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Anchoring - tips and tricks?


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We have a Rocna 20kg and a Manson Supreme 35lb. (also an FX37) The Supreme has been mostly used in Coral sands where it would dig in very fast and quickly and seemed to do well in veering conditions. It did not handle debris in coral sand well.

 We wanted a heavier weight anchor and all that was available in Tahiti was the Rocna, we have found this anchor to do very poorly when reversed in soft mud, otherwise it has done reasonably well in sandy/silt, sandy/mud, and medium  mud. We do occasionally need to reset the Rocna when backing down on it and it fails our reverse thrust (we always take allot of time to slowly set the anchor and progressively increase reverse throttle). We have 70 meters of 5/16 G4 chain and another 30 meters of rode and use a 5-1 scope whenever possible in 6 meter depths (less scope in deep and more scope in shallower) In 35+kn of wind we always increase scope  or re-anchor if the increase in scope is not possible. We recently used the Rocna in "The Nook" in Whangarei and it drug on us in moderate winds gusting up to only 25kn after being carefully set and with only chop. It came up without any fouling or mud and we re-anchored.  On the flip side... We were anchored a few weeks ago in the Able Tasman (at "The Anchorage") and we had a fellow in a heavy 11 meter mono drag down on us and snag our chain, where upon his plough anchor zip-lines down our chain (his boat narrowly missing us) and wound up hanging on our anchor as I was backing the boat at 3/4 throttle to use the prop walk to swing us clear of him (we have a 3-blade MaxProp which has about 27lbs of side thrust at 1/2 RPM so it really can move the boat sideways) >>> Hence we had two boats and ours in 3/4 reverse and the Rocna held on without budging.

The Fortress anchor is great for rowing out in the dingy as a second stern anchor or for Bahamian Mooring and for soft mud,  I've had a shank bend on the FX anchors and have owned four of them.

 

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On 28/04/2021 at 8:34 PM, aardvarkash10 said:

Over the weekend we were at Rotoroa (Cable Bay) and Ponui (Chamberlain Bay) in a rising, blustery, shifting wind.

Both locations we set the anchor as normal but it ultimately dragged - both times while we were off the yacht!  

We set by dropping the anchor, running back so we have between a 5:1 and 7:1 warp and chain length to depth.  Anchor is a 35lb plough on 15m of chain.

 

I dragged 9 times after a solo race in Chamberlain Bay and it was not fun, I think there must be a pretty solid bottom there and if the anchor tip doesn't dig in you're toast. At the time I was given an extra length of chain and a 10kg lump of lead, and I still managed to keep dragging. I ended up rafting up to the committee boat for the night. Went straight to CRA and bought an Excel and haven't had an issue since. Even managed fine when we saw 42 knots come through during the Mahurangi week-end we were anchored in the gap at Moturekareka. On another occasion and like the test video link above when the wind switched 90 degrees over summer, we probably dragged less than a meter before it set again (20 knots across the deck). He does say it's not number one in sand, but still performs remarkably well.

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Chamberlains Bay has about a m of broken beer bottles on the bottom so other than being very protected bay from most angles its not great for holding unless you break through that and get a hold of the bottom.  A legacy left for us by decades of commercial and pleasure boats just hiffing their bottles over the side.

More the merrier when it comes to chain.

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Excel, you wont regret it.  Modern anchors are way better at setting and reversing direction.  The Anchor geekdom link is worth watching, he has some summaries on You Tube.  When you back up an an Excel and it bites, you stop!!

KM has them.

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I have an excel.

Only time I've had it not bite immediately is ocean side of motuihe. I suspect there is exposed rock shelf in close in some places. Anchor wouldn't bite so we picked up and moved out a couple of lengths. Another boat dropped in the same spot 1/2 hour later and had exactly the same result.

Some locations just have dodgy holding in some places - loose stones, smooth rock shelves, deep soupy mud....

