Yachting Monthly

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How to anchor under sail

  • Chris Beeson
  • June 21, 2016

Can you set and weigh anchor under sail, without turning the ignition key? Tom Cunliffe demonstrates a handy cruising skill

Anchor under sail

L-R: Crew: The job can be done ably by a team of two, but here I took the helm, with a cockpit crewman to handle the main and a midships pointer to aid communication between bow and stern. Bow man: Weighing anchor without a windlass, the person on the bow hauls hard as soon as the chain goes slack. YM’s deputy editor Rob Peake looks all puffed out but if you time it well it shouldn’t be hard work. Note, too, we found having a spot of jib out helped us gain way. Chain: Sailing off an anchorage, there can be concerns about the anchor chain rubbing against the bow gelcoat. With good communication between bow and stern, this should not happen. Our yacht suffered no damage. Credit: Lester McCarthy/YM

Pass your Yachtmaster

Tom Cunliffe is an RYA Yachtmaster examiner. He has passed and failed hundreds of Yachtmaster candidates over the years

Few of us anchor under sail these days – a pity, because nothing beats making a passage without the engine, then letting go the hook to complete a perfect day. Cranking up the diesel doesn’t only make noise, it also erodes the satisfaction factor. In any case, when engine failure looms, dropping the pick in a safe spot to sort things out is the number one safety measure.

My wife and I cruised extensively in a 13-ton gaff cutter with no engine and no windlass. Tackled sensibly with an understanding of what a boat is likely to do when way comes off, the job holds no horrors. Weighing anchor can be more challenging without a powerful windlass.

To explore the skills of engineless anchoring, we borrowed an Océanis 343 in Lymington and cruised out to the roadstead behind Hurst lighthouse in the West Solent. Lots of space there, and a turning tide to spice things up.

For the purposes of this article, we’re assuming that suitable calculations have been made regarding depth to anchor in, and that we’re using a scope – with chain – of three or four to one.

My experience of heavy displacement yachts with meaty ground tackle tells me that 3:1 is almost always adequate. Four is even more secure. If you’ve all the space in the world, loads of chain and a hefty windlass, lay as much as you like and sleep easy. Light yachts, with no forefoot and tiny anchors strung from chain selected to keep weight out of the bows rather than to hold the boat in a gale, generally need more scope.

Approaching the anchorage

Anchor under sail

Preparation as you approach the anchorage is key. Here we are anchoring in a wind against tide situation, so we are under headsail only

Approaching an anchorage, what are we aiming to achieve? The ideal is to drop the hook where you want it to lie, then move the yacht away from it, steadily paying out cable, until you’ve laid the chosen scope for the probable HW depth. At this point, the cable is snubbed and the yacht should dig in her tackle. Under sail, one or two sophistications enjoyed by the vessel under power are not possible, so you can only rely on the weight of the boat to dig in the hook. We look at specific situations over the rest of this page and the next, but first, seamanlike preparation is key. Before actually dropping the anchor overboard, a useful order of events goes like this:

  • Sort out where you’re going to anchor and decide on a suitable depth at which to let go
  • Drop, or roll away any sails that won’t be needed
  • Free up the hook and lower it over the bow so that it can be let go promptly

If there’s a windlass, make sure its brake is ready to knock off or that it’s all set to wind out cable electrically. The cable should be suitably marked, or the windlass itself should read how much chain has passed over it

Anchor under sail

The anchor is ready to go, with chain and warp flaked

Without a windlass, flake the cable you’ll need on the foredeck. Make the bight fast at the mark, so that you don’t have to handle the chain if it’s running out under load. So long as the chain is made off in advance, no fingers need be lost.

Anchor under sail

The beginning of the warp is often a useful point to make fast on a cleat. Without a windlass, gloves are a good idea too

If a sensible amount of chain is spliced onto a warp to achieve full length, the beginning of the warp is often a useful starting point for making fast. Once all that is done, there are several ways to proceed, depending on the wind and tide situation.

Laying the anchor – wind with tide or no tide

Anchor under sail

We have wind with tide. At our chosen anchoring spot, the bowman is dropping the anchor and we are about to back the main

Where there’s no tide running, a yacht can approach her anchoring spot under any sail combination at all. If she sails well under main only, this is generally best, because it keeps the foredeck clear for the hands to work the ground tackle. Where it’s windy and you feel uncomfortable without a headsail for manoeuvring, roll most of the genoa away and set just enough to do a bit of good. Here is how it generally happens on my boat:

  • Roll or drop the headsail
  • Prepare the ground tackle
  • Approach the let-go point on a close reach so you can control speed by spilling wind from the mainsail
  • Luff up and, as the last of the way comes off, drop anchor

The chain is payed out as wind fills the backed main and the boat falls back

The chain is payed out as wind fills the backed main and the boat falls back

Ideally, if crew numbers allow, back the mainsail to drive the boat astern. To do this, overhaul the mainsheet so you can physically shove the boom out as far as possible. A well-mannered boat will now trundle off making a controlled sternboard, steering just as she would when going astern under power, while the foredeck crew pay out cable to the mark.

Laying the anchor - wind with tide or no tide

If the boat won’t do this, her bow will certainly blow off as she loses way. Depending on how far this is likely to be – and only experience of an individual boat can tell you – it may now be necessary to drop the main to prevent it from filling. If so, do it smartly as soon as you let go the hook, then let her drift off sideways until the cable is all out. You may feel uneasy about not having any sail set, but remember, unrolling some jib or whipping the headsail halyard up only takes a second or two, so if the whole manoeuvre ends up badly out of shape, you can always get way on in a hurry.

If all is well, you’ll feel the anchor grab the bottom. Coil down, tidy up, and hoist the anchor ball.

Laying the anchor – wind against tide

Anchor under sail

This is the tricky one and you need to judge the best way to do it for your situation, however there should be no discussion about one thing. If you anchor with the main up, the boat will try to lie to the tide as soon as the hook bites. This fills the mainsail as the wind comes abaft the beam, an all-round bad scene. In a small yacht, you might get away with luffing very quickly and dragging down the main just as you let go, but it’s messy. A far better plan is to stow it early and approach under genoa alone, rolling it up steadily to lose way. Where the breeze is stiff and the tide weak, you can approach up-tide and downwind, or sometimes partly across the wind, under bare poles. However, generally speaking, the following is a good starting point for your thinking and a method I have used many times:

  • Sail on a close reach, let off the mainsheet and drop the main.
  • Stow it away
  • Approach the chosen spot under jib, downwind, stemming the tide. Juggle your speed with sheet and furling line so you can become stationary over the ground just when you want to be. If you have a hanked-on headsail, hoist it part-way up and hold the leech out to give you as much way as you need and no more. This is often easier than letting the sheet fly on the whole sail, because the windage of a flapping genoa can be enough to carry the boat straight past where you want to stop
  • Let go the anchor and pay out cable as the tide carries you back downstream
  • Snub off when you’re ready, and that’s the job.

Laying the anchor – wind across tide

The best maxim for this indeterminate situation is the old favourite: ‘When in doubt, drop the main’. Modern yachts sail well under headsail only and getting shot of canvas from the boom does away with any chance of a gybing débâcle.

Laying the anchor – crash anchoring

Anchor under sail

Dropping the mainsail in light conditions, ready to crash anchor

Sometimes, in light going, you can’t be sure the hook has really ‘taken’, particularly if the boat is of modest displacement and doesn’t really develop enough inertia to plough the anchor fluke into the ooze. Similar circumstances can arise when a stronger wind is blowing against a weak tide. If it looks like being one of these days and you’re feeling adventurous, the following procedure removes all doubt. Safety precautions are vital, however. No hands near the chain, please. There can be a lot of load.

  • Drop the main and approach downwind under jib, even in no tide
  • Let go the pick as you sail over your spot, then let the chain run. Keep steering downwind and try to keep way to a minimum by rolling up the sail or dumping sheet until the hook takes. There won’t be the slightest doubt this has happened, because the boat will spin round in short order. Watch out! There can be a serious lurch
  • Make sure that as soon as the hook shows signs of biting, you steer so as to swing the stern away from the cable, which will be running down one side or the other

Laying the anchor - crash anchoring

This is a somewhat extreme process. If you aren’t careful, a fin-and-spade profile boat can do her propeller a mischief, and any boat can give her topsides a mashing with the cable. Care avoids these contingencies. The technique is definitely for the young at heart, but it can be a winner in a light boat that lacks the inertia to crank the pick into the bottom, or for any yacht when you really need to know you are securely anchored.

Weighing anchor with a windlass – wind with tide or no tide

Anchor under sail

With the main hoisted, the bowman uses the windlass to heave up to the hook and breaks out the anchor

Weighing anchor with a windlass – wind with tide or no tide

  • Hoist the mainsail and have the headsail ready to go
  • Heave up towards the hook until the cable is ‘up and down’ – the old term for ‘ready to break out’
  • If you’ve plenty of space, break out the pick and let the boat fall off on whichever tack suits her. If space is limited, use a backed headsail to help her decide. Bring the anchor on board, clean up with bucket and deck brush while the cockpit idlers cruise slowly away under mainsail. When all is stowed, break out the jib and blast off.

Weighing anchor with a windlass – wind against tide

Anchor under sail

With mainsail stowed and headsail ready to go, the boat can be brought up to the hook with the tide

Weighing anchor with a windlass – wind against tide

1. Keep the mainsail stowed. It won’t hoist easily in any case, because the wind will probably be abaft the beam

2. Heave up to the anchor with no sail set, but the headsail ready to unroll or hoist in short order. You could have it unrolled at this stage, but if you can keep it out of the way the guys up forward will appreciate the clear foredeck

3. When the hook is aweigh, if there is any pressure on you – as there will be in a river, for example, or in a crowded anchorage – break out the jib and get under way. On the other hand, when there’s no stress, why not just clean up, stow, then hoist some sail when you’re ready? If the tide obliges you to use the headsail first, start out with this, then come up onto a close reach, overhaul the mainsheet, shove the boom out and hoist the main. If it can flap as it goes up and any lazyjacks behave themselves, there should be no problem.

Weighing anchor without a windlass – wind with tide or no tide

Anchor under sail

Haul in the chain as the yacht tacks up towards the anchor, then snub it off and, with enough way on, the anchor should break out

If the going is light, you may be able to hoist the main then heave the boat up to the hook. Try to build up plenty of way pulling the cable so that, if the anchor is well dug in, the boat’s inertia will break it out as she coasts over it. If it’s windy and you’re struggling, you’ll have to sail it out.

  • Hoist the main lying well back from the anchor. Ease the sheet out. Unroll a modest amount of jib
  • The person at the helm now backs the jib to lay the boat onto one tack or the other, while the crew stands by on the foredeck
  • As the yacht pays off, sheet in the main a little – not too much so as to stall it – then sail away on a close reach
  • When you’ve travelled something like the scope of your cable, tack smartly and sail across the wind towards the anchor
  • The foredeck crew now gathers in slack on the cable as you go. When he or she runs out of slack, snub the cable. One of two things happens. Either the anchor breaks out and you’re off, or the boat snubs hard, allowing you to tack promptly then sail over the hook on the other tack. Once again, the crew grabs the slack when it’s offered, then snubs. This time the anchor will almost certainly break out. If not, try again, and so on

Weighing anchor without a windlass – wind with tide or no tide

It goes without saying that careless seamanship on the foredeck in his dynamic exercise can lead to damaged hands, so always be ready to take a turn, rather than relying on pure strength to hold the cable. If it’s chain, keep those fingers well clear of the cleat while you’re doing it. I have rarely known this method to fail in real life, but we did have some fun with it on our YM test. We concluded that it was because we weren’t communicating well enough from foredeck to cockpit and vice-versa. When my wife and I did this every day, we didn’t exchange a word. We just knew what we both needed and did it. With a strange crew, I found that it’s not like this. What’s more, a modern yacht can easily sail to windward beyond and over the anchor. Communication will obviate this possibility, as we discovered.

Weighing anchor without a windlass – wind against tide

Anchor under sail

Because it is quite likely the boat is lying right over the anchor, or even to windward of it, this is the easier of the two scenarios. As usual, because the wind will be abaft the beam, don’t even consider hoisting the main

  • Once again, by far the least dramatic way of dealing with this is to take in all the slack on the cable with no sail set at all
  • When it’s up and down, take a good look around to check the space available. If there’s all the searoom in the world, break out the anchor by hand, bring it aboard and clean up, then start to hoist sail
  • If searoom is limited, have the jib ready to go the moment the hook breaks out, or hoist/unroll it earlier if things are really tight
  • Sail away and hoist the main on a close reach when you have enough searoom.

Anchoring under sail is an ancient art. It involves actions such as drifting around with no sail set and no engine turning which seem strange to a sailor of the diesel generation. In the days before the internal combustion engine, such techniques were commonplace. All that’s needed is a little confidence. And, as always, practice.

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11 Steps To Anchoring Your Sailboat Safely

Knowing how to anchor a sailboat properly is an essential skill every sailor must learn. As a solo sailor, I frequently anchor my 41-foot sailboat alone. With some practice and a good plan, it is pretty simple in most normal situations. However, there are a few things that you need to pay extra attention to and some cases and conditions that require knowledge to get right.

These are the steps to anchor your boat safely:

  • Plan and research the location you want to anchor.
  • Identify obstacles and hazards in the area.
  • Get the anchor ready.
  • Locate the spot you want to anchor, preferably a sandy patch.
  • Navigate to your place and set the boat up against the wind.
  • Aim at your spot and drop the anchor at the bullseye.
  • Pay out your scope of chain and rig up your snubber or bridle.
  • Tension up the chain and set the anchor.
  • Test your ground tackle’s holding.
  • If the test fails, pick up the anchor, return to step 4, and repeat the process.
  • Optional: Inspect that the anchor is adequately dug into the seabed.

Let’s break down the steps and go into detail.

11 steps to anchor your sailboat safely

Anchoring is a hot topic amongst cruisers, and there are several ways to do it properly. The steps in this guide are guidelines and should give you the theoretical knowledge to understand the process even if the conditions differ. This method is doable alone but is easier with a pair of extra hands. The basics are the same, no matter how many hands you have on deck, though.

How you anchor depends on the weather conditions and if you can see the seabed you want to put the anchor in. It is easiest if you can see what type of bottom you have. If the visibility is terrible, you’re basically throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.

I have spent many years in the North Sea on commercial anchor handling vessels, installing massive anchors for oil platforms and FPSOs in various conditions. We anchor our sailboats using the same principles but on a smaller scale. My professional experience means that I know a thing or two about anchoring. Years of anchoring Ellidah single-handed, in addition to the above, means I have made some mistakes and learned from them.

1. Plan and research the location you want to anchor

The first step in safe anchoring is planning and research. Gain some knowledge of the place you plan to anchor. Ensure that anchoring is allowed; some areas are protected and illegal to anchor in.

Figure out the level of protection from the weather, water depth, and seabed conditions. Also, make an escape plan in case of emergency – conditions change quickly, and your escape plan may save you and your boat someday.

In the scenario for this guide, we are alone on board and will drop the anchor at 10 meters depth on a small sand patch in an area with a lot of seaweed in moderate wind.

2. Identify obstacles and hazards in the area

The next thing you want to be aware of is if there are any rocks, reefs, shallows, buoys, and other dangers in the area. Your charts often give detailed information about what to expect in the anchorage.

If you use Navionics on your device, the Active Captain community will have valuable information about the anchorage and what to be cautious about. The information is written by other sailors and is invaluable to help you get an overview of the anchorage.

Another app I highly recommend is Navily. Navily informs about anchorage locations, conditions, and protection levels. I actually wrote an in-depth review of these apps that I highly recommend you read!

3. Get the anchor ready

When you have done your planning and research, it is time to get the anchor ready to drop. Put on your autopilot or lock the rudder on a clear course. Head up to the bow and prepare your anchor to be dropped.

I prefer to lower the anchor into the water and hang it below the surface. If you leave it in the air, it might bounce into your bow, and we want to avoid that.

We also don’t want the anchor hanging deep enough to catch on to something before we have found our anchoring spot and navigated the boat into position.

Return to the cockpit when the anchor is ready and take back manual control.

4. Locate the spot you want to anchor

Take the boat for a swipe around the area and look for a sandy area to place the anchor. When you find a good spot, take note of the depth and decide your scope.

Consider your distance from the surroundings, and ensure you have enough room to swing around without hitting anything or bumping into another boat. Please give yourself a little bit of extra space. No one likes it when someone anchors too close to them.

Pro Tip: When we say scope, we refer to the amount of chain you put out in relation to the water depth. I always recommend at least five times the water depth – 5:1 or more, but if you are in a tight anchorage that is well-protected and the seabed holding is good, you may get away with less. I never go lower than 3:1 and always put out a minimum of 30 meters of chain.

5. Navigate to your spot and set the boat up against the wind

Position the boat so you can approach your location with the bow against the wind.

Here comes the tricky part: Depending on how much wind you have and how big of an area you have to drop the anchor in, you need to consider how far the boat will drift in the time it takes you to leave the helm and get up on the bow to start lowering the anchor.

You may want to drive ahead of the spot and position the bow with a slight offset to either side. Now, say you are 10 meters ahead and slightly to starboard of the spot. Stop the boat and turn the bow slightly to the port.

Lock the rudder, head back up to the bow, and get ready to drop the anchor. The wind will catch the starboard side of the bow and push it over to port, and by the time you are prepared at the bow, you should be approaching your spot.

6. Aim at your spot and drop the anchor at the bullseye

As soon as you are positioned at the bow, start paying out the chain, but leave the anchor just above the seabed until it is right above your sandy patch. Once the anchor is in position, land it on the seabed and continue paying out the chain as the boat drifts along.

If you miss the spot, lift the anchor to just below the surface again and reposition yourself.

Don’t stress this step. It is perfectly normal to make several attempts. People on other boats will probably pay attention to you and sometimes even shout, but ignore them for now. You are anchoring and can only do one thing at a time.

Get ready for a new attempt and repeat steps 4 and 5 until you hit the bullseye.

If the entire seabed area is nice and sandy, you can skip step 7 and drop the anchor in any decent position.

7. Pay out your scope of chain and rig up your snubber or bridle

Now that the anchor is placed perfectly in your sandy patch continue to pay out the chain as the wind pushes the boat back. Count the chain length and continue to pay out until you reach your scope of 50 meters for this example.

You may have to stop and wait for the boat to drift if there is little wind or even head back to the helm to reverse the boat. We don’t want to make a pile of chain in one spot, but lay it out nicely.

Once the entire scope of the chain is out, it is time to rig up a snubber.

Pro Tip: A snubber is a rope or bridle you attach to the chain and secure to the boats’ cleats. We use snubbers and bridles to take the load off the windlass. Ideally, we want the boat to hang off strong cleats instead of the windlass.

8. Tension up the chain and set the anchor

Now that your snubber or bridle is rigged up, head back to the helm and put the engine in reverse. Take your time and wait for the chain to get stretched out.

