I reach over and pull it through the pulpit, leave it on deck and scurry back to the cockpit and get GANNET sailing and set the tiller pilot to steer.  If it is covered with mud, I raise and lower it into the water to get as much off as possible, Then bring it on deck.

Once GANNET is under control I go back forward.  If necessary I use the brush and bucket of water to clean the anchor and the deck.  Then I open the forward hatch, lower the deployment bag and anchor onto the plastic sheet on the v-berth, close the hatch, and restow the bag and anchor in the bow when I can.

I also have a second anchor on board, a 15 pound Delta with a second 150’ rode, but have never used them.  On my bigger boats I carried three anchors, but seldom used more than one.  I know there are place and situations where you need to anchor with two anchors, but that creates complications I don’t like.

I hope I have answered your questions, Matt,  If you or anyone else has more, please ask in the comments.

I think the photo was taken at Paradise Bay in New Zealand’s Bay of Islands.

This was in an email I received today from West Marine.  Certainly essential boat equipment.  Don’t go offshore with them.  I am trying to figure out where I will put them on GANNET.