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3 hours ago, whitepointer said:

Anchor wouldn’t set in chamberlains bay one time, retrieved it to try again, found the point embedded in half a beer bottle ha ha,

Yep had that in North Harbour and a towel in te kouma.best holding was in man o war bay.oicked up a bloody cable 

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If anyone is considering buying a new Anchor, this is a good point to suggest considering a design like the Excel. And it's not because I am biased. There is a very good environmental reason. The Excel came about due to restrictions imposed in Austrailia. Because they have large areas of Sea grass and other rather sensitive seafloors, they are now restricting the tye of anchor one can use to just the plough type designs. The designs like Sarca, Spade, Rocna etc cannot be used in many areas. There is murmor that this could become a thing in the future for areas of NZ like the Sounds etc. The designs like the Sarca cause too much damage when they are lifted from the bottom. The plough designs cause the least amount of damage. So Anchor Right went about redesigning the plough style and came out with a top notch performer.
 

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1 hour ago, wheels said:

If anyone is considering buying a new Anchor, this is a good point to suggest considering a design like the Excel. And it's not because I am biased. There is a very good environmental reason. The Excel came about due to restrictions imposed in Austrailia. Because they have large areas of Sea grass and other rather sensitive seafloors, they are now restricting the tye of anchor one can use to just the plough type designs. The designs like Sarca, Spade, Rocna etc cannot be used in many areas. There is murmor that this could become a thing in the future for areas of NZ like the Sounds etc. The designs like the Sarca cause too much damage when they are lifted from the bottom. The plough designs cause the least amount of damage. So Anchor Right went about redesigning the plough style and came out with a top notch performer.
 

In what Australian anchorages is the Rocna forbidden? 

 

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3 hours ago, wheels said:

If anyone is considering buying a new Anchor, this is a good point to suggest considering a design like the Excel. And it's not because I am biased. There is a very good environmental reason. The Excel came about due to restrictions imposed in Austrailia. Because they have large areas of Sea grass and other rather sensitive seafloors, they are now restricting the tye of anchor one can use to just the plough type designs. The designs like Sarca, Spade, Rocna etc cannot be used in many areas. There is murmor that this could become a thing in the future for areas of NZ like the Sounds etc. The designs like the Sarca cause too much damage when they are lifted from the bottom. The plough designs cause the least amount of damage. So Anchor Right went about redesigning the plough style and came out with a top notch performer.
 

Wheels, this claim sounds suss. Nothing show's up on web search, not even on Rex's own site.

There are seagrass bays in Australia where there are outright anchoring bans but no evidence that anchoring is restricted to certain types of anchors.

There is a move in Australia to switch to seagrass "friendly" moorings, mostly based upon a screw pile eg

https://www.seagrassmooring.com.au/mooring-systems

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When I was involved with CRA, this was very much a discussion taking place in OZ and NZ (within the circles of those involved in making such decisions) and was one of the main reasons behind the Excel. Upon having a quick google, I see the types of moorings and restrictions to anchoring have been emloyed in Oz. I guess the discussion went no further re the types of anchors being restricted, which is a shame. Although I note that there is a lot of "suggestion" made, or outright ban and use of mooring only. Also the suggestion of the chain causing most of the damage, so maybe the restriction of anchor type became too hard. Very similar scenarios have taken place in the Med and around the UK as well.
Here in Marlborough, all moorings will eventually be upgraded to the screw design and a "bungee" type connection between boat and screw so as no ground chain drags around the bottom. There was also discussion at one time about anchoring, covering everthing from anchor design type to outright ban, but it all fell into the too hard basket for now. Mainly due to the fact that there are those opposing any more moorings to be introduced and the fact that there are far too many boats to go on existing ones. Port Marlborough actually want to reduce mooring numbers and force people to Berth in the Marina. The only moorings that will be allowed in the future are for those that own property. Of course the other issue is that the company that makes the screw mooring system here are also the same and at the moment, the only one that services said mooring system. So I see yet another monopoly taking place here.

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Finally moved on this - Manson Supreme will replace the plough.

So much conflicting advice (not here, everywhere!) although consistent is that more chain is good and modern anchors outperform older designs.

Anyone want an old plough anchor? 

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