You will feel when the boat comes to a stop, and now is time to make a note of your exact location while you keep the engine at low revs in reverse to keep the tension on the chain.

There are two easy ways to take note of your position:

  • Find a spot ashore and another place between yourself and the shore spot that lines up to each other.
  • Add a marker to your chart plotter or start a snake trail. I like this method.

Increase the reverse revs on the engine slowly and ensure that the boat stays in the exact location. We want to ensure the anchor isn’t dragging through the seabed. Continue to increase the revs up to the rpm you usually use for motoring at marching speed.

For a Volvo Penta or Yanmar engine, you typically end up at 1800-2200rpm.

9. Test your ground tackle’s holding

Term: ground tackle.

When we say ground tackle, we refer to everything holding the boat to the ground. In this case, it is the snubber, snubber shackle, chain, chain shackle, and anchor. You can learn more in The Sailors Guide to Nautical Terms by clicking this box.

Now, we’re going to test that our ground tackle is holding. Keep the revs up and monitor your two aligned spots or markers on the chart plotter for 30-60 seconds. If you haven’t moved during this period, your anchor has dug into the seabed and is holding.

Slowly ease off the throttle until the engine is back in idle. The boat will start to move forward as the weight of the chain pulls the catenary down. Once the boat stops, the wind will push the bow to the side and swing you over until the chain is stretched up again. Be patient and let the vessel settle.

Well done, you should now be safely anchored! Unless your anchor dragged, which is pretty normal.

10. If the test fails, go back to step 4 and repeat the process

If the anchor breaks loose during the process, you will see that your two aligned spots will start to unalign, or you will drift away from the marker on the chart.

Sometimes, you’ll feel a slight bump in the boat as the anchor loses grip and notice you aren’t holding the same position.

Pro Tip: A good trick is to head up to the bow and put your hand on the snubber or bridle while keeping the reverse tension. You will feel a vibration if the anchor drags through the seabed and hear scratching if the anchor rubs against rocks.

If the test fails and the anchor is dragging, you must take the anchor and chain back up and start over from step 5.

However, if you have made several attempts in the same spot without any luck, you may have to find another location and start again at step 4.

When you get more experience, you will realize that some anchorages can be harder to anchor properly in than others. It is part of the game to have some failed attempts, and I have spent hours and countless attempts on more occasions than I can count.

Do NOT give up until your boat is properly and safely anchored! It is a recipe for disaster, and how people lose their boats. A 50-knot squall may come out of nowhere and surprise you, even on a lovely sunny day. Yes, I speak from experience!

11. Optional: Inspect that the anchor is adequately dug into the seabed

You are usually pretty safe after testing the ground tackle by reversing, but there is one last thing I like to do to be 100% sure that the boat is safely anchored. Now, I cruise in the tropics, where the water is usually clear and delicious, so this step may not apply to you.

Jump in the water with a mask and snorkel, follow the chain to where the anchor is, and ensure it has adequately dug into the seabed. I quite enjoy this exercise, and it gives me great confidence. After countless dives, I know pretty well how my anchor behaves in different seabed conditions.

Optional 2: Have an anchor drink

If you ever sail with a Norwegian, you will probably come by the term “Ankerdram,” which means Anchor Drink. You celebrate a successful anchoring by having a nice beverage of your choice. Since I am Norwegian, I like to practice this tradition with a cold beer!

Final Words

The key to proper and successful anchoring is to do it thoroughly and correctly. If you don’t do it properly, you risk the boat drifting out to sea with or without you onboard. Or even worse, into another vessel or onto the ground!

I was anchored in Ibiza when a charter boat started dragging and crashed into Ellidah without anyone onboard. We handled the situation and saved the charter boat, but the skipper was clueless about anchoring and told me that he usually just dropped the anchor and a bit of chain on top of it, and that was that.

Another time, me and a friend were anchored in the Holandese Keys in San Blas on a gorgeous sunny day. A Backpackerboat was anchored poorly next to us and started to drag rather quickly when a sudden 50-knot squall came through violently. We had a massive choral reef behind us, which the backpacker boat was only inches from hitting.

Don’t be like those guys . Anchor correctly EVERY time!

Take some time to practice and perfect your anchoring skills. Eventually, you will master how to properly anchor a boat like it is the most natural thing in the world. Sometimes, it may take as little as 10 minutes from your start until you have your anchor drink in your hand!

If you want to learn more sailing basics, check out my ultimate beginner’s guide here !

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Skipper, Electrician and ROV Pilot

Robin is the founder and owner of Sailing Ellidah and has been living on his sailboat since 2019. He is currently on a journey to sail around the world and is passionate about writing his story and helpful content to inspire others who share his interest in sailing.

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How to Anchor a Sailboat

Follow These Guidelines to Anchor Safely and Securely

  • Snowboarding
  • Scuba Diving & Snorkeling

The Importance of Good Anchoring Technique

Few sailing experiences are as scary as waking in the middle of the night with the wind blowing hard and your boat dragging anchor toward rocks, the shore, or another boat. And one of the most irritating things for most cruising sailors is finding another boat dragging down upon them or getting tangled in their own anchor line.

Good anchoring technique is crucial for safety. Yet all too often even some experienced sailors are in too much of a hurry and skip one of the important steps for anchoring securely. Some new sailors never learn the essentials and just toss the anchor overboard and assume they’ll be fine.

But it is not difficult to anchor correctly and securely in most conditions. Follow these guidelines to help ensure your boat is safely anchored so you can get a good night’s sleep.

1. Prepare in Advance

  • Pick your anchorage carefully using an updated chart and paying attention to conditions, including wind direction and speed, likely tidal or other currents, and the forecast. Pay special attention to the chances for a shift in wind direction or speed. If your boat is pulled in the opposite direction during the night because of a reversing tidal current or wind, the anchor may be pulled out.
  • The ideal anchorage area should have some protection from the wind and waves and not be against a lee shore in case the anchor drags. The ideal bottom is sand or mud, not rock or heavy seaweed or grass. Most cruising guides and some charts show good anchorages that are protected and have good holding ground. Charts also show bottom characteristics when known.
  • Get the anchor ready before making your approach. Whether on a bow roller or lowered by hand from the bow, make sure the anchor rode is free to run. If the anchor rode is not marked at progressive depths with tags or color codes, stretch it out back and forth on deck so that you know how much rode you are letting out when anchoring. To be safe, plan to put out a rode about 7 times the water depth (counting the height of your bow over the water) at high tide.

2. Pick Your Spot Carefully

  • After studying the chart and choosing a general protected area, look for a spot with the right depth: from a few feet deeper than the draft of your boat (at low tide) to as deep as 30-40 feet if necessary—if you have at least 200-300 feet of anchor rode.
  • Make sure you are well clear of any channel regardless of how the boat swings with wind shifts, and that there are no hazards if your boat were to swing in a full circle around the anchor.
  • When other boats are already anchored nearby, follow good anchoring etiquette to stay safe without risking collision or entanglement. The general rule is that the first boat in an anchorage can choose its spot at will and each subsequent boat must stay clear of others already present.
  • Calculate how much swinging room you may need if the wind changes, based on how much anchor rode you will pay out according to the water depth. If possible, make sure your swinging circle does not overlap with any other boat’s swinging room.
  • In a crowded anchorage where your swinging room may have to overlap another boat’s, choose a spot among similar boats. Most cruising sailboats with a keel will swing in the same direction at the same time and therefore should not collide if not positioned too close together. But a shallow-draft powerboat will swing on the wind differently from a keel sailboat, increasing the risk of collision if their swinging circles overlap.

3. Approach Slowly

  • Although you can learn to anchor under sail, most cruising boats lower or furl the sails before making the approach into the anchorage, and anchor under power. Using the engine also gives you more control if a last-minute maneuver is needed.
  • Approach your planned spot into the wind, keeping an eye on your depthfinder or chartplotter to ensure you are where you want to be on the chart. If there is a strong current in the area that affects the boat more than the wind, approach into the current instead.
  • As you near the spot, slow down to allow the boat to coast to a stop. If you come in fast and have to use the engine in reverse to stop, there’s a good chance the boat may pivot or turn during the reversing, and the boat then will not at first pull directly back on the anchor. There’s seldom any reason to be in a hurry at this point.
  • Double-check to make sure you are not too close to another boat and are at the intended depth. If you decide you need to move to either side, circle back around to make your approach again to the new spot upwind or current.

4. Lower, Don’t Drop, the Anchor

  • Wait until the person at the helm says the boat has stopped completely and is starting to move backward on the wind or current before lowering the anchor. (Watch your GPS speed if you’re not sure.) If the boat is still moving ahead, you may accidentally set the anchor in the wrong direction by pulling it ahead instead of drifting back to set it.
  • It is important to lower the anchor gradually to prevent the anchor rode from falling down on the anchor flukes and possibly fouling the anchor. In that case you may not realize the anchor has not set well, and if the wind comes up later the anchor can easily drag if fouled. Never just toss the anchor over hoping for the best!
  • You can tell when the anchor reaches the bottom because of the reduced strain on the rode. Pause a moment to let the boat move back and pull the rode tight. If the boat is floating motionless in the absence of wind and current, tell the person at the helm to put the engine in reverse to start the boat backward. Your goal here is to align the anchor correctly on the bottom, with its shank pulled back in the direction in which the boat will lie at anchor. Otherwise, the anchor chain may foul the shank or flukes and prevent the anchor from setting well.

5. Set the Anchor

  • Making sure the anchor is well set (that is, dug in well in the bottom) is the most important part of anchoring. The anchor holds the boat by digging its flukes into the bottom, not by just lying there like a weight on the bottom. If the anchor is not set, the boat may seem well anchored until the wind comes up—when the anchor will then bounce along the bottom as the boat drags toward a hazard.
  • As the boat moves backwards due to wind, current, or the engine’s power in reverse, gradually pay out the rode. Always keep a light tension on the line, but don’t yet clinch it tight. (If you tighten the rode too soon, the anchor will be pulled upward and out of the bottom and will not set.)
  • Visualize the anchor rode pulling straight back on the anchor shank as the point(s) of the anchor fluke(s) dig in. If your anchor rode is all chain or has a section of chain at the anchor, the pull will be more nearly horizontal along the bottom. This is how anchors are designed to dig in and hold.
  • When you have about 3 times as much anchor rode out as the water depth (a scope of 3 to 1), temporarily cleat or cinch the anchor rode at the bow and let it pull tight. Keep a hand on the rode to feel the tension. The boat should stop and the rode feel very tight, indicating the anchor has set. If the anchor has not set, you will feel the tension in the rode come and go or feel its pull changing as the anchor bounces along the bottom.
  • If the anchor has set, continue with the next step of paying out scope. If it has not set, you can also continue but must be very careful to ensure the anchor digs in when you have the proper scope. If the anchor has not set yet with about a 3 to 1 scope, many sailors prefer to hoist it now and try again rather than letting out more anchor rode and having to bring it all back up to try again later.

6. Pay Out the Proper Scope

  • Continue paying out the rode as the boat moves backward, until you reach the desired scope. Many factors affect the scope needed, including the type of boat, the type of anchor, whether the rode is all chain or a combination of chain and line, the characteristics of the bottom, and the wind predicted.
  • As a general rule, most cruisers prefer a scope of 7 to 1 for safe anchoring overnight. For a lunch stop in a calm anchorage, a scope of 5 to 1 or less may be sufficient, assuming someone stays on the boat in case the wind increases dramatically. With higher winds or big waves, a scope as high as 10 to 1 may be appropriate. Remember that the scope should be based on the high tide water depth. If you anchor at low tide in 10 feel of water and the depth 6 hours later is 20 feet, your scope then would be only half of what it was.
  • Once you have the proper scope, back down hard on the anchor using the boat's engine to ensure it is well set. The rode should be very tight and not give at all while backing.
  • Scope can be adjusted later if conditions change, simply by letting out more rode if desired. This increases your swinging distance, of course, so you should confirm you will remain far enough away from other boats or hazards.

7. Check the Anchor Periodically

  • Even when you’re sure the anchor is well set, changing conditions can result in the anchor dragging. Before relaxing completely for the night, make sure you can tell later on if the boat is dragging.
  • Your GPS or plotter can reveal changes of position, although small changes may not be noticeable or may be interpreted as just swinging in a different direction. If possible, take sightings on at least two features on shore (choose something that will be visible at night) and note the compass bearings to each. If these bearings change significantly later, you may be dragging. A smartphone or tablet app like My Anchor Watch can also help ensure you know it if your anchor is starting to drag.
  • Another technique used by old-timers is to let down a small second anchor or weight from the stern just to the point where it rests on the bottom, and then drape it over the boom and dangle a noise-maker like a bucket or pot tied to the free end. If the boat moves very far, the line will pull the noisemaker over the boom to clang down into the cockpit, hopefully waking you to take action if needed!
  • If you suspect you may be dragging, check the anchor rode at the bow. You may feel or see changes in its tension if the anchor is bumping over the bottom. If you have any evidence of dragging, monitor the situation very carefully. In calmer conditions the anchor may reset, but with gusty or heavy winds it will likely not dig in by itself, and you may have to hoist the anchor and move to a new position and start over.
  • Finally, in an emergency situation if the anchor is dragging or a gale puts you at risk of dragging—particularly against a reef or lee shore—you can avert disaster by running the engine slowly in forward gear to take some of the strain off the anchor rode.

A common anchoring problem occurs if the anchor's flukes hook under a rock, chain, or other bottom debris and prevent the anchor from being hoisted. Try backing pulling the anchor up from the opposite direction in an attempt to free it. The best solution is to use a  trip line  or the  AnchorRescue  retrieval device to prevent the risk of losing your anchor should it become snagged.

Anchoring involves a number of skills, which improve with experience. Many books have been written on the subject, and when cruising in unfamiliar waters or far from home where you may be caught in a tricky situation, it’s a good idea to have a book on anchoring or seamanship on board to consult for appropriate techniques in unusual circumstances.

Other Articles about Anchoring

  • How to Use an Anchor Trip Line
  • How to Retrieve an Anchor
  • Use AnchorRescue to Prevent Losing a Fouled Anchor
  • Correct Scope is Essential for Safe and Comfortable Anchoring
  • How to Tow a Dinghy Behind a Sailboat
  • How to Raise the Mainsail
  • How to Tack a Sailboat
  • Learn How to Sail a Small Sailboat – 1. The Parts of the Boat
  • How to Gybe a Sailboat
  • Best Sailing and Boating Apps
  • How to Use Roller Furling
  • Choosing a Centerboard or Fixed Keel Sailboat
  • How to Fish the Grass Flats
  • How to Heave To a Sailboat
  • The Basics of Navigation
  • Choosing an Inboard or Outboard Engine
  • Marine Navigation
  • How to Use a Mainsheet Traveler
  • North Florida's Best Fishing

Nomadic Sailing

18 Most Popular Sailboat Anchor Types

Anchor on a dock

Being able to anchor out after having arrived in a cozy and isolated bay to enjoy the rest of the day in complete contentedness or simply anchoring right outside a marina to save a bit of time and money is an amazing luxury to have.

To properly set a sailboat anchor, however, requires a good quality, dependable anchor , so knowing the different sailboat anchor types is a must.

Knowing which sailboat anchor type is best for you depends on which conditions you’ll mostly be using your anchor. If you’re like most people, you’ll only need to choose between a few sailboat anchor types, but it’s always good to know about all the options available to you.

That’s exactly why I put together a list of the most popular sailboat anchor types that you’ll want to consider adding to your sailboat the next time you’re out on the water setting anchor.

However, there has been a resurgence in terms of anchor design over the years, so I’ll be distinguishing between the classic and modern sailboat anchor types.

What Makes a Good Anchor

Before we dive into the many different sailboat anchor types, we should quickly cover what makes a good anchor .

Depending on the circumstances, you’ll want one anchor over another. However, there are certain qualities we want in almost all of our anchors before we set out on a sailing adventure.

  • Fast Dig in Time: It’s important that any anchor you use has the ability to dig into the seabed as fast as possible. The sooner the anchor is attached to the seabed, the earlier your chain will lay out.
  • Buries Deep into the Seabed: Ensuring your anchor can bury well into the seabed means it’ll be firmly attached to the Earth. The anchor chain does most of the work when keeping your sailboat from moving much, but the anchor’s position must be solid.
  • Holds a High Load: There are a lot of different sailboats of different sizes. Making sure the anchor you have has a sufficient surface area, flukes, and holding power is of the utmost importance for ensuring a strong holding power.
  • Maneuvers Well During Tide and Current Shifts: There will be times when the tide, currents, and wind move your sailboat around while anchored out. Being confident your anchor can effectively maneuver under these conditions while staying well enough in place is a very important quality.

Classic Sailboat Anchor Types

Let’s take a look at some of the classic types of anchors used in sailboats.

You’ll most definitely see these anchor types in sailboats all over the world, so it’s a good idea to get accustomed to them and understand their advantages and disadvantages.

Fisherman/Admiralty Anchor

Probably the most common image of a sailboat anchor that’s conjured up in our heads is the traditional Fisherman/Admiralty anchor.

This sailboat anchor type is what we see on many coats of arms or similar symbols and can still be found on sailboats all over the world.

  • Can be stowed flat.
  • Holding power in sand, mud, or other loose seabed is good.
  • Less likely to break due to few moving parts.

Disadvantages

  • Relatively heavier than other anchors causing difficulty to move them.
  • Damage to the sailboat can be caused by the anchor’s flukes when being tossed around.
  • Possibility of the anchor chain getting tied up in the vertical fluke.

CQR/Plough Anchor

sailboat sailing at anchor

The CQR or Plough anchor was developed in 1933 in the UK and has been a very popular sailboat anchor type ever since.

Named CQR because it sounds like the word “secure” when being pronounced, it’s a versatile type of anchor since it can secure a sailboat even when tides and currents change all of a sudden.

  • Holds very well in soft seabeds such as mud or sand.
  • Relatively light anchor that still provides a strong holding power.
  • Digs into the seabed well compared to other sailboat anchor types.
  • Oddly shaped so stowing can be difficult.
  • Moving parts can get damaged and can cause injuries to fingers.
  • Sometimes requires a tripping line to remove from the seabed.
  • Not ideal for seabed with kelp or hard sand.

Danforth Anchor

sailboat sailing at anchor

The Danforth anchor is a type of anchor for a sailboat that was developed back in the 1940s in the US and specifically designed for WW2 landing craft.

Since then they’ve been used in all kinds of sailboats and are a common sailboat anchor type for those anchoring often in loose seabeds, like sand or mud.

  • Excellent hold when in the sand, mud, or other loose seabeds.
  • Relatively light anchor that still provides a strong holding power (similar to the CQR anchor).
  • Not ideal when anchoring in rocks.

Delta Anchor

sailboat sailing at anchor

Not unlike the design of a CQR/Plough anchor, a Delta anchor is a popular type of anchor for sailboats nowadays.

The main difference between a CQR anchor and a Delta anchor is that a Delta anchor has no moving parts and is thus fixed into one piece. This sailboat anchor’s been around since the 1980s and is a great alternative to a CQR anchor.

  • No moving parts that pinch your fingers.

Bruce Anchor

sailboat sailing at anchor

Another popular anchor developed in the UK, the Bruce or Claw anchor was developed in the 1970s and has a reputation of being a good type of sailboat anchor in many settings.

This type of anchor doesn’t have any movable parts and has an effective way of realigning itself with changes in the wind and tide.

  • Digs well into the seabed.
  • Holds well in soft seabeds such as mud or sand.
  • Easy to break out when pulling it in.
  • Difficulty in penetrating seaweed or grass-like seabeds.

Grapnel Anchor

sailboat sailing at anchor

A Grapnel anchor is well suited for those looking to anchor in more rocky and coral-filled areas where there’s little seabed around that’s soft.

The great part about having a Grapnel anchor is that it can easily catch quickly by using its hooks to grab on to surrounding objects.

  • Holds well in hard seabed environments such as rock or coral.
  • Not ideal for soft seabeds like sand or mud.

Modern Anchor Types

Now that we’ve reviewed the more classical anchor types, let’s dive into the newer generation of sailboat anchor types that you’ll run into more and more as the years progress.

It’s not unlikely that you’ll find one of these newer generation anchors on your sailboat, so let’s see what they’re all about.

Bugel or Wasi Anchor

The Bugel or Wasi anchor was designed in Germany by a man named Rolf Kaczirek and set the stage for a new approach to anchor design around the world.

This anchor has a roll bar attached to a single delta that’s flat and sharply pointed allowing it to penetrate most seabeds it encounters.

  • Digs into a diverse set of seabeds.
  • Has a relatively lightweight.
  • No moving parts.
  • Relatively inexpensive to purchase.
  • Roll bar moves weight away from the tip causing potential less digging.
  • Not ideal for very large sailboats.

Spade Anchor

sailboat sailing at anchor

The Spade anchor is an innovative sailboat anchor type that was designed in France in 1996. It’s an extremely light anchor that has an effective gripping power that’s quite similar to a Delta anchor but instead compacts the floor much better.

The holding power of a Spade anchor is known to be extremely powerful.

  • Very lightweight.
  • Digs into the seabed quite well.
  • Can be disassembled for easy stowing.

Rocna Anchor

sailboat sailing at anchor

One of the most popular types of anchors for sailboats today, the Rocna anchor is a very good choice for an anchor. It was originally designed in New Zealand in 2004 and has since taken the anchor industry by storm.

By combining the best design feature from the Bugel and Spade anchors, it truly has set itself apart. It’s by far the most popular for cruising sailboat worldwide.

  • Very strong holding power.
  • Has the ability to dig into almost any seabed.
  • Excellent surface area.
  • Difficult to stow sometimes due to the row bar component.

Manson Supreme Anchor

sailboat sailing at anchor

The Manson Supreme anchor was designed in 2003 and has become a popular sailboat anchor in recent years due to it being able to have a very high holding weight and ability to settle fast.

Since it has a dual operation shank, it’s able to effectively dig into all seabed types with ease. It even has the rollbar design that the more modern anchors are known for.

  • Has been known to be heavy.

Bulwagga Anchor

The Bulwagga anchor not only has a funny-sounding name, but it’s also one of the more uniquely designed anchors in the world. Instead of having the normal three flukes, it has a total of three.

Needless to say, this anchor has been well tested and proven to be a highly effective anchor in many situations.

  • Has the ability to dig into almost any seabed, especially in weeds, coral, and rocks.
  • Easy to retrieve back onto the ship.
  • Difficult to stow sometimes due to having three flukes.

Knox Anchor

The Knox anchor was invented by John Knox in Scottland and has an exceptional holding power similar to the Rocna anchor.

As a matter of fact, this anchor is able to hold 40 times its anchor weight, which is a stunning feat.

  • Digs well into many types of seabed.
  • Sometimes difficult when penetrating seaweed or grass-like seabeds.

Ultra Anchor

Known as one of the most innovative Spade-designed anchors, the Ultra anchor is rapidly becoming one of the most popular anchor types and is often seen as a replacement for the Bruce anchor.

It’s a rather heavy anchor since it’s made out of stainless steel and has lead inside the tip of its fluke. While not cheap, the Ultra anchor is known to work virtually guaranteed.

  • Arguably the strongest and most reliable holding power.
  • Very heavy to carry and retrieve.
  • Relatively expensive compared to other anchors.

Vulcan Anchor

sailboat sailing at anchor

Similar to the Rocna anchor, the Vulcan anchor is almost a carbon copy of the Rocna anchor minus the fact that it doesn’t have a roll-bar.

The main reason for the creation of the Vulcan anchor was to accommodate sailors who found it difficult to stow the Rocna anchor. This is a fantastic choice for any sailor.

  • None that could be found.

Manork Anchor

One of the most recent sailboat anchor types designed over the years is the Manork anchors, which were designed in Slovenia by Marko Janjanin in 2017.

It has proven to be an extremely well-designed, well-functioning anchor that can accommodate sailors in many weather and seabed conditions. It’s been heavily tested in strong storms and loose seabeds only to pass with flying colors.

  • Has a unique fluke design made for strong holding power.
  • Roll bar moves weight away from the tip causing potentially less digging.

Other Anchor Types

More likely than not, you’ll want to opt for one of the more modern types of anchors for sailboats if you have the opportunity.

However, there are several other anchor types that are effective in different environments that may not be the most common, but are useful when needed.

Mushroom Anchor

sailboat sailing at anchor

The Mushroom anchor was invented by Robert Stevenson and is most commonly used in seabeds that are composed of silt or fine sand.

While it’s not likely that you’ll ever be in such an environment, a Mushroom anchor will ensure that you’re safe to anchor in case you ever are. Since it’s shaped like a mushroom and inverted, the head of the anchor effectively buries itself directly into the sand.

They rely heavily on a suction effect between the seabed and the anchor, therefore the seabed must be relatively fine.

Hydrobubble Anchor

Not unlike the CQR/Plough anchor, a Hydrobubble anchor has a similar design but with a slight twist. It has attached to it a buoyancy tank that allows the anchor to safely float down to the seabed without fluttering around and causing an issue when it lands.

This almost entirely ensures that the anchor is in a good position and securely attached to the seabed. All in all, it’s just like a CQR/Plouch anchor but just better at landing in a good position.

Sand Anchor

There aren’t many anchors out there like a proper Sand anchor, mainly since this type of anchor is attached directly to the shore of a beach.

These types of anchors are designed to give your sailboat a firm attachment to sand on land when necessary. Generally, a spike is either driven or screwed into sand for a temporary amount of time.

It’s important to note, however, that these types of anchors are strictly temporary and should be monitored constantly.

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How To Choose & Restore An Anchor

How To Choose & Restore An Anchor | Life of Sailing

Last Updated by

Daniel Wade

June 15, 2022

Whether you're using a grapnel or a fluke, boat anchors are a must-have. No matter the shapes and styles, an anchor assures safe sailing and gives you more control over your boat. But how do you restore an anchor? Well, let's find out.

One of the most essential parts of your boat is the anchor. From a nautical sense, an anchor keeps your vessel from drifting away while fixing it at a certain position. More importantly, the anchor is an essential part of ensuring that your boat remains safe and doesn't drift aimlessly even in unpredictable winds. However, the anchor is often exposed to the weather and elements and this can have a huge toll on its efficiency. In most cases, the anchor does have visible rust and may not look fabulous. But instead of throwing it away, you can learn how to restore it and give it even a longer lifespan.

When it comes to restoring an anchor, the first step is to restore it. The anchor probably has a coat of dirt, rust, and grime on it. You should perfectly clean it to remove any form of unwanted coating. You should then prime the surface by coating either with zinc or brass spray. Leave it for a couple of hours to dry before reapplying the coating. At the end of the process, the anchor should look pretty clean and be ready to get battered once again for a couple of months or years.

In this article, let's take a look at how to restore an anchor and everything else that's required in ensuring that your anchor is in perfect working condition for many years.

Table of contents

The Importance of an Anchor

The main aim of having and using an anchor is to keep your boat safe and secure at the desired location. An anchor can also help in controlling the boat in bad weather. Without it, a huge storm can blow your boat off or even cause serious safety issues, especially when the weather becomes unpredictable. When perfectly secured, the anchor can prevent your boat from surfs and rocks. It can also allow you to enjoy and relax aboard without drifting away.

To work perfectly, an anchor must, therefore, be solid, dependable, and available to be used not just properly but at the right time. Sadly, many recreationalists often overlook the need for an efficient anchoring system.

Generally, an anchor is attached to the bottom structure of a body of water to make sure that the boat is secure. The anchor can do this by penetrating the bottom surface, thereby creating pressure at the bottom surface. The weight of the material above the anchor itself in turn creates resistance, which ensures that the boat doesn't move from the desired location.

Here are several instances when you may need to anchor your boat.

  • ‍ When the weather becomes stormy
  • When spending the night at sea
  • When taking a break from fishing or sailing
  • When retiring the boat for the season such as during winter
  • When relaxing and enjoying the scenery

How to Choose an Appropriate Anchor

Although there are several anchors that you can buy for your boat, choosing an appropriate one can be frustrating, especially if you don't know the pros and cons of a particular design. Well, there are many variables that you should consider before purchasing an anchor. For example, what are the environmental conditions (such as saltwater, freshwater, or lake structure) that you'll most likely be using your boat? What is the size of your vessel and what's the appropriate anchor weight for it? What's the best way to use the anchor to ensure safety and durability? What's the best way to maintain the anchor?

That being said, there are several factors to consider when choosing an appropriate anchor for your boat. Remember; anchoring your boat is more than just dropping it in the water. After all, anchors are not created equal. All in all, here are the common features to look for when buying an anchor.

  • ‍ An anchor should have good holding power
  • It should have strong craftsmanship
  • It should hold well in all types of bottom such as weed, sand, and rocks
  • Can be set and reset easily and quickly under all conditions
  • Can be released easily and effortlessly from the bottom
  • Should be compact to be easily stored on deck

Anchor Styles

Here are the most common types of anchors that are currently available in the market.

Grapnel Anchor

These are made with four arms that can easily fold up, thereby providing a compact and easy to store anchor. These types of anchors are perfect for small boats and dinghies since they do not have open flukes that can puncture any sensitive part of your boat.

River Anchor

These types of anchors are chiefly designed for river currents, as well as heavy drift conditions. They generally have three individual blades that are integral in offering secure holding power. That's not all; it has a flow-through hole to ensure that it's easy to pull up.

Navy Anchor

This is a traditional style of anchor that's designed with a stock that can fold flat against the shank to make it compact and easy to store. These types of anchors are ideal for small vessels and can work perfectly well in rocky bottoms as well as through weeds.

Mushroom Anchor

This type of anchor is designed with a wide area cap to give it a superb holding power both through the weeds and in the mud. They usually have drain holes at the base to allow water or mud to be easily and quickly displaced. The holes are also essential for easy and quick retrieval.

Fluke Anchor

Also known as Danforth, a fluke anchor has two appendages or flukes that are essential in holding the bottom. Unlike other types of anchors that rely heavily on their weights, fluke anchors rely on their stock-in-head design to give it a very high penetration.

They're ideal in the sand or in loose gravel bottoms and will bury out of sight when you lower it. On the contrary, using them in rocky bottoms or in areas with boulders is almost impossible. This is because they'll snag so tight that you'll only have to cut them free and this is something that you don't want.

Plow and Scoop Anchors

These are single-point anchors that are very ideal for grassy, sandy, or muddy bottoms.

Electric Anchors

These are modern anchors that can be more expensive than other types of anchors. There are usually hands-free but are attached to the bow of the boat. You can either raise or lower them by simply clicking on a switch. In essence, this is an ideal anchor if you're shorthanded. Additionally, it's a great anchor for the disabled or people with back problems as it's simply a system that doesn't need much effort to raise or lower.

While electric anchors are great for muddy and sandy bottoms, they can be a poor choice for rocky areas or boulder bottoms. All in all, an electric anchor lets you automatically raise your anchor with a simple push of a button.

The Appropriate Anchor Size for Your Boat

When it comes to choosing the appropriate anchor size for your boat, it can be more of guesswork given that the conditions can change depending on the place. This may be hard to believe but there's no right anchor size for the job. In other words, the effectiveness of an anchor depends on how properly it's used.

The most common misconception when looking to buy an anchor is that the heavier the better. Instead of going with weight, you should look for the physical size of the anchor. This is because the physical size is a good indicator of the anchor's holding ability. For instance, an anchor can weigh about 10lbs. but can perfectly hold a boat weighing in excess of 1,000lbs.!

With that in mind, bigger is always better when choosing an appropriate anchor for your boat. This is because bigger anchors are always strong and cannot break easily. They also tend to occupy more surface area, which is essential resisting pullout while having more weight to penetrate much deeper. In essence, you should go with the biggest anchor you can get for the size of your watercraft. Well, the last thing you may want is an anchor that can be swept off when the winds become rougher.

Are you still confused? Well, you can choose to use the scope rule. This is essentially the ratio of the length of the rope to the depth of the water. For calm waters, you can go with a ratio of 7:1. In short, for every foot of water depth, you should use seven feet of rope. For rough water conditions, you should go with a 10:1 ratio.

So How Do You Restore an Anchor?

Buying a boat anchor can be a costly affair. If anything you wouldn't want to buy an inferior anchor just because it's cheap. Well, doing that will only turn into serious heartaches. Even more importantly, anchors can save your life when things go wrong while out on the water so it's a matter that shouldn't be taken lightly. For this reason, you should always do your best to buy the best anchor in the market. But what if you can afford a newer but costly anchor? Well you can restore an old anchor.

This is how to restore an anchor.

Clean the Anchor

The first crucial thing is to ensure that the anchor is perfectly cleaned. There are chances that the anchor has been exposed to various elements and is now coated not just with dirt and dust but also with grime, as well as other unwanted coatings. The best way to remove these unwanted coatings is by using Surface Cleaner Spray.

Here's why.

  • ‍ The surface cleaner spray can remove away the unwanted coating without leaving any form of substance that can interfere with the coating sprays.
  • The surface cleaner spray is highly effective and will easily remove any form of dirt and grime
  • Using surface cleaner spray is simple, fast, and easy to use.

The cleaning process is simple and quick. Just spray the surface cleaner spray on the anchor, let it settle for a few minutes, and then wipe it with a clean rag.

Prime the Surface

When restoring an anchor, you should make sure that you prime its surface by first apply an undercoat of zinc spray but this may depend on the material of your anchor. Here's why you should apply an undercoat spray.

  • ‍ You probably want the anchor to be smooth and good looking. But after being exposed to several elements for many months, its surface is probably rough, so the undercoat spray will make the anchor a little smoother.
  • Using a zinc spray is effective in the sense that it's a strong bonding metallic spray and can thus reduce the risks of flaking.
  • A zinc spray is also good for protecting your anchor from corroding. In other words, using a zinc spray will protect your anchor from rusting.

Applying an undercoat spray should be very easy. The best way to do this is by applying in cross-coats. This may be difficult in some parts of the anchor but this is the best way to achieve a decent and consistent undercoat. You should leave the anchor overnight to ensure that the coating fully dries.

Apply the Final Coating

After applying the undercoat and letting it dry overnight, you should leave the anchor unused for about a week before applying the final coating. Just use the same zinc spray used in undercoating.

The application should be easy just like when undercoating. In essence, you shouldn't have any spray painting skills to get a decent result. Just follow this simple process and your anchor will be as good as they come.

Bottom Line

The importance of an anchor can never be downplayed. But because it will mostly be used underwater, it will be battered by several weather elements. Fortunately, you can restore your old anchor and make it perfect for your sailing escapades. Use the above-described process and you'll love the result. An anchor plays an essential role in keeping you anchored and safe while out there so it should be in perfect condition at all times.

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How To Anchor a Boat with Two Anchors (Easily & Properly)

Most of the time you anchor, you'll use just one. With other boats around, you shouldn't use two anchors without a compelling reason, because it will make you swing differently from other people. But sometimes you have a challenge in an anchorage, like tidal currents, limited swing space, or other reasons you may need to fix your orientation, eliminate swing, or add extra holding power.

For each of these scenarios, we have the stern anchor , the Bahamian moor , the double anchor , and the V deployment . Your choice of technique depends on the conditions where you anchor and what you might expect, from bad weather to tidal currents and tight swing room.

sailboat sailing at anchor

On this page:

Staying in one place (bahamian moor), stopping the swing (stern anchor), getting extra holding (double anchor and v deployment), what not to do.

When staying in one place, you use two anchors to set a Bahamian Moor.

A "Bahamian Moor" is anchoring with two anchors through your bow rollers, with the anchors deployed 180 degrees from each other. This allows your boat to swing with winds and current, but keeps you from swinging around a large circle like you do with a single anchor.

In areas with large tidal currents, concerns that you may pull and reset your anchor through every tide make a Bahamian mooring a popular choice. Tight anchorages are all good applications of this technique, as long as everyone is using it and they set all the anchors in parallel lines.

Setting the Bahamian Moor

The first step is to set the upwind/up current anchor the way you normally would. Set it well, and note the desired scope you want to leave out.

Next, pay out the rode until you've fallen off to the spot to drop the second anchor dead down wind. Drop the anchor, then move the boat back towards the first anchor while paying out the second anchor rode.

When you've brought the first anchor back to the desired scope, you can tie off the second anchor and back down on it to set the second anchor. Snub all lines.

  • If you're using a rope rode, put a kellet on it if you have one. This will keep the rode from wrapping the keep.
  • With a rope rode, you can set the second anchor with a dinghy. This is a useful if the primary rode isn't long enough to reach the drop spot. All-chain rodes are too heavy for dinghy launching.

Weighing Anchor

To retrieve the Bahamian mooring, reverse the process. Ease one rode until you can break out the other anchor and retrieve the other rode. Then retrieve the remaining rode normally.

A kellet is a weight attached to a rode. They are thought to give a better of angle of pull on the anchor, but the additional holding effects are unclear. But kellet will sink the catenary on a rope rode and reduce the chances of it fouling your keel as you swing.

Sometimes, it's important to keep your boat pointed in one direction. You can handle roll in an anchorage with a stern anchor to keep the bow to the waves, and a stern anchor can keep you in place in a narrow anchorage where swinging around may put your boat into a trouble spot.

The major difference between this and a Bahamian moor is that you put an anchor on each end of the boat instead of two anchors on the bow. So there is no swinging at all.

Setting a stern anchor

First, set your primary anchor as you normally would.

Once the first anchor is set, ease out more rode until you drift back to where you want to set the stern anchor. Note that you may not drift back in the direction you need to go. You might need to do some clever tricks with our engine, or even use the dinghy to push the stern around to the right spot.

If your stern anchor and rode is manageable, you can use the dinghy to drop the stern anchor instead.

Once the stern anchor is down, pull the primary rode back to the desired scope, then pull the stern anchor taught and tie it off. Engage the engine in forward to set the stern anchor.

If you have a kellet for the stern anchor, it's not bad to use it.

Your stern anchor is will be a manual retrieval unless you have a stern windlass. The easiest way is to ease the primary rode and drift back on the stern anchor as you pull in its rode. A trip line on this anchor may make it easier to break out, or you can break it from the dinghy if it won't come out.

Two double anchor techniques can give you increased holding if you're expecting bad weather or high winds. If a bottom is bad holding like soft mud, a second anchor can help you stay put. We used a double anchor setup to ride out a hurricane at anchor, since it gives you extra holding without the risk of tangling a second rode.

Double Anchor Setup

Tandem anchoring is two anchors on one rode in series - one at the bitter end, and one about a boat length up the chain. The work is setting up the equipment more than setting the anchors, though wrestling two anchors on and off the foredeck without scratching the deck takes some care.

The bitter end The bitter end is the ship end of the anchor cable, secured by the anchor bitts and the bitter pin in the cable locker under the forecastle. Source: Wikipedia

Connect the backup anchor to the bitter end of the chain; the best anchor should be closest to the boat. Set the primary anchor a boat length from the end. If you have an extra length of chain, you can attach the secondary anchor with this instead of re-arranging the primary anchor.

When you are rigging your tandem, make sure you run all the rode around and over the life lines! If you just pull the bitter end through the bow roller, you won't be able to get the anchor back through the pulpit! (Don't ask me how I may know this...)

To set the tandem anchors, put the first anchor in the water and lower until it hits bottom. Then splash the second while drifting back from the first anchor. From there, back down, set scope and snub as you would for a single anchor.

Weighing the Tandem

Retrieve this like a single anchor until you get to the first anchor. Secure that anchor on the deck. Take it off the rode to use the windlass to retrieve the second anchor.

V Deployment

Deploying two anchors in a V shape off the bow offers excellent extra holding power when the pull is from an expected direction . Anchoring in a river with a strong, constant current, or for a storm before a big blow from a known direction, are good times to use the V.

To set up a V deployment, set your first anchor the way you would normally. For the second anchor, you're aiming for an angle between the rodes of 45° to 90°. If they're too close together, you risk tangling the anchors. You don't want them in a line or close to it. But if the angle is too large, you lose all the benefits of extra holding against the forces on the boat.

To set the second anchor, motor back up and over to the drop spot. It should be on a line with the first anchor perpendicular to the expected wind or current. Drop the second anchor, then drop back and set it. Then drop all the way back until both anchors are taking some of the boat's weight.

Adjust the lines to distribute the load as equally between the anchors as you can. If conditions change, check the rodes and adjust to keep the loads even.

Weighing the V

Motor up to one anchor and retrieve it, then retrieve the second anchor. You may need to ease a little on the second anchor rode to get to the first one.

There are two big mistakes you can make when using more than one anchor. Either can leave you worse off than only having one anchor.

Mistake #1: Two anchors in line in front of the boat. Adding a second anchor right near the firsts like it would give you more holding, but you're more likely to end up with a tangled mass of anchors and chains which can't hold at all as the anchors and chains can keep either anchor from setting or lying properly. Even if you manage a clean set with both anchors, even a minor wind shift will kick off a death spiral of tangling and dragging.

Mistake #2: Being the only boat in the anchorage with two anchors. You'll be safe, but in the best-case scenario, you will only annoy everyone around you. In the worst case, because you don't swing like anyone else, you'll get banged around as other boats swing into you and foul your anchor.

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The 5 Best Sailboat Anchors

Paul Stockdale Avatar

A good anchor for a sailboat will help keep a vessel stationary and stable in the water in any weather conditions or marine environment.

There are a number of top anchors for sailing boats that can work on sailboats of both small and large sizes of under 20ft to over 100ft.

The best sailboat anchors are:

  • Best Overall : Mantus Marine M1 Mantus Anchor
  • Best For Holding Boat : Lewmar Claw Anchor
  • Best For Price : Seachoice Utility Anchor
  • Best For Small Sailboats : Fortress FX-11 Anchor
  • Best For Large Sailboats : Rocna Galvanized Anchor

These anchors will ensure the sailboat is anchoring properly in any sailing conditions.

Sailboat owners should choose an anchor based on the size and type of their sailboat as well as the type of marine environment their vessel will be located in.

For example, anchoring a sailboat on a sandy surface is different than anchoring a sailboat on a rocky surface and it will require different anchors.

1. M1 Mantus Galvanized Anchor

M1 Mantus Galvanized Anchor Best Overall Anchor

The best overall sailboat anchor is the M1 Mantus anchor manufactured by the brand Mantus Marine in Texas, America and sold worldwide.

This fluke anchor is the best overall anchor because it can dig deep into the seafloor and ensure the sailing vessel will not float away.

The M1 Mantus anchor is constructed of hot-dipped galvanized steel with the shank and shank boot welded from top to bottom.

It is a plow anchor shaped with a sharp triangle-shaped nose, a straight shank and a "U" shaped roll bar bolted to a fluke.

This anchor comes in many different sizes from 8lbs to 175lbs. It comes with 4 American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) certified bolts.

The M1 Mantus anchor is used on seafloor surfaces including sandy, gravel, grassy and muddy sea floors. It is not used on rocky sea floors.

The M1 Mantus can be used in different types of locations including rivers, sea and lakes.

Sailboat sizes of 20ft to 65ft can use the M1 Mantus anchor.

The M1 Mantus anchor is priced between $180 for the smallest 8lb anchor to approximately $3,000 for the largest 175lb anchor at most retailers.

The M1 Mantus anchor works to hold a vessel in position in winds of up to 40 knots, highlighting its great holding power abilities.

The benefits of the M1 Mantus anchor are:

  • It comes with a great lifetime warranty : The Mantus Marine manufacturer offers a lifetime warranty on this anchor for added peace of mind
  • It can be disassembled easily for storage : Simple disassembling bolts make it easy for storing this anchor when it is not in use
  • Multiple size options : With anchor size options from 8lbs to 175lbs, sailboat owners of different vessel sizes, from small sailboats of 20ft to large sailboats of 65ft can use this anchor
  • It works in multiple marine conditions : This anchor works in multiple marine conditions from calm ocean currents to extremely windy and storm conditions with up to 40 knots of wind speed
  • High-performance sharp head nose enables easy penetration of the sea floor : The sharp edge nose of this anchor means it penetrates the ocean floor fast and with ease
  • It is hot dipped galvanized for corrosion prevention : This anchor is hot dipped galvanized giving it extra protection against corrosion and wear from corrosive seawater
  • It comes with 4 high-quality oversized A.S.T.M. certified bolts : This anchor comes with 4 oversized bolts with a large margin of safety that will help prevent damage

One disadvantage of the M1 Mantus anchor is it is more expensive than other anchors on the market.

M1 Mantas Anchor On Amazon →

M1 Mantas Anchor On eBay →

2. Lewmar Claw Anchor

Lewmar Claw Anchor Best Holding Power Anchor

The best sailboat anchor for its holding power is the Lewmar Claw anchor manufactured by the brand Lewmar in Hampshire, United Kingdom and sold worldwide.

The Lewmar Claw anchor is constructed of high-grade galvanized steel cast in a single piece. This anchor was inspired and designed based on anchors used to secure oil rigs in the North Sea.

The Lewmar Claw anchor comes in sizes from 2.2lbs to 176lbs. It is used on seabed surfaces including sandy, muddy, gravel and grassy ocean floors. It is not used on rocky surfaces.

The Lewmar Claw anchor can be used in different types of marine locations including ocean, lake and river floors.

Sailboat sizes of 12ft to 65ft can use the Lewmar Claw anchor.

The Lewmar Claw anchor is priced between approximately $30 for the smallest 2.2lb anchor to approximately $1,300 for the largest 176lb anchor at most retailers.

The Lewmar Claw anchor can hold a sailing vessel in position in winds up to 50 knots without the boat floating away.

The benefits of the Lewmar Claw anchor are:

  • It's fast setting : Depending on the sea depth, this anchor can set and begin anchoring a vessel in under 5 minutes
  • It has great holding power : This anchor can help with anchoring boats in position in extremely harsh weather conditions with winds up to 50 knots
  • Easy bow roller storable : This anchor can fit and store nicely in most bow roller shapes and styles without any issues
  • It's a budget-friendly anchor : The Lewmar Claw anchor is one of the cheapest on the market and it should be within most sailboat owner's budget with the most expensive anchor sold at a price of approximately $1,300
  • It's built with strong & high-quality material : The Lewmar Claw is built with high-quality and heat-treated steel with a galvanized finish

One disadvantage of the Lewmar Claw anchor is it does not come with a lifetime warranty.

Lewmar Claw Anchor On Amazon →

Lewmar Claw Anchor On Walmart →

3. Seachoice Utility Anchor

Seachoice Utility Anchor Best For Price

The best sailboat anchor for the price is the Seachoice Utility anchor manufactured by the brand Seachoice in Florida, America and sold worldwide.

This fluke anchor is the best for the price because it offers the most options for the cheapest price on the market.

The Seachoice Utility anchor is constructed of hot-dipped galvanized steel or PVC-coated steel. It comes in 5 different color options including red, black, white, light blue and grey.

This anchor comes in different sizes from 4.5lbs to 8.5lbs.

The Seachoice Utility anchor is priced at approximately $25 for the smallest 4.5lb anchor to approximately $70 for the larger 8.5lb anchor at most retailers.

The Seachoice Utility anchor is used on different seabed surfaces including gravel, sand, grassy and muddy sea floors. It is not used on rocky seafloors.

The Seachoice anchor can be used in different types of marine locations including the sea, rivers and lakes.

Sailboat sizes of 10ft to 30ft can use the Seachoice Utility anchor.

The Seachoice Utility anchor can hold a sailboat in position and keep it anchored in wind speeds up to 30 knots without the boat floating away.

The benefits of the Seachoice Utility anchor are:

  • It comes with a 1-year warranty : The Seachoice Utility anchor comes with a 1-year manufacturers warranty for added peace of mind
  • It comes in multiple color options : Sailboat owners can choose from 5 different anchor colors
  • It's easy to retrieve from the seawater : This anchor comes with a great slip-ring design that makes it easy to retrieve it from the water after use
  • Sharp anchor fluke design makes penetration easy : The sharp fluke design helps the anchor to easily penetrate the seafloor surface
  • It is cheap : The Seachoice Utility anchor is the cheapest anchor on the market with the largest anchor priced at approximately $70

Two disadvantages of the Seachoice Utility anchor are the anchor can only be used on smaller sailboats up to 30ft in length and it can not be used on larger sailboats over 30ft and the anchor can not be used on rocky sea floors.

Seachoice Utility Anchor On Amazon →

Seachoice Utility Anchor On Walmart →

4. Fortress FX-11 Anchor

Fortress FX-11 Anchor Best For Small Sailboats

The best sailboat anchor for small sailboats is the Fortress FX-11 anchor manufactured by the brand Fortress Marine Anchors in Florida, America and sold worldwide.

This fluke anchor is the best for small boats because its lightweight aluminum material is capable of holding a sailboat up to 32ft without the anchor being extra heavy.

The Fortress FX-11 anchor is constructed of aluminum alloy material and it comes in a size of 7lbs.

It comes with a pivot adjustment which allows an adjustment of the anchor angle between 32° to 45°.

The Fortress FX-11 anchor is used on seafloor surfaces including sand, gravel, mud and grassy surfaces. It is not used on rocky seafloor surfaces.

The Fortress FX-11 anchor can be used in different marine locations including lakes, rivers and the sea.

Sailboat sizes of between 28ft to 32ft can use the FX-11 anchor.

The Fortress FX-11 anchor is priced at approximately $200 at most retailers.

The Fortress FX-11 anchor works to hold a sailing vessel in position in winds up to 30 knots without the vessel floating away.

The benefits of the Fortress FX-11 anchor are:

  • It's rustproof : The light but strong aluminum material is rustproof meaning the anchor will not suffer from rusting caused by the corrosive seawater
  • It comes with a lifetime parts warranty : The Fortress FX-11 anchor comes with a lifetime parts replacement warranty against damage that might occur to any parts of the anchor
  • It is easy to store after use : It can be easily disassembled which means it is easy to store onboard the sailboat after using it#
  • Penetrates the seafloor and sets deeper : The sharp edge d anchor allows it to easily penetrate seafloors and anchor a boat

One disadvantage of the Fortress FX-11 anchor is it can only be used on smaller sailboats between 28ft to 32ft and it cannot be used on larger sailing vessels over 32ft.

Fortress FX-11 On Amazon →

Fortress FX-11 On Walmart →

5. Rocna Galvanized Anchor

Rocna Galvanized Anchor Best For Large Sailboats

The best anchor for larger sailboats is the Rocna galvanized steel anchor manufactured by the brand Rocna in British Columbia, Canada and sold worldwide.

The Rocna anchor is constructed of galvanized steel with solid welding from top to bottom.

The Rocna galvanized steel anchor was designed by New Zealand sailor Peter Smith.

The Rocna anchor design comes with a roll-bar to ensure the anchor can penetrate the surface at the best angle and one-third of the anchor's weight is on the fluke tip which also helps with the penetration of the seafloor surface.

The Rocna anchor comes in 14 different sizes from 9lbs to 606lbs.

This fluke anchor is the best for larger sailboats because it offers anchors up to 606lbs which will help with anchoring most larger sailing vessels.

The Rocna anchor can be used on all sea surfaces from gravel, mud, sand, clay, kelp and rocks. It can also be used in marine locations including lakes, rivers and the sea.

Sailboat sizes of 12ft to over 300ft can use the Rocna galvanized steel anchor.

The Rocna galvanized steel anchor is priced between approximately $220 for the smallest 9lbs anchor to approximately $12,000 for the largest 606lb anchor.

The Rocna galvanized steel anchor can hold a sailing vessel in position in winds up to 40 knots without the boat floating away.

The benefits of the Rocna galvanized anchor are:

  • It comes with a great lifetime warranty : The Rocna galvanized anchor comes with a lifetime warranty against breakage, manufacturing defects and bending for added peace of mind
  • It can be used on all sea surfaces : The Rocna galvanized steel anchor can be used on all sea surfaces including gravel, sand, mud and rocky sea floors and it is not limited or restricted to just a few types of surfaces
  • It sets fast : The sharp edge fluke helps penetrate the sea surface and the anchor sets fast as a result of this design

One disadvantage of the Rocna anchor is it is not the cheapest anchor with the cheapest price at approximately $220.

Rocna Anchor On Amazon →

Top Sailboat Anchors Comparison Table

What to consider when buying a sailboat anchor.

The factors to consider before buying a sailboat anchor are:

  • Type of material used : The type of material used to create the anchor is an important consideration when buying a sailboat anchor. Most modern anchors are constructed using aluminum steel or galvanized steel
  • Durability : How long the anchor can last is a factor to consider when buying a sailboat anchor. Modern anchors come with lifetime warranties and they should last for well over 10 years
  • Size Of The Boat : Identifying the proper anchor size for a boat is not a perfect science but the size of your boat is an extremely important factor to consider when choosing a top sailboat anchor. Typically, the larger the boat size, the bigger the anchor that is required
  • Price : Price will also play a big role in the sailboat anchor you buy. Anchors come in many different prices for many different budgets

Frequently Asked Questions About The Best Sailboat Anchors

Below are the most common and frequently asked questions about the top sailing vessel anchors.

What Are The Best Sailboat Anchor Brands?

The best sailboat anchor brands are:

  • Five Oceans Danforth Style
  • Mantus Marine

Are Top Sailing Boat Anchors Expensive?

No, top sailboat anchors are not expensive with some of the best sailboat anchors priced as little as $25 in some instances.

What Are The Different Types Of Sailboat Anchors Available For Sailboat Owners?

The types of sailboat anchors available are:

  • Fluke anchors
  • Plow anchors
  • Claw anchors
  • Mushroom anchors
  • Grapnel anchors

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An Introduction To Sea Anchor Use

Sea anchors come in many shapes and sizes, with many monikers such as parachute sea anchors, drift anchors, drift socks, parachute anchors, or boat brakes.

Whatever you want to call them, they are vital components in overall boat safety equipment, and it’s essential to know how to use a sea anchor.

The parachute sea anchor is the best-known type of sea anchor, deployed from the bow of any boat.

A sea anchor can save your boat in a storm or keep you on fish; it has numerous uses, but its primary purpose is to aid a vessel in dangerous and heavy weather sailing by keeping the bow windward and into the incoming waves.

If you’re unaware of what a sea anchor is, let me introduce you to the different types and their uses and stress the importance of having one on deck.

⚓ The Different Types Of Sea Anchors

Seafarers of old used bags, buckets, cones, anything you could think of to limit their vessel’s drift.

Today, we have a couple of helpful and reliable options when choosing sea anchors, such as the following:

  • Parachute Sea Anchors
  • Drift Anchors (Drift Socks, Drag Bag, Trolling Sea Anchor, Drifter, Sea Brake)

🪂 Parachute Sea Anchor

The parachute sea anchor, also referred to as a para sea anchor or para-anchor, is a specially designed water parachute attached to an anchor rope deployed from the bow of a vessel.

A parachute sea anchor is usually made from high-strength nylon or Dacron, and a typical para-anchor setup consists of the following:

  • Durable 8-ounce nylon or Dacron canopy
  • Multiple shroud lines
  • Stainless steel swivel or galvanized shackle
  • Fishing weights
  • Floating flag
  • Anchor line (rode)
  • Recovery line
  • Retrieval float
  • Float deployment bag

Monohull sailboats, multihull sailboats, trawlers, skiffs, commercial cruise liners, superyachts, sports boats, rowing boats, canoes, kayaks, centerboard boats, runabouts, and charter fishing boats can all benefit from deploying a sea anchor when disaster strikes, or to modify the vessel’s drift.

A parachute sea anchor works by dropping it in the water from the bow of any vessel.

As soon as it sinks, it will deploy quite rapidly, putting tension on the attached anchor line. The sea anchor will pull the bow into approaching weather, stabilizing the vessel by slowing down the boat’s drift. Think of a parachute sea anchor as a brake for boats.

The drag created by the parachute sea anchor has been known to slow down a boat to half a nautical mile per hour. In contrast, without a parachute sea anchor, the figure can quickly rise to 10 nautical miles per hour, potentially reducing drift by 90%.

The parachute sea anchor is very popular amongst drift fisherman who employs it to slow down the fishing vessel’s drift, allowing it to comfortably fish in a specific area without having to worry about drifting out of the fish-rich angling spots.

A para-anchor also saves fishermen hundreds of dollars of fuel per day due to not having to use the motor to keep the vessel in place. An important factor when employing a sea anchor is that you must use a size-appropriate sea anchor for the best results.

Basic Deployment Of A Parachute Sea Anchor

When it’s time to deploy a para-anchor , either due to heavy seas, crew fatigue, or when out fishing, you first have to stop the boat. On a monohull sailboat, you need to power up the motor and put it in neutral before lowering the head and main sail.

With the engine powered forward, you can keep the bow into the sea, virtually stopping the sailboat. The para-anchor is deployed from the windward side to keep the sailboat from drifting over it. A recovery line and a retrieval float are deployed into the water first.

Allow the boat to move away from the trip line and let it become tight before dropping the para-anchor into the water. As soon as the para-anchor is deployed into the water, snub the anchor line to inflate the canopy before securing it to a cleat, bitts, or designated strong point.

Installing cleats and bits with bolts and a backing plate is highly recommended, as when a sea anchor is deployed, it puts a lot of stress on attached boat parts. Choose a dedicated strong point from where you will launch a sea anchor, and beware of skimpy windlasses.

Recommended Rode Length When Deploying A Sea Anchor

The length of the anchor rope plays a critical part in keeping the sea anchor deployed at all times. For the best results when using a para-anchor, is to ensure that the parachute canopy stays inflated.

When deploying a para-anchor, you don’t want any twisting of the parachute or its canopy inverting when it osculates (pulsating like jellyfish.)

Fiorentino Para Anchor drag device inventor Zack Smith suggests the following regarding the length of rope deployment.

“What we discovered through all our testing was that if we maintained constant rope tension, the parachute sea anchor stays inflated the entire time.”

Smith continues,

“Obviously, when the parachutes stay inflated, it will keep your bow faced with the wind conditions and storms.”

He gives an example of rope deployment for a 40-foot boat and 400 feet of rope.

Smith states,

“When the weather is calm, I go ahead and throw out a couple of boat lengths. If there’s gale force conditions which can lead to 12- or 16-foot seas, I’ll pay out a third of the rope that I’m carrying on board. And if it’s a storm situation, I’ll pay out half mile line.”

📺 Watch the full interview on YouTube

The experienced parachute sea anchor tester recommends that captains add a 6-foot chain to the rope, as the added weight will counter any slackness. In addition, the chain will sink when the rope loses tension, ensuring that the parachute canopy stays inflated.

The standard recommendation from most makers of parachute sea anchors is to throw out at least 10 to 15 feet of rope, no matter the weather conditions.

Even when you deploy the correct length of rope with the added 6-foot chain, a monohull sailboat or trawler might start to swing back and forth, despite all your best efforts.

If the boat jerks or feels like it’s being pulled through the waves, you might need to pay out more anchor rope (rode) until this unnatural boat motion stops. Set your chafe protection to avoid line wear when satisfied with the vessel’s motion.

Wind loads can exert pressure on an anchor rope to more than a ton of pull. That’s why Para-Tech recommends the following nylon rode thickness: 

  • ½” nylon rode for 35′ boats
  • 5/8″ nylon rode for 35′ to 45′ boats
  • ¾” nylon rode for boats up to 55.’ 

Light displacement sailboats may rock back and forth while secured to the para-anchor, and if deploying more anchor rope doesn’t fix the problem, you have one of two choices:

  • Attach a secondary line to the primary rope leading to the parachute sea anchor, forming a V-shaped bridal.
  • Attach a storm sail.

A V-shaped bridal helps the boat stabilize and deter it from swinging back and forth and is most successful in a wind force of 35 knots and above. When a boat starts swinging back and forth, it creates shock loading on the rope, which can result in it breaking.

A V-shaped bridle is required when deploying a sea anchor on catamarans or other multihull boats. The best advice is to prepare the setup before sailing. For example, you can have two bridle lines of 50 feet each tied to a road of, say, 300 feet already bound to the vessel’s hulls.

By carefully packaging the sea anchor in different bundles, it’s ready to deploy when needed by simply throwing it off the boat. You don’t want to still have to tie bridle lines to the two bows when disaster strikes.

When Do You Use A Parachute Sea Anchor?

A parachute sea anchor is typically used in stormy weather or whenever you need to stabilize and slow down the vessel’s drift due to the loss of the boat’s steering to minimize the chance of being rolled. It can also be deployed when the water is too deep to employ an ordinary anchor.

Sailors on sailboats tend to use a parachute sea anchor in extremely windy conditions when using sails is impossible. The sea anchor helps turn the sailboat into the oncoming waves, minimizing the chance of being rolled.

Loss of power is another good reason to employ a sea anchor, especially if you’re drifting towards shoals while waiting for assistance from a fellow boater.

Drift fishermen often deploy a parachute sea anchor when fishing, allowing them to fish in a certain fishing area without worrying about the boat drifting away from the prime spot.

🧦 Drift Anchors And Drift Socks

Whereas a parachute sea anchor is a specialized safety tool to be used in emergencies (and for drift fishing), a drift anchor , by comparison, is mostly used for fishing.

A drift anchor is a funnel-shaped conical chute that catches water and restricts its flow through a small opening at the opposite end.

When Do You Use A Drift Anchor

Anglers use drift anchors or drift socks to slow down the drift of their boats when fishing with live bait and jigs and when using bottom baits for bottom fishing.

Every angler knows that a fast drift makes it challenging to place baits and keep them in a specific water column position.

Using a drift anchor also protects less durable baits, such as pilchards, from the intensity of fast drifts. Monitoring a fishing rod is made easier when employing a drift anchor.

Many fishermen deploy sea anchors from the vessel’s windward beam, allowing drifted baits to spread out along the entirety of the vessel.

Basic Deployment Of A Drift Anchor

You can use a drift anchor on any boat, from kayaks to fishing boats and sailboats. However, how you fasten the drift anchor is critical, as it puts a lot of strain on a boat. Ensure that your boat cleats can withstand the stress when attaching a sea anchor.

When deploying the drift anchor or drift sock into the water, ensure there’s enough space between the sea anchor and the boat by monitoring the anchor line attached to the sea anchor.

A drift anchor doesn’t need as much rope as a para-anchor does; it only needs enough so that the drift anchor rises and falls in sync with the vessel.

If you see that the drift anchor is repeatedly collapsing before filling up again, it’s indicative of too short a ride.

The setup of a drift anchor should include the following:

  • Drift Anchor
  • Anchor Line (Rode)
  • Swivel Shackle

The trip line is essential in the setup. Pulling the trip line pulls the drift anchor from the back, deflating the device and making it easy to get the drift anchor back onto the boat.

What Is The Difference Between A Drogue And A Sea Anchor?

A drogue is a cone-shaped fabric device deployed from the stern of a boat, primarily used to slow down a boat instead of stopping it while it motors down-sea. Slowing down the boat as it races down sea waves reduces the risk of pitchpoling and broaching.

Drogues are typically employed when a boat has lost its ability to steer (power failure and rudder problems) and to slow down drift for trolling.

How Is A Sea Anchor Used In A Lifeboat?

The Code of Federal Regulations states that a sea anchor must be permanently affixed to a lifeboat so that it can be easily deployed in an emergency and fitted with a shock-resistant hawser.

A davit-launched passenger vessel liferaft must deploy automatically when the lifeboat floats freely. As a result, a lifeboat’s sea anchor rode will be considerably shorter than required on bigger vessels.

Are Sea Anchors Any Good?

A sea anchor is a vital component of boat safety equipment. When a sailboat or any other type of boat is faced with a storm at sea, the most important aspect of survival is to get the vessel stable, which a sea anchor achieves when deployed correctly.

A sea anchor is vital during breakdowns, layovers, and other emergencies involving strong winds and massive waves.

🔑 Key Takeaways

1️⃣ A sea anchor is as important as stocking life jackets on a ship. It has the potential to save your boat in stormy conditions, which directly results in preserving your life as well. 2️⃣ When faced with rough sea conditions that take boat control out of your hands, a para-anchor will keep your vessel stable and afloat while waiting out the storm.

Many boat owners had lost their lives and boats due to not having a sea anchor on board when an emergency struck.

The power of the ocean is not to be underestimated, and being slapped around by breaking waves is no joke. If you own a boat without a sea anchor, you should invest in one today.

📢 Pro Tip: To help you make the correct choice read this article covering what size sea anchor you need so that you can make an informed decision

If your boat is fitted with a sea anchor, ensure that you test it often to ensure that it is operational and to keep your deploying skills up to date.

Written by:

I’m the founder and chief editor here at Sailing Savvy. I spent a decade working as a professional mariner and currently, I mix those experiences with digital publishing. Welcome, and I hope that we can be the hub you need for safe passage.

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Sea Anchors & Drogues

Taking bad weather bow-to or stern-to is a fundamental quandary. much depends on your boat. then you have to decide which sea anchor or drogue to buy. we sort through the decision tree..

sailboat sailing at anchor

Sea anchors are as old as seafaring. Sailors through the ages have carried buckets, bags, cones—just about everything except the kitchen sink—and thrown them over when they wanted to limit drift. Where the water is too deep for anchoring to the ground sea anchors have long had their uses. Drogues, too, have a long history. Whether as “drags” used to tire harpooned whales or “brakes” to control hard-to-maneuver barges, drogues have been working the waterways for centuries.

Sea Anchors & Drogues

Our examination of commercially available devices is not a product comparison but an overview of some available options.

Definitions There’s understandable confusion between sea anchors and drogues. A sea anchor is meant to fix a boat in place, much like a conventional (non-floating) anchor. A drogue, on the other hand, generally goes over the stern. You use it to control speed and stabilize your course as you run downwind away from the seas.

Both sea anchors and drogues work by creating drag. Both are ways of keeping your boat end-on to the wind and seas. However, their heavy weather missions are quite different.

Sea Anchors The main reason sea anchors and drogues get confused is that, until relatively recently, they were basically the same thing. What John Claus Voss (author of the turn-of-the century classic Venturesome Voyages) and even Adlard Coles in his Heavy Weather Sailing called “sea anchors” were small conical devices much like present-day drogues. However, dating roughly from the end of Word War II, sailors and, most particularly, commercial fishermen, began experimenting with parachutes as devices for heaving to. Patrick Royce was the first sailor to tell of these adventures (early 60’s). John and Joan Casanova subsequently (70’s and 80’s) made well-documented use of a parachute anchor in their multihull cruising. Lin and Larry Pardey (aboard the monohull Seraffyn) used ordnance chutes to heave to and wrote about it.

Para-anchors have come into their own; large-diameter devices on the parachute model (or, as in the case of the modern Shewmon anchors, designed from scratch) have evolved in the past 20 years to offer infinitely more “holding” power than the time-honored cones. The sea anchors available in the US today (from Para-Tech Engineering, Para-Anchors International, Fiorentino Para Anchor, and Shewmon Inc., among others), plus those few available on the international market from Para-Anchors Australia and Coppins, Ltd. (New Zealand) all have the size and strength to do what the older devices couldn’t—”stop” the boat from drifting and hold its bow to weather.

Your sea anchor allows you to stop, to attend to a problem, make repairs, get a rest. If the wind and waves are moderate, “anchoring” your boat in open water is relatively simple and straightforward. If it’s too deep to drop the hook, the sea anchor lets you “park.”

Sea Anchors & Drogues

Most sailors, however, look to sea anchors to help them handle heavy weather. And in robust blows and gale force winds para-anchors have earned high marks. They have proven that they can bring the boat end-on to the waves and limit drift (often to as little as half a knot). Testimonials are impressive. For example:

Windswept (Hinckley Bermuda 40 yawl) deployed a 12′ Para-Tech sea anchor during passage of a frontal trough (winds 35-40 knots) off the coast of Maine. The skipper recounted thusly:

“After deployment my yawl lay bow-to the wind and waves with very little yawing. With 400 feet of rode there was absolutely no shock loading. My boat rode like a duck, up and over each wave, always nose to the wind. Altogether a very pleasant, safe, and secure feeling.”

That happy, cozy result is what sailors are looking for. Shewmon advises, “Set the anchor at the first sign of heavy weather, BEFORE the deck gets wet and it’s hard to work. Then go inside and catch up on your rest.” The parachute sea anchor is often painted as the “last, best solution” for the weather-whipped sailor.

But it’s dangerous to regard the sea anchor as a “set-it-and-forget-it” solution to heavy weather. Once crests form on the waves, things change. Water now moves laterally, not up and down. It moves at wave speed (up to 25 knots) and can have an impact of one ton per square foot. That changes the game. Breaking waves slew boats off course, roll them over, rocket them out of control. Breaking waves usher in survival conditions.

It’s a comfort that not many storms produce breaking waves. Still, when they do, they introduce significant problems if you’re riding to a sea anchor. The first is yawing.

Sea Anchors & Drogues

Other Aids For Staying Bow To How your boat rides to a ground anchor is a good guide as to how she will ride to a sea anchor. Multihulls, for instance, ride relatively straight to both ground and sea anchors when they bridle the anchor from both bows. A monohull, on the other hand, streams a sea anchor from a single fixed point. That increases yaw.

One antidote is a riding sail. A sail set well aft (even a storm jib hanked to the backstay and sheeted flat) will help a boat stay head-to-wind. If you are able to, reduce windage forward (roller furlers are classic culprits) you can do a lot to keep yourself effectively bow-on.

Another remedy is the form of heaving to popularized by the Pardeys. They ride, with or without sail, to a sea anchor, but they attach a control line to the rode and bridle it to their quarter. By adjusting the control they can “winch the stern to weather” and bring their bow off the wind. The hull makes some leeway which in turn generates a “slick” that helps dampen wave action on their weather side. It’s a promising variation to riding bow-on.

Even if you eliminate yaw, you are left to deal with the effect of powerfully breaking wave crests. Thrown aft against an anchor “fixed” in the water, your boat can conceivably generate a pull approaching its own displacement. The tactic here is to position your anchor so that it is in phase with the boat, cresting when the boat does. You don’t want the anchor to be “fixed.” Maximum scope goes a long way toward achieving the “in-rhythm” balance that can keep loads on the boat and road within reason. Para-Tech recommends a minimum of 300′ of rode (or 12 times the boat’s length overall, whichever is greater). Both Shewmon and Para-Tech insist on nylon rodes because nylon’s elasticity limits shock loads.

“We used to think that we could set a sea anchor with the gear that was already aboard for ground tackle. I’ve learned that you need to have gear designed especially to do the job, in terms of strength, efficiency, and chafe prevention,” said Earl Hinz, author of Understanding Sea Anchors & Drogues. Wind loads alone can push the pull on a rode to more than a ton. Para-Tech specifies 1/2″ nylon for boats up to 35′, 5/8″ for boats from 35′-45′, and 3/4″ rode for boats up to 55′. A dedicated strong point, one that doesn’t rely on deck cleats or skimpily backed windlasses, seems almost mandatory for handling a sea anchor.

Sea Anchors & Drogues

Chafe is also a problem. There are reports of systems that chafed through “within hours.” Hinz inserts lengths of chain at 100′ intervals in his rode and lets the chain handle abrasion. Repositioning chafing gear on a bar-taut rode from a wave-swept foredeck is difficult, at best. You can’t do much once you’ve set the anchor. That makes adjusting rode length virtually impossible beyond “freshening the nip” by easing it a couple of inches every hour or so. Shewmon’s answer: “Assume the worst case scenario and stream all of the rode permanently protected from chafe at the boat end from the start.”

Pre-planning helps, but practicing is the best preparation for setting your sea anchor in a storm.

Boats riding to a sea anchor will make some sternway. The more severe the motion astern the more grave the threat to the steering system. A rudder hinged on the keel or transom might even be forced against its pintles and sheared off. To counter the backdowns induced by wind and wave, lock the rudder amidships. Lash the wheel rather than relying on the friction brake. Better yet, mount your emergency tiller and lash it.

Riding to a sea anchor more or less rules out adopting any other heavy weather tactic. That’s mostly because getting going again involves either cutting the gear loose or trying to wrestle it back aboard.

Trip lines are standard items with both Para-Tech and Shewmon sea anchors. The Pardeys and many others don’t use them, though. They fear they might snag and sabotage the system. Hinz favors a partial trip line (about one-third the rode’s length) with its own buoy. Even when you succeed in imploding the chute via a retrieval line, you still have retrieval to contend with. In moderating conditions you may power up gradually along the rode and get away with as little as 15 or 20 minutes of intense line handling. If the waves remain and things are anything but perfect, however “retrieval is harder than you can imagine” (according to author and cruising instructor John Neal. As another sailor put it, “It’s like trying to reel in a giant squid from 20,000 fathoms down.”

Sizing a Sea Anchor Choosing a sea anchor begins with the size of your boat. Shewmon explains that his anchors function at their rated diameter “while the Para-Tech anchors are flat. That means that they curve when they fill with water so their working diameter is 30% less than their rated diameter.”

For example, a 6′ Para-Tech sea anchor equals the holding power of a Shewmon sea anchor only 4′ diameter, he said. Shewmon’s sizing guide suggests a 10.5′-diameter meter chute for a 35′ boat and a 13.5′ device for a 45-footer. Recommendations for Para-Tech equivalents are 16′ (for a 35-footer) and 20′ (for a 45-footer), respectively.

US Sailing’s Recommendations for Offshore Sailing puts forth a general guideline—sea anchor diameter should be approximately equal to one-third of a boat’s length overall. Says Victor Shane, a maker of para anchors as well as the author of the Drag Device Data Base, “Err on the larger side for safety, much as you would with ground tackle.” Fears of tethering to “immovable objects” have occasionally led sailors to fit their boats with under-sized chutes. Says Walter Greene of the 4′ Shewmon streamed from his 50′ catamaran Sebago, “I thought anything bigger would be too unyielding.” The boat survived 48 hours of 50-knot winds in mid-Atlantic, but her bows sheared off at 45°-60° throughout the storm.

Sea Anchors & Drogues

The bigger the sea anchor the bigger the challenge involved in deploying and retrieving it. Getting it over the side is essentially a matter of preparation and technique. Set the chute to weather (to minimize chances of its sliding beneath the hull), “sneak” it directly into the water to keep it from blowing about, have the rode properly led, flaked and snubbed, and pay off under control (sail or power). Tension on the rode should open the chute. Given the elasticity in the system and the required (considerable, to say the least) scope, the shock of fetching up against it should be minor and not break anything.

Drogues Tests conducted by the American Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers have proven that a boat running before waves is likely to broach when waves approach a height equivalent to 35% of its waterline length. Steadied by a drogue, however, a boat will withstand waves as high as 55% of waterline length. And there are other virtues to towing a drogue.

Most often boats lose control running off before heavy weather because they are going too fast. Leaping off the top of one wave into the back of the one in front will, sooner or later, present problems. Calming your pace so that you stop short of pitchpoling, get a grip on broaching, and put a stop to pounding can be a simple matter of towing a drogue. Most of those available have shown that they can cut top speeds in half.

Drogues do more than that to help steering control. By holding the stern into the waves they limit yaw. By adjusting the drogue so that it pulls on your weather quarter you create an “anti-broaching” force. You can rig a bridle from the stern and use it to “pull the stern around” or lead the bridle to strong points forward of your rudder so that you can “tow the drogue around” with positive control.

“Drogues,” said Shewmon, “are for fair weather. Once waves start to break you want to deploy a sea anchor.”

It’s true that none of the drogues on the market today can “save the day” on its own the way a sea anchor might. Tethering to a sea anchor is primarily passive. You don’t trim sail, dodge waves, or do much more than monitor the situation. Running off is a more active approach. Boat type, sea room, crew reserves, storm avoidance, damage control…the factors that go into choosing which tactic to take are legion and complex. Drogues offer no absolute guarantees against pitchpoling, broaching, or capsize—but they do help the boat stayl end-on to the waves (running off). Keeping that choice open makes them valuable in heavy weather.

The drogues inherited from whalers and cod fishermen suited sailors well for a while. But boats got faster, loads got bigger, and a few flaws began to surface. Time-honored cones and the variations thereon tended to porpoise, swerve, oscillate and pulse as water flow increased. For good speed and steering control you need a steady pull. A new generation of drogues developed almost entirely since the Fastnet storm of 1979 now provides it.

Galerider. Developed by sailmaker Ed Raymond along with yachtsman Frank Snyder, this open-weave basket of webbing gets its pull from a small disc of heavy vinyl in the basket’s bottom. Shewmon’s tug tests (and testimonials from a number of sailors) indicate that it pulls straight with no tendency to yaw. Galeriders come in six sizes (from 18″ diameter to 48″) and have been described by sailors who have towed them as strong, durable, consistent, and simple to deploy and retrieve. John Neal favors it.

Seabrake GP-24. Evolved by Australian commercial fisherman John Abernethy, Seabrakes are based on variable flow. On the original solid Seabrake a baffle prevented most water from passing through it, making it provide tension enough for moderate steering and speed control. Increased water flow from increased speed opened the baffle to create turbulent water flow. That increased drag by as much as 70%. The successor drogue (GP-24) has a “staged system” of variable resistance to produce similar performance in a lighter device made from cloth. Seabrakes have been in use for 15 years and found favor with Down Under racers (like Sir Peter Blake) and cruisers in both multihulls and monohulls. They have limited availability in the US.

Attenborough Sea Drogue. Developed in the UK and used there by lifeboats and fishermen as well as sailors, this 25-lb. solid stainless steel weldment contains a series of angled vanes. As speed increases, flow over the vanes accelerates. That causes the device to dive deeper and “pull harder.” By adjusting the vanes to a shallower dive angle you can use the Sea Drogue for steering control alone. Stowage and retrieval of the solid unit present problems. It has yet to be marketed worldwide.

Shewmon Seamless Drogue. Sold in three sizes (27″, 54″, and 106″ widths) these drogues are made from single pieces of cloth. Shewmon has tug-tested the largest up to 9,000 lbs. of pull. Pull varies with the square of speed (tripling speed produces nine times the pull). Additional speed control can be achieved by adjusting the trip line and “shrinking” the drogue. However, as Shewmon warns, “Readers are advised to abandon all thoughts of partial tripping unless they are willing to spend considerable time and patience experimenting.”

Para-Tech Delta Drogue. Due to tri-corner exhaust vents, increased flow through this drogue produces increased drag, thus suiting the load to the conditions. Guide surface design promotes stability and the water flow helps assure that the drogue will retain its shape. Available for boats from 25′ to 80′ in length, the device comes in six sizes. Made from heavy, vinyl-coated fabric, the Delta stows easily and is relatively easy to retrieve.

Jordan Series Drogue. Towed from the stern like a conventional drogue, this device attempts to do the job of a sea anchor by aggressively holding the boat end-on into the seas. Donald Jordan, its inventor, is a veteran of the aircraft industry and former MIT professor. Jordan’s answer is a series drogue, a rode arrayed with a series of small cones and stretched downward and aft by a weight. Depending on the size of the boat, 90 or more 5″ cones are spliced in line to a 300′ tow line at 20″ intervals. Jordan said that an average (25,000-pound) boat will need about 130 cones.

Sailors who have used Jordan’s drogue say that it works well.

“It slowed our speed to between 0 and 1/4 knot. Yaw was only 5° either side of heading,” reported Gary Danielson of using the device aboard his 25′ monohull in 25-30 knots. The problem that arises, however, is that the boat’s stern quarters tend to be held where they are vulnerable to assault from waves.

Jordan counters, “The approaching water mass is essentially wedge-shaped. In most cases a breaking wave slides under the stern and lifts it rather than smashing down on it.”

“I disagree,” said Steve Dashew, circumnavigator and author of the new book, Surviving The Storm (order at www.setsail.com), who supplied photos for this article. “You can’t discount the impact of a breaking wave. Some boats are well-protected aft, perhaps with center cockpits, but many others, with exposed cockpits, lockers, and companionways are vulnerable. The wisdom of riding stern-to the storm thus depends almost entirely on the type of boat that you have.”

Recommendation—Sea Anchors You might get an inexpensive conical device or prospect the offerings of such far-flung para-anchor purveyors as Coppins, Ltd. (New Zealand) or Para-Anchors Australia. However, after reading hundreds of case histories and talking to sailors and manufacturers we have found little or nothing to justify taking your sea anchor search that far afield. Design and construction of the basic parachute varies somewhat, but the track records, accessibility, and commitment of the two proven and accessible American manufacturers—Para-Tech Engineering and Shewmon, Inc.—make them ones you may wish to consider.

Dan Whilldin, Para-Tech president, is a veteran of more than 30 years of working with parachutes, both for aircraft and for boats. Feedback from the sailors who have used his sea anchors was a big factor in developing the deployable stowage bag that lets you set your Para-Tech by simply dropping the bag (with rode attached) overboard. To us this appears a significant advantage and one that sets Para-Tech apart from Shewmon, whose larger canopies need to be rolled and stopped with twine to ready them for use. Coupled with a significant weight difference (Para-Tech = 17 lbs., Shewmon = 50 lbs.) for comparable sea anchors, Para-Tech is the easier of the two to set.

Shewmon sea anchors are heavily built. A mining engineer and inventor, Dan Shewmon made his own sea anchors for his cruising motorsailer, then went on, in 1978, to found Shewmon, Inc., which now makes and sells a variety of anchors and drogues also of his own design. An anchor for the average (35′-40′) monohull is made from 7-oz. knitted, slightly porous Dacron cloth. “Water is non-compressible and 853 times heavier than air,” he argues. “Common sense dictates that sea anchor cloth should be considerably heavier than parachute cloth.”

Para-Tech employs zero-porosity, high tensile (approximately 2-oz.) nylon in its canopies. Shewmon’s Dacron is undoubtedly stronger. But Para-Tech’s nylon has proven (in Dan Shewmon’s own tug tests) that it can survive loads greater than those seen in recommended use. Further, more than 30 reports in Victor Shane’s Drag Device Data Base tell of setting Para-Tech anchors in winds up to 85 knots, seas over 25 feet, and for as long as 53 hours. Only one account mentions cloth failure: two “well-frayed holes between vent and skirt were found upon retrieval, but there’s no doubt the anchor saved the boat,” said skipper Stephen Edwards of Adelaide, Australia.

Shewmon argues that the porosity of his cloth stabilizes the canopy. Para-Tech points to the resiliency nylon cloth gives to its anchors, better enabling them to absorb loads. There are also significant design differences. Shewmon has created a hybrid of conical and flat shapes with a deeply scalloped (rather than dimpled à la a parachute) circumference. Para-Tech chutes, modeled closely on the standard BU ORD drop chute, depend on a swivel in the system. Shewmon contends that swivels aren’t reliable and that he has “designed out” oscillation.

Pulling power?

Says one chute deployer, “Despite my para-anchor being clearly undersized by manufacturer recommendations, it held us like a brick wall (in winds of 35 knots and 20-foot seas).”

Yawing and oscillation?

Neither are reported as problems in Shane’s Drag Device Data Base.

Commendable as Shewmon’s durability appears and as persuasive as his arguments may be against swivels, we don’t see how the Shewmon differences translate into improved sea anchor performance. Both systems are equally cranky and awkward to retrieve. Making a choice then shifts to the last variable—ease of deployment—for which the Para-Tech seems to have the edge.

Recommendation—Drogues The Jordan Series Drogue is in a class by itself. Much more of a sea anchor than a true drogue, it fixes a boat end-on to the wind and waves with a resilient efficiency that wins praise from all quarters. Your boat has to be designed and built to survive seas stern-on, however, before the JSD becomes a good option.

The Galerider and Delta are simple to use. They deploy without fuss, create high drag at relatively low loads, and pull with a firm steadiness that makes them ideal for steering control. Both rely on swivels. The recommended use of a length of chain to hold the Delta below the surface adds, we feel, unwanted complexity. Galerider’s open-flow design seems less-likely to become unbalanced than the tri-corner system seen in Delta. Galerider costs, however, nearly twice what Delta does.

The Shewmon Seamless Drogue offers the fascinating potential of controllable drag and incorporates the ingenuity of an egg-weighted lower side and a hole-vented upper lip to promote stability and “grip.” These elements make it more complex, however. Given the consistent and effective performance of its simpler competitors, it seems to us that the Shewmon drogue (made from a single piece of cloth and therefore seamless) may take more adjustment and getting used to than the others. But, at $79 (54″ model) it is only half the price of its nearest competitor. That might make it a worthwhile experiment.

Experience at sea has shown the GP-24 (and the solid state Seabrake from which it evolved) to be effective, but these Australian-made devices are hard to get in the US. The solid Attenborough Sea Drogue from the UK is cumbersome to stow. Also, sea trials indicate that deployment is not a simple matter.

Because drogues are more versatile, adjustable, and easier to use than sea anchors, any of the ones we examined might be useful. Because it combines value, function, and proven performance, our selection is the Delta drogue.

Contacts- Attenborough Sea Drogues, (Dr. Neil Attenborough), Fallowfield House, Puttenham, Guildford, Surrey GU3 1AH UK; (44) 1483-300366, fax (44) 1483-34496. Fiorentino Para Anchor, 1048 Irvine Ave. #489, Newport Beach, CA 92660; 800/777-0732; www.paraanchor.com. Galerider, Hathaway, Reiser & Raymond, 184 Sellect St., Stamford, CT 06902; 203/424-9581; www.hathaway.com. Jordan Series Drogue, Ace Sailmaker, Hellier’s Yacht Sales, 128 Howard St., New London, CT 06320; 860/443-5556; www.acesails.com. Para-Anchor International, (Victor Shane), PO Box 19, Summerland, CA 93067; 805/966-9782; fax 805/966-7510. Para-Tech Engineering, 2117 Horseshoe Trail, Silt, CO 81652; 970/876-0558; www.seaanchor.com. Seabrake International, (John Abernethy), RFD (Australia), 3/7 Kent Rd., Mascot, Sydney, NSW 2020, Australia; (61) 29-667-0480, fax (61) 29-693-1242. Shewmon, 1000 Harbor Lake Dr., Safety Harbor, FL 34695; 727/447-0091.

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

sailboat sailing at anchor

The Pros and Cons of Cockpit Foot Braces

The link to the Sea Anchors and Drogues Value Guide is broken. I would like to look at that guide. Can the link be fixed or the guide emailed to me? Thanks!

Thanks for the article. Very informing. I have a Fraser 36 . It has a high , possibly ” Clipper ” bow with a lot of reserve buoyancy. We have a rear cockpit and a traditional three board with a sliding main hatch . We tend to yawn quite a bit at anchor . The bow lifts very readily , maybe too readily, in steep choppy waves . I am wondering how these attributes would affect the choice between a drogue and a sea anchor . I would have gone with a drogue, if not for thought of sea breaking on our rear hatch .

The three washboard companionway problem can be solved by installing thick hinged Barn Doors on the outside of your washboards. Lockable from inside and out.

The Barn Doors provide increased impact resistance plus give you other (less fiddly) options when closing your companionway.

Barn Doors backed by your Washboards will keep you dry.

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Best Sailboat Anchors of 2024

Stopping to explore nearby reefs and grab a quick bite of lunch, sailors often take for granted the safety and security an anchor provides. But if you’ve ever had to ride out a storm—or dragged anchor at night—you’ll soon learn the importance in choosing the best sailboat anchor for your vessel.

To determine how strong your anchor needs to be, we must first understand the differences between old guards versus new generations. Choosing an anchor takes many factors into consideration, some of which tailor to personal sailing habits, your vessel’s size and even the body of water you frequently sail.

While encouraging you to challenge your seafaring skills, we at The Adventure Junkies want beginner sailors and liveaboards to find safe anchorage during rough seas. Below, you’ll find a breakdown of common anchor types and when to use them.

For more of our top sailing gear recommendations, check out the Best Sailboat Winches .

QUICK ANSWER – THE BEST SAILBOAT ANCHORS

  • Manson Supreme
  • Manson Boss
  • Rocna Original
  • LEWMAR Delta Fast-Set
  • LEWMAR Bruce-Style Claw
  • Danforth S-600

SAILBOAT ANCHOR REVIEWS

Check out the latest price on: Amazon

BEST FOR: Sailors who anchor in all seabed types

MATERIAL: Galvanized steel

BOW ROLLER: Yes

PROS: Self-righting roll bar, new generation anchor, sets in hard and grassy seabeds, lifetime warranty

CONS: Less affordable

MANSON SUPREME

BEST FOR: Larger sailboats who sail in all types of seabeds

PROS: Self-righting, new generation anchor, narrow shank with 2 slots for day use and anchor trip

CONS: Less affordable, comparable to Rocna

MANSON BOSS

BEST FOR: Sailors who want their vessel to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing

MATERIAL: High tensile galvanized and stainless steel

PROS: Self-launching curved fixed-shank, strong surface area to hold ratio, adjustable shackle for fixed eye and sliding shank for anchor trip

CONS: Narrow shank, no self-righting roll bar

ROCNA ORIGINAL

BEST FOR: Vessels that frequent strong winds and tide shifts

PROS: New generation, self-righting roll bar design, plow-style wide fluke, sharp chisel, fits most bow rollers

CONS: More expensive than fluke-styles

BEST FOR: Vessels under 40 foot that frequent strong winds and tide shifts

PROS: Corkscrew plow design that digs deep, holds strong in every seabed condition, ballasted tip

CONS: More expensive

BEST FOR: Vessels that sail in marshy areas with grassy sea bottoms

PROS: Good for bow rollers, pivoting hinge shank, quickly resets

CONS: pinches fingers, hard setting in rocky bottoms

LEWMAR DELTA FAST-SET

BEST FOR: Vessels that sail in sand and grass

MATERIAL: Galvanized manganese steel

PROS: Performs well in grass and sand, one piece construction, performs well on bow roller

CONS: Fixed shank underperforms in mud

Check out the latest price on: West Marine

BEST FOR: Sailors who need a fast-setting anchor in mud or sandy seabeds

MATERIAL: Aluminum

PROS: Similar to Danforth, lightweight, easily stored, good hold to weight ratio, fast-setting

CONS: Does not perform well in rocky and grassy seabeds

LEWMAR BRUCE-STYLE CLAW

BEST FOR: Budget-conscious sailors with sailboats larger than 30 feet

MATERIAL: High tensile steel

PROS: No moving parts to break, lighter than plow, holds well to grass seabeds

CONS: Heavier than most anchors, low holding power, not easy to store, drags in storm conditions

DANFORTH S-600

BEST FOR: Smaller sailing vessels who sail in mud and sandy sea bottoms

BOW ROLLER: No

PROS: Good general anchor for smaller vessels, lightweight, easily stowable

CONS: Doesn’t reset well, not compatible for most bow rollers, pinches fingers

COMPARISON TABLE – THE BEST SAILBOAT ANCHORS

8 things to consider to find the best sailboat anchor, monohull vs. multihull vessel types.

A beginner sailor might question which anchor is better for their vessel’s hull type. But to be clear–when it comes to choosing an anchor for either monohulls or multihulls (like catamarans), the type of anchor you choose depends more on your vessel’s size and weight. Vessel types are rarely–if ever–a deciding factor.

LAKES VS. COASTAL WATERWAYS

Lakes and rivers do not require the same strength you would need for coastal waters and open seas. But take your sailboat on the Great Lakes, ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) or to brave a transatlantic journey, and you’ll need something more adequate. All anchors listed here are for coastal waterways, but may also be efficient for smaller bodies of water.

CHOOSING THE CORRECT ANCHOR WEIGHT FOR VESSEL LENGTH

To choose the correct anchor weight for your vessel, you need to know your vessel’s weight and length. Always verify the anchor manufacturer’s specifications and suggested vessel length, but know the numbers are typically inflated. I suggest to always bump up to the next size and sail with a heavier anchor than your vessel requires.

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

Anchors are forged from a variety of materials; some metals more modern than others. Keep in mind when you purchase that manufacturers may carry anchor styles in a variety of materials.

Aluminum anchors are lightweight by comparison, but come at a cost. Less affordable than steel anchors, they are also not as strong. But sailor prefer them because–when set correctly–they have high holding power.

GALVANIZED STEEL

Galvanized steel is a very strong and inexpensive metal. This material is perfect for sailors who don’t much care how shiny their anchor appears on the bow roller. But although galvanized metal is corrosive, it can wear over some time. Be sure to look for hot-dipped galvanized steel or plan for it to be re-galvanized.

STAINLESS STEEL

If you want your anchor to appear more aesthetically pleasing, stainless steel is the material of choice. Stainless steel is also more resistant to rust and corrosion, but keep in mind it scratches easily and can make anchors more costly.

HIGH TENSILE STEEL

With nearly 3 times the holding power strength as regular steel, making most anchors with high-tensile steel relatively stronger–as long as the anchor sets well.

MANGANESE STEEL

A newer material offered for anchors is manganese steel. Manganese combines the strength of mild steels with high-impact durability for setting repeatedly in rocky seabeds.

SEABED CONDITIONS

Beneath the water’s surface, you can encounter a variety of seabeds. This is one of the most important deciding factors in choosing a sailboat anchor. For liveaboards who find themselves sailing in a variety of seabeds, a plow style anchor or scoop is universal, whereas fluke anchors are perfect for flat sands and muddy bottoms.

ROCKS, REEFS AND CORAL

Rocky seabeds can secure anchors quite well, if not a little too well. Sometimes, sailors find themselves needing to dislodge anchors which become stuck. In these cases, it’s wise to use anchors with slotted shanks, making it easier to release trip lines.

MUD, SAND AND GRASS

Muddy bottoms and sandy seabeds require fluke-style anchors with wide surface areas. And because mud can disguise underlying sediments, it also helps if the anchor can penetrate. Fortress anchors are great for these seabed conditions.

Sandy seabeds grab anchors very well, but challenges arise during shifting tides. Hinged-shank fluke anchors allow pivoting and non-hinged scoop anchors rotate under the sand.

Grass tends to be slippery, making it difficult for certain anchor types to grasp. In these seabeds, heavier anchors outperform engineered designs.

WEATHER CONDITIONS

Even if you have a nightwatch partner, sudden storms overtake vessels and send them off course. If you want to set anchor without the worry, many new generation anchors have been tested in hurricanes and outperformed old guard anchors in extreme weather.

HOW WELL DOES IT SET?

If an anchor lacks a way to position itself, it may not set as optimally as intended. You want to assure the anchor is engineered to self-right itself into position when it falls on the seabed. Anchors can set by using a combination of factors from roll bars to tip ballasts to chiseled fluke styles.

The new generation anchors are designed with roll bars, reacting to flat seabeds by self-righting and rolling itself over. Originally engineered by Rocna , the design has been further adopted by more anchor manufacturers like Manson .

TIP BALLASTS

In place of roll bars, tip ballasts are simply weighted on one end. It will naturally tilt toward the tip ballasts edge, allowing the anchor to set when it’s dragged. Anchors can have both roll bars and tip ballasts.

DOES IT MOVE WITH CURRENT & TIDE CHANGES?

One challenging skill in dropping anchor is, in fact, getting it out again to reset. With some anchors, setting it on the first try is a matter of luck, especially when you’re unsure of your seabed condition. It’s important to be able to quickly reset, or you may find yourself strapping on a wet suit and goggles to retrieve it in frigid waters.

Sailors should always carry two anchor varieties. This way, after reading a sonar signatures to determine your depth and seabed conditions, you can choose which anchor will best hold as well as the scope needed to reach.

HINGED SHANKS

Hinged shank anchors are needed for sailing in waters where there are tidal changes. If the sailboat turns about, a hinged shank can pivot itself without having to be reset. But moving parts pinch so watch those fingers!

FIXED SHANKS

Fixed shank anchors are fine anchors if you aren’t worried about tidal changes and currents. You may also rely on fixed shanks in muddy seabeds if they are also scoop-styles.

For more of our top sailing gear recommendations, check out these popular buyer's guides:

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sailboat sailing at anchor

Mastering The Swell Bridle: One Of The Best Kept Secrets For A Rolly Anchorage

By: Shannon Sinnard Charter , Cruising Tips , Sailboat Rigs , Sailing Tips , Weather

As much as we sailors may work hard to take every precaution necessary to avoid it, the reality is that we, at one point or another, are all bound to experience it. “It” being the dreaded phenomenon of a “rolly” anchorage. While the most common suggestion you may get in this scenario is to pick a different anchorage, there may be times when you find yourself in a unique situation where this simple solution may not be so… well, simple.

Maybe weather and tide predictions were simply wrong, and now it’s too late to find a new anchorage. Maybe this anchorage is the only viable option while staying true to your course. Or maybe, despite warnings of its reputation for restless nights, the crew insists on staying longer at this anchorage for the opportunity to explore more, promising to remember “they’ve been warned” (words they will, most likely, regret later).

Even a seemingly serene anchorage can transform in a matter of hours – and countless seafarers have had to weather a restless night at anchor in rolly conditions.

Contents of this Article

What is a rolly anchorage .

  • What Causes A Rolly Anchorage  
  • What Is A Swell Bridle And How Can It Help
  • Steps To Employ A Swell Bridle

So, what is a “rolly” (pronounced “row-lee”) anchorage? Perhaps a term you may not have learned during your ASA course studies, it is one that you will immediately understand when experiencing its relentless persistence. It’s an experience that, when shared with other fellow sailors, most all can relate. And, despite perhaps employing a hint of humor when recounting their experience (having survived it), all will presumably agree that the atmosphere onboard at the time was much more somber; it was most likely a sleepless night spent eagerly awaiting the dawn and the opportunity to haul anchor and move on.

What Causes A Rolly Anchorage

Now, what causes a rolly anchorage? “Roll” occurs when a boat’s bow or stern is not aligned with the waves, causing it to “roll” side to side. In well-protected anchorages, a boat will typically face windward, taking waves head-on. However, in some cases, you may find yourself at an anchorage where certain elements (like swell wrapping around a point while the wind blows in the opposite direction) can cause your vessel to instead turn sideways to the waves or swell. The severity of the dreaded “roll” can depend on factors like wave height, wavelength, and wave frequency. In most instances, larger wave height combined with shorter wavelengths will result in greater roll. Additionally, should the timing of the waves happen to coincide with the boat’s roll period (the time it takes the boat to complete a full “roll”), you can probably expect an eventful night on board – one spent rolling back and forth in your berth desperately reaching for anything to cling onto to avoid unintentional collisions with your cabin mate, while dishes rattle noisily in cupboards and anything not securely stowed eventually reminding you of this fact. A night spent in this manner can be one of the most irritating experiences you will encounter on a sailboat and can lead to seasickness, anxiety, and a restless crew.

Thankfully, advanced technology and helpful apps like Navily can help us better predict what is in store for us at our chosen anchorages. However, we must always remain mindful that the whims of Mother Nature can defy even the most advanced forecasts.

sailboat sailing at anchor

Solution: A Swell Bridle

Oftentimes, it may be hard to gauge the severity of an anchorage’s susceptibility to this potential roll until you have already anchored. And sometimes, by then, it might be too late in the day to change location. Fortunately, understanding the cause of this “rolling” sensation can provide the ability to help mitigate it. One solution (the solution we will dig into here) is a “swell bridle.” Although it seems to have various names amongst the sailing community (“winch bridle,” “bridle rig,” etc.), the method remains consistent: tying a line to the anchor rode while also securing it to the boat’s stern. If done correctly, this technique can help alter the angle of a boat to better take the oncoming waves so that, in favorable scenarios, comfort levels on board are greatly improved.

How to Employ a Swell Bridle

First and foremost, before deploying a swell bridle, a few considerations should be made. It is important to note that in high wind scenarios (20 knots or more) this technique is not advised due to its tendency to add strain to the anchor, causing a high probability of drag. It is important to also ensure any neighboring boats are at a safe distance and that you will have ample room to swing. 

Okay, now we’re ready to break down the steps and techniques of employing your swell bridle!

sailboat sailing at anchor

Step 1 – Determine The Direction You Wish to Point

Determine the swell (or dominant swell) direction. This will help determine where you want to point the bow.

Step 2 – Gather The Necessary Materials

Find a line 20+ feet longer than your boat’s length. (e.g., a 30-foot boat will need at least 50 feet of line).

Step 3 – Fasten Your Line to Your Anchor

Chances are you have already dropped anchor so, firstly, you will want to pull up some of that chain – so that you now have about 2:1 to 3:1 still remaining in the water (don’t worry, you will letting out more rode in the steps to follow). Next, using a bowline knot, tie one end of your spare line to the end of the anchor chain that you have just pulled up (so that the chain and line combo will hit the water almost immediately when you let your chain back out in the next step). The bowline (sometimes referred to as the “King of Knots”) is preferable in this scenario not only for its ability to hold tight under heavy strain and load but also its capability to easily ‘shake loose’ once no longer under pressure. This will make hauling anchor, and removing this bridle, a stress-free experience when you decide to move on to your next destination.

sailboat sailing at anchor

Step 4 – Secure The Loose End of Your Line

Bring the loose end of your line astern, on the side you have determined will need to be facing windward, and secure it either to a back cleat or rear cockpit winch (if on a winch, only temporarily for making any necessary adjustments in the steps to come).

Step 5 – Prepare Yourself and Your Crew

If available, assign a crew member to tend to this aft line while you complete the next steps. Should you not have an available crewmember and cannot tend to the line while either operating the windlass or letting the anchor out by hand, be sure to leave some slack in the line (about 15-20 feet). Take care, however, not to leave too much! Remember, it is always easier to let more line out than it is to pull it back in.

Step 6 – Let Out Your Anchor Rode / Chain

Slowly let out rode while your crewmember coincidingly releases slack on the line from the stern (while also ensuring it remains taut on the winch or cleat). Soon, the boat should begin to turn as the wind pushes your bow over.

Step 7 – Adjust Your Vessel’s Heading

As your bow begins to change its heading, you should start to feel your boat move in a more comfortable ‘up and down’ motion (instead of ‘side to side’). Once facing more directly into the waves or swell, or once you have determined that you are at an angle to your liking, stop. (Remember – you can always adjust this angle later, either by letting more chain out or pulling some back in, if you would like to do so!) If utilizing a snubber, be sure to stop just shy of your ideal setting so that you may attach it before releasing the additional chain length needed to relieve the pressure on your windlass.

Step 8 – Lock It Off & Enjoy Your Peaceful Haven!

Once you are content with your new angle, lock off the line at the stern cleat. Congratulations! You will now, hopefully, enjoy a more restful night’s sleep so that you may awake refreshed and ready to conquer the next day’s adventures at sea!

sailboat sailing at anchor

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Better Sailing

Best Types of Sailboat Anchors

Best Types of Sailboat Anchors

When buying a sailboat anchor, you want to ensure the safety of your sailboat, when mooring or setting anchor at the middle of a bay. There are many types of sailboat anchors available in the market and not all of them are constructed of same materials. This article will analyze different types of boat anchors, how to choose the best anchor for your boat, as well as the different types of their construction materials. The right anchor means not just the right design for the type of seabed you’re anchoring on, but also the appropriate size for your sailboat.

Here Are The Most Common Types of Sailboat Anchors

The spade anchor – best sailboat anchor overall.

A new generation anchor, it comes in a welded one-part or two-part design that can be easily disassembled with a spanner. Also, this sailboat anchor has excellent holding power. It provides balance and always arrives on the seabed point down, something that enables it to set very quickly. This Rocna Vulcan Galvanized Anchor has amazing holding power and, talking from experience, will never disappoint at any seabed or weather condition. It is also becoming a favorite for people who liveaboard and are looking for strong dependable anchors to have on their sailboat. I couldn’t recommend this anchor more.

Best Sailboat Anchor

Danforth or Fluke

The Danforth, or Fluke anchor, is a very popular anchor. It performs well in sand and mud, possibly the best among many anchors styles. The disadvantage is that outside of these bottoms, it is not a good performer. Thus, it is a sand anchor, which is what most bottoms are comprised of. However, it is the best anchor style in terms of weight to strength or anchoring ratio. Furthermore, it’s easy to store because it lies flat. The angle of the flukes is standard for 32 degrees or up to 45 degrees for soft mud. All these are Danforth boat anchors . You just need to find the right size for your boat.

Delta & Plow, Wing, or CQR

This type of anchors is bulkier than Danforth anchors. Both Delta and CQR are a plow style anchor. The difference between these anchors is that the Delta is a one-piece design, while CQR is a hinged design. Moreover, the delta and plow anchors are easy to store at the bow of your sailboat rather than in a locker. Delta and CQR demonstrate good performance in most bottoms, but they struggle in rock. This Lewmar Delta is a great sailing anchor that you can pick up from Amazon at a great price.

Bruce or Claw

The Bruce or Claw anchor rights itself and plows into the bottom, primarily because of its design. The Bruce is an all-purpose anchor because it performs well in most sea bottoms. These could be sand, mud, and rock. Its three-claw design sets more easily than other anchors. However, the Bruce anchor has an average holding power, which means that you might need a larger anchor, i.e. the Delta or Wing. Take a look at all these Bruce anchors available online and pick one that is the right size for your boat.

Fisherman, Kedge, or Herreshoff

It’s probably the best of all, in terms of holding in thick kelp or rock, but also more specialized. They are the traditional anchor shape that we all know. Modern kedge-style anchors are lighter and can adapt to specialized use. Furthermore, their sharp bills and small flukes hold better in hard sand. Kedge anchors are often used in heavy vegetation seabeds . However, I wouldn’t recommend this type of anchor to have on your sailboat since there are better and more versatile ones out there.

This type of anchor is similar to other plow anchor styles. The difference is that it has an adjustable fluke angle. Adjustable angles mean that they can be adjusted for different bottom conditions, unlike the Plow and Delta anchors. Although Super Max is a bulky anchor, it’s really effective.

Mushroom and River Anchor

These anchors are suitable for permanent mooring buoys. This style is designed to gradually dig itself deeper and once inserted, it has great holding ability. On the downside, this anchor does not work well in weedy or rocky bottoms. It is mostly useful in temporary anchoring situations. Although this type of anchor can be handy on your boat or sailboat it shouldn’t be the only one or even the second anchor aboard.

The Bugel Anchor

Another new generation of sailboat anchors, and also the first to sport the rollover bar. Furthermore, it has a simple design that makes it affordable. The Bugel Anchor provides excellent performance in most seabed conditions. However, they were widely replaced by spade anchors and you can’t really find them in most marine stores or online.

Best Sailboat Anchors

Best Material Types For Sailboat Anchors

There is a wide variety of anchors constructing materials. The most common are mild steel, stainless steel, high-tensile steel, and aluminum. Most of the traditional anchors we know are either made of mild or high-tensile steel. The difference between them is that high-tensile steel is 2 or 3 times stronger than mild steel. Keep in mind that these anchors are not corrosion-resistant, thus they have to be galvanized in order to prevent rust. In general, steel anchors (except stainless) should be galvanized. Most sailors choose a galvanized anchor because they are affordable, but also because they have the highest tensile strength. Nowadays, some anchors are made of aluminum and rely on their shape for their function.

Related Content: Stainless vs Galvanized Anchor

Connection Between Sailboats and Anchor Size

So, what’s the minimum size of sailboat anchor for a vessel of a particular length? For example, a 20ft sailboat will need an anchor of 15lb. Then, a 30ft sailboat will need an anchor of 25lb. Finally, a 36ft sailboat will need an anchor that weighs 35lb. Generally, anchors work in two ways. They can be massive and use their weight to keep the boat from drifting, or lightweight and bury themselves in the bottom, in order to stop the boat from moving. Of course, a combination of both is optimal and as a general rule, you want a bigger anchor that you think you need. That way, even if you find yourself in heavier weather than expected, you want one less thing to worry about.

What Characteristics Make a Good Anchor?

Firstly, it must dig in fast every time. Secondly, it has to bury deep, because of the greater the mass of seabed above and ahead of the anchor, the better the holding power. Thirdly, it must have excellent holding power. Finally, it must hold in the different wind conditions. For instance, when the wind shifts, the anchors have to drag around in order to face the new direction. Prefer the anchors that remain buried while dragging, rather than capsizing and pulling out. Moreover, the static holding power can’t be more than 20 times the anchor’s weight. For example, if you use a 15kg anchor, its static hold will be approximately 300kgf. In a 40 knot wind and for a 33ft yacht, this is probably the force that the anchor will receive.

Summary – What is the Best Sailboat Anchor?

In general, all of the above-mentioned anchors meet the four basic performance criteria. However, some of them demonstrate better performance in terms of holding power in certain types of seabed. For example, the Danforth is quite good in any sand, but there’s still a risk of it rolling and pulling out as the currents turn. On the other hand, Fisherman performs excellently in rock or kelp. However, nowadays the design of the new generation anchors provides much better-holding power and are generally more reliable in their movement.

Peter

Peter is the editor of Better Sailing. He has sailed for countless hours and has maintained his own boats and sailboats for years. After years of trial and error, he decided to start this website to share the knowledge.

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Living small

She Wanted an R.V. He Wanted a Sailboat. This Was Their Compromise.

Instead of rolling down roads, their motorboat floats down rivers — and it’s as cozy as a woodland cabin. Think of it as a floating R.V.

A Motorboat as Cozy as a Woodland Cabin

View Slide Show ›

sailboat sailing at anchor

By Tim McKeough

Victoria Sass, an interior designer in Minneapolis, had long dreamed of owning an R.V. so she and her family could hit the open road with their living quarters attached.

“I grew up in Santa Cruz, California, with a Volkswagen van,” said Ms. Sass, 40, who had fond memories of traveling with her family in their mobile vacation home. She wanted her husband, Torben Rytt, and their three children, Duncan, 3, Irene, 8, and Walter, 13, to enjoy the same experience.

Mr. Rytt, who grew up outside Copenhagen, had other ideas: He wanted a sailboat.

“I’m from a boating family,” said Mr. Rytt, 45, a consultant for Nordic technology companies. “My parents met at a boat show, and we’ve owned boats since I was an infant. Every summer, we’d go sailing for five or six weeks.”

Mr. Rytt had no interest in an R.V.; Ms. Sass had no interest in a sailboat.

The blue-and-white motorboat on a river, with a forested hillside beginning to turn autumn colors behind it.

So Mr. Rytt offered a compromise: What if they bought a motorboat with a large cabin that held a kitchen, bathroom and sleeping quarters?

Think of it as an R.V. that just happens to float down rivers, he suggested, instead of rolling along roads.

Ms. Sass, who runs the design firm Prospect Refuge Studio , liked the idea, as long as she could customize the interior to make it as cozy as a woodland cabin.

It didn’t take long for Mr. Rytt to find their project boat: a 44-foot-long vessel from 1983 in nearby Red Wing, Minn., with a tiny kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and bunk room that needed some maintenance and love.

They bought it for $100,000 at the end of 2020 and moved it to their planned docking spot on the St. Croix River. The following spring, Mr. Rytt began taking lessons to learn how to pilot the boat, and they began their work to transform it.

They had the exterior of the boat repainted, changing it from maroon to sky-blue and white. They replaced the worn black awnings with new blue ones. Below deck, they tore out the grungy carpet, and Mr. Rytt spent an entire summer installing a new teak parquet floor. (There was existing teak wall paneling and cabinetry that they liked, so they cleaned and oiled the wood to refresh it.)

The more they worked, the more they realized that in such a compact space there was a reason for everything.

“Every picture and mirror on the wall was actually an access panel to something mechanical,” Ms. Sass said. “So if you replace something, it has to be replaced with something of the exact same size, which can be frustrating. It’s like every piece of trim is interconnected. Even the wallpaper is integral to the boat.”

Nevertheless, she was adamant about replacing the art on the walls. She was more flexible in the bathroom, where she kept the existing wallcovering, but recruited Kelsi Sharp, a graphic designer and sign painter, to give it tidy maroon-and-blue stripes.

For the kitchen, she worked with Kristen Falkirk to produce handmade black and mint-green ceramic tiles to resurface the counter and backsplash, giving the space a little wabi-sabi appeal.

For lighting, Ms. Sass mixed Danish nautical lights with a few designer favorites, including Rotonde X ceiling lamps with fabric shades from Roman and Williams Guild, which she mounted in the living room.

To furnish the boat, she mixed upscale pieces with budget finds, blasting everything with color and pattern. In the living room, she covered an Ikea sectional sleeper sofa with blankets from OddBird, piling on patterned pillows from Caravane, Goodee and St. Frank. For the floor, she bought a cushy wool rug from Beni Rugs.

“It’s super shaggy, which is totally impractical for a boat,” she said. “But I just think it’s fun.”

Because they were limited to working on the boat only in warmer months, it took three years to complete the overhaul, at a cost of about $250,000. They rechristened their vessel Freya, a play on the name of the Norse goddess Freyja that they hope is easier for non-Scandinavians to pronounce.

Now they use the boat not only on weekends, but also for multiweek voyages on the Mississippi River, traveling between river towns. It’s not quite the same as seeing sights from an R.V., but the whole family has fallen in love with life on the water. “Some days we just anchor out in the river, to get away from it all,” Ms. Sass said.

She no longer yearns for an R.V., and Mr. Rytt has abandoned all thoughts of a sailboat.

“The funny thing is that I actually prefer this over a sailboat,” he said. “It’s one of those things I don’t think I can ever get enough of. I could spend an infinite amount of time on this boat.”

Living Small is a biweekly column exploring what it takes to lead a simpler, more sustainable or more compact life.

For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here .

The State of Real Estate

Whether you’re renting, buying or selling, here’s a look at real estate trends..

Charter schools are popping up in struggling malls  as landlords look for alternative tenants and communities seek to increase educational opportunities.

As housing costs soar, Washington State wants to limit annual rent increases to 7%. The move is part of a wider trend to impose statewide rent caps .

Developers across the United States are transforming clusters of old homes into micro restaurants  to cater to the needs of surrounding neighborhoods.

Smaller houses in subdivisions and exurbs are turning into a popular option  for people hoping to hold on to ownership in an increasingly expensive U.S. housing market.

Frequent natural disasters and high inflation have led home insurers to raise their premiums. That is forcing many customers to pare back their policies .

Black people make up about 14% of the American population. Some of them, wondering what it would be like to be part of a majority, are finding new homes in Africa .

sailboat sailing at anchor

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A record on the high seas: Cole Brauer to be first US woman to sail solo around the world

sailboat sailing at anchor

In a sea of male competitors, Cole Brauer is the only woman in an around-the-world solo sailing competition that's quickly coming to a close. Later this week, the 29-year-old from Long Island, New York, is expected to cross the finish line in waters off the coast of Spain.

At that point, she'll become the first American woman to sail solo nonstop around the world.

Friends, peers and sailing enthusiasts have been cheering Brauer on since last October, when she embarked on her more than four-month journey. Her boat First Light, a special model of racing sailboat called a Class40, is expected to return to the race's starting point of A Coruña, Spain, on Thursday, according to organizers of the Global Solo Challenge.

Brauer said she anticipates arriving in Spain late Wednesday night or early Thursday.

"For the next two days or so it's a completely moving target," Brauer said in a video posted to her Instagram on Monday in the evening, her time.

The latest official race update on Brauer said she was off the west coast of the Azores on Saturday.

"Long anticipated Cole Brauer has been able to avoid the light winds of the Azores high and slingshot east," race organizer Marco Nannini wrote online, adding, "She’s now sailing on course at constant speeds above 10 knots average."

Nannini told USA TODAY he wanted to organize the Global Solo Challenge to "create a platform for sailors like Cole to showcase her skills and move on to a pro sailor career."

Over the past several months, Brauer has been keeping her more than 400,000 Instagram followers updated − and entertained − with videos from onboard First Light. The trip has been extremely challenging and physically exhausting, Brauer said in one video from December.

In the post, she describes how frustrated she felt when she had to fix and replace different parts of the boat.

"I don't want you guys to think I'm like Superwoman or something," Brauer said. "Right now I've been feeling just broken," she added, describing how she had to fix the boat's autopilot system after injuring her torso against the side of the boat's hull amid intense waves.

Who is Cole Brauer?

Brauer is from Long Island and competed for the University of Hawaii sailing team. She went to high school in East Hampton, New York, her university team website says. She is the youngest of more than a dozen sailors, or skippers, in the Global Solo Challenge.

The professional sailor lives in Boothbay, Maine, and during the spring and summer, she can be also found in Newport, Rhode Island, gearing up for races, the Newport Daily News reported last year .

Brauer has sailed on First Light, a 40-foot yacht, for over five years, the outlet reported.

"I always said I wanted to race around the world in this boat," she told the newspaper.

From above and below First Light's deck, Brauer has been sharing aspects of her journey with followers and die-hard sailing fans.

On New Year's Eve, she donned a dress and danced at midnight , and in another post, she showed off how many pull-ups she can do.

As the only woman racing solo, nonstop around the world in the first Global Solo Challenge, Brauer said she's determined to prove there's nothing women and girls cannot accomplish.

"I push so much harder when someone's like, 'No, you can't do that,'" Brauer told NBC Nightly News . "And I'm like, 'OK, watch me.'"

On her profile page on the Global Solo Challenge website, Brauer says she wants to send a message to the sailing community that it's time to leave its male-dominated culture in the past. In the profile, Brauer takes aim at a lack of equal pay and what she describes as harassment in the sailing industry.

"Just as well as this community has built me up it has broken me and my fellow female teammates down. I am doing this race for them," Brauer said.

Brauer and her spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

How long has Cole Brauer been at sea?

Brauer has been sailing for over four months after departing on Oct. 29.

She is expected to finish in second place in the race, behind a sailor who departed about a month before she did.

The start times differed because that first place boat, Phillipe Delamare's Mowgli, is much slower, Nannini said, explaining the race's staggered start times.

"The format means that if you enter on a slow, small boat you can still win, which makes it much more inclusive than an event where a bigger budget is a definite advantage," he said.

France's Delamare will win first-place prize money of 7,500 euros (about $8,140), and the second and third-place finishers will win 5,000 euros (about $5,430) and 2,500 euros (about $2,710) respectively, Nannini said.

How dangerous is Cole Brauer's sailing race?

A medical team including a nurse and a physician trained Brauer and sent her on her journey with medicines and medical supplies, in case of any health issues, according to her Instagram account.

Early in the race, Brauer administered her own IV with a saline solution after she became dehydrated, according to one video posted to her social media.

Brauer's most serious health scare happened in early December when she said gnarly ocean conditions caused the boat to jolt, throwing her across the inside of the boat and slamming her hard against a wall.

Her ribs were badly bruised as a result, and her medical team told her to alternate between taking Advil and Tylenol, Brauer said on Instagram.

"Rigging up a sleeping seat belt has been added to my priority list," she said in the post's caption. "I know I'm very lucky that this wasn't a lot worse."

What is the Global Solo Challenge?

The inaugural Global Solo Challenge is a nonstop sailing race in which competitors departed last year from A Coruña, Spain.

The race encompasses nearly 30,000 miles and takes place mostly in the southern hemisphere.

After leaving waters off the coast of Spain, sailors travel south and around Africa's Cape of Good Hope. The race then includes the two other capes that together make up the famous three great capes: Australia's Cape Leeuwin and South America's Cape Horn.

About half of the other competitors dropped out of the race, according to racing data posted online by the Global Solo Challenge.

Delamare finished the race late last month after embarking on his journey in late September 2023, according to race data.

Erie Times-News

2024 Erie Boat show drops anchor at Bayfront Convention Center this weekend

Fishermen and boat enthusiasts are gearing up for the 2024 Erie Boat Show at the Bayfront Convention Center at 1 Sassafras St.

According to Mark Concilla, president of Erie Promotions, this is the first boat show that has been in Erie for a while, and the first boat show at the convention center.

“The Bayfront Convention Center is the perfect location for the boat show of course because it’s right on the water,” Concilla said. “We’re calling it the all-new boat and fishing show.”

The show will include six regional boat dealers who will be showcasing a variety of vessels from pontoon boats to fishing boats to pleasure crafts and watercrafts.

Boyer RV will also be showcasing a new brand of electric bikes and golf carts.

The boat show will showcase a variety of fishing industry vendors who will be selling fishing gear and tackle.

Guest speakers to share their expertise

Five guest speakers will present seminars, including Captain Jim Steel from Innovative Outdoors, professional tour angler Dylan Nussbaum, Lime Lake Marine Ashton Laird and Captain Daryl Wiese from Stress Reelief Sportfishing.

The presentations will cover a variety of topics from trolling for walleye to choosing a boat for your fishing style.

"The seminars are ongoing all weekend and they’re high quality seminars to help teach people Lake Erie fishing for walleye, perch, steelhead and more," Concilla said.

Captain Pete Alex of Vision Quest Charter Fishing will be hosting two seminars tackling Lake Ontario and Lake Erie fishing.

“The Lake Erie seminar, it’s going to be about how I catch fish day in and day out in the early summer to early fall period for walleyes,” Alex said. “That’s going to be from primarily 60 feet of water all the way out to the Canadian line in (the) deep water summer program and all the tactics we use.”

Saturday is Pirate Day at the boat show. Kids who attend will have the opportunity to hang out with the pirates from Scallywags Pirate Adventures.

Sunday at the show is also Teacher Appreciation Day sponsored by First Student. All educators who attend the show receive free admission.

Braving the bay: What it's like being part of the Scallywags Pirate Adventures crew

Where can I learn more about the Erie Boat Show?

Learn more about the Erie Boat Show on their website at https://bit.ly/3SZEqfz .

Contact Nicholas Sorensen at [email protected] .

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: 2024 Erie Boat show drops anchor at Bayfront Convention Center this weekend

Attending an Erie concert or game? Better bring your plastic or smartphone

IMAGES

  1. Sailboat at Anchor stock image. Image of calm, sail

    sailboat sailing at anchor

  2. HOW TO ANCHOR A SAILBOAT

    sailboat sailing at anchor

  3. Luxury sailing yacht Swan 105 at anchor Credit: Nautor's Swan 2012

    sailboat sailing at anchor

  4. Just our sailboat at anchor : r/sailing

    sailboat sailing at anchor

  5. How to anchor a sailboat

    sailboat sailing at anchor

  6. How to Anchor a Sailboat

    sailboat sailing at anchor

COMMENTS

  1. Boat Anchoring Techniques Explained (Illustrated Guide)

    Start by making your initial drop on that patch of clear sand and let up from one third to one half your expected rode out. Then tie a fender to the chain with a stout line and let out another 1/3 of the remaining rode. Tie on another fender, and let out another 1/3 of the remaining rode.

  2. How to Anchor a Sailboat

    The goal is to get the anchor to pull at 15° to 20°. Once sufficient chain has been let out, secure the anchor chain on deck. Now we have to wait for the anchor to dig in and take its initial set. Once you have the initial set, begin slowly moving astern until the anchor chain straightens out.

  3. 7 Best Sailboat Anchors

    For example, anchoring a 24-feet sailing boat on a muddy bottom will not be the same when using the same anchor when anchoring a 49-feet sailboat on a rocky bottom. More importantly, choosing the best sailboat is all about finding the right balance in terms of the size of your boat, the type of the bottom where you're sailing at, the climate ...

  4. How to Anchor a Boat: 7 Critical Steps (Lake, River, Sea)

    Total depth for scope calculation: 24 feet. So setting your scope at 7:1, you will need to let out 154 feet (24 x 7). For all chain, you can use 5:1 which is 120 feet (24 x 5). Anchoring in Lakes and Rivers: if you are anchoring some place without tides, you can skip the tide swing estimation.

  5. How To Sail: Anchoring How To

    New to sailing? We created this comprehensive basic sailing video series just for you! We know how difficult it is to find solid answers to your questions re...

  6. How To: Basic Anchoring and Anchoring Etiquette

    Approach your chosen spot for anchoring by bringing the boat to a stop, head to wind. With the boat stopped, lower the anchor and pay out the rode as the boat blows downwind. When enough rode has been let out, make the rode fast. The anchor will take hold and the boat will lie head to the wind or current. The anchor is set.

  7. 12 Best Sailboat Anchors for Any Sailor

    1. Rocna Vulcan Galvanized Anchor. One of the best sailboat anchors out there today based on being the best-selling anchor for yachts and workboats goes to the Rocna Vulcan Galvanized Anchor. As one of the pioneering brands for sailboat anchors, the Rocna Vulcan was able to transform from the original Rocna anchor to the most dependable, best ...

  8. How to anchor under sail

    With the main hoisted, the bowman uses the windlass to heave up to the hook and breaks out the anchor. Weighing anchor with a windlass - wind with tide or no tide. Hoist the mainsail and have the headsail ready to go. Heave up towards the hook until the cable is 'up and down' - the old term for 'ready to break out'.

  9. How to Build Your Anchoring System

    Crucially, make sure it fits on your bow roller. Modern anchors typically fall into two camps—those with roll bars and those without. We've used a 33-kg Rocna on our Swan 48 Isbjorn (displacement 36,000 pounds) to great success since 2015, including two summers in Spitsbergen, one of the more challenging anchoring grounds in the world. The Rocna is a roll-bar style anchor and fits snugly ...

  10. How To Anchor A Sailboat In 11 Simple Steps

    Locate the spot you want to anchor, preferably a sandy patch. Navigate to your place and set the boat up against the wind. Aim at your spot and drop the anchor at the bullseye. Pay out your scope of chain and rig up your snubber or bridle. Tension up the chain and set the anchor. Test your ground tackle's holding.

  11. HOW TO ANCHOR A SAILBOAT

    SIX STEPS TO SUCCESSFUL ANCHORING. How to anchor? What anchor should I choose? Is there a best anchor? In "How to anchor a sailboat" we take you through the ...

  12. How To Anchor A Sailboat

    Kevin Wensley, Director of Operations of the Offshore Sailing School,demonstrates how to properly anchor a sailboat.To view over 15,000 other how-to,DIY, and...

  13. How to Anchor a Sailboat

    When you have about 3 times as much anchor rode out as the water depth (a scope of 3 to 1), temporarily cleat or cinch the anchor rode at the bow and let it pull tight. Keep a hand on the rode to feel the tension. The boat should stop and the rode feel very tight, indicating the anchor has set.

  14. Rest Easy with a Riding Sail

    Delta sail (with a SEA Anchor) Paratech Engineering developed the Delta riding Sail to help monohull sailboats to ride more quietly to a sea anchor. In addition to the windage/foil imbalance that causes a boat to sail at anchor, boats riding to a sea anchor are moving backwards at about 0.5-1 knot.

  15. Selecting the Right Anchor Size

    Much to our surprise, the weight recommendations for the new designs, Rocna, Excel, Supreme, etc. are very similar to the weight recommendation for the older, traditional models, CQR, Delta, Bruce etc. In both cases, the recommendation for a 35-foot yacht is approximately a 30-pound anchor. The exceptions are aluminum anchors from Fortress and ...

  16. 18 Most Popular Sailboat Anchor Types

    Bruce Anchor. Another popular anchor developed in the UK, the Bruce or Claw anchor was developed in the 1970s and has a reputation of being a good type of sailboat anchor in many settings. This type of anchor doesn't have any movable parts and has an effective way of realigning itself with changes in the wind and tide.

  17. How To Choose & Restore An Anchor

    That being said, there are several factors to consider when choosing an appropriate anchor for your boat. Remember; anchoring your boat is more than just dropping it in the water. After all, anchors are not created equal. All in all, here are the common features to look for when buying an anchor. ‍ An anchor should have good holding power

  18. How To Anchor a Boat with Two Anchors (Easily & Properly)

    To set the second anchor, motor back up and over to the drop spot. It should be on a line with the first anchor perpendicular to the expected wind or current. Drop the second anchor, then drop back and set it. Then drop all the way back until both anchors are taking some of the boat's weight.

  19. The 5 Best Sailboat Anchors

    The best sailboat anchor for small sailboats is the Fortress FX-11 anchor manufactured by the brand Fortress Marine Anchors in Florida, America and sold worldwide. This fluke anchor is the best for small boats because its lightweight aluminum material is capable of holding a sailboat up to 32ft without the anchor being extra heavy.

  20. An Introduction To Sea Anchor Use

    The parachute sea anchor, also referred to as a para sea anchor or para-anchor, is a specially designed water parachute attached to an anchor rope deployed from the bow of a vessel. A parachute sea anchor is usually made from high-strength nylon or Dacron, and a typical para-anchor setup consists of the following: Durable 8-ounce nylon or ...

  21. Sea Anchors & Drogues

    The main reason sea anchors and drogues get confused is that, until relatively recently, they were basically the same thing. What John Claus Voss (author of the turn-of-the century classic Venturesome Voyages) and even Adlard Coles in his Heavy Weather Sailing called "sea anchors" were small conical devices much like present-day drogues.

  22. Top 10 Best Sailboat Anchors of 2024 • The Adventure Junkies

    MANSON SUPREME. Check out the latest price on: Amazon. BEST FOR: Larger sailboats who sail in all types of seabeds. MATERIAL: Galvanized steel. BOW ROLLER: Yes. PROS: Self-righting, new generation anchor, narrow shank with 2 slots for day use and anchor trip. CONS: Less affordable, comparable to Rocna.

  23. Mastering The Swell Bridle: One Of The Best Kept Secrets For A Rolly

    Learn ten ways to get more sailing experience — from sailing classes, crewing on other boats, joining sailing clubs, buying a boat, and more. Experiencing Greece on an American Sailing Flotilla Greece's Ionian islands offer a tapestry of landscapes, cultures, and experiences that enrich your soul and rejuvenate your spirit. From the vibrant ...

  24. Best Types of Sailboat Anchors

    Both Delta and CQR are a plow style anchor. The difference between these anchors is that the Delta is a one-piece design, while CQR is a hinged design. Moreover, the delta and plow anchors are easy to store at the bow of your sailboat rather than in a locker. Delta and CQR demonstrate good performance in most bottoms, but they struggle in rock.

  25. She Wanted an R.V. He Wanted a Sailboat. This Was Their Compromise

    Victoria Sass dreamed of buying an R.V., but her husband, Torben Rytt, wanted a sailboat. They compromised on a 44-foot-long motorboat with living quarters.

  26. Amazon.com: Boat Anchors

    River Anchor 8lb Boat Anchor Mushroom Anchor 8 lb River Anchors for Boats Coated Anchor Marine Grade Pontoon or River Boats, Row Boat, Kayak, Jon Boat 8, 10 or 15 Foot Boat Anchors 12, 20 or 30 Pound ... Boating & Sailing; Boating Equipment; Boat Docking & Anchoring Products; Boat Anchors; Customer Reviews. 4 Stars & Up & Up; 3 Stars & Up & Up ...

  27. Cole Brauer poised to become the first US woman to sail solo around globe

    In a sea of male competitors, Cole Brauer is the only woman in an around-the-world solo sailing competition that's quickly coming to a close. Later this week, the 29-year-old from Long Island is ...

  28. 2024 Erie Boat show drops anchor at Bayfront Convention Center ...

    Fishermen and boat enthusiasts are gearing up for the 2024 Erie Boat Show at the Bayfront Convention Center at 1 Sassafras St. According to Mark Concilla, president of Erie Promotions, this is the ...