Anchor spring line - does this look right?

[Warby12]

Thanks Jedi! I will focus on the mizzen next time, I appreciate your thoughts. Ours is very stiff and fully battened, will be worth pursuing.

With a bridle, I would lead it from the bow fairleads just like when on a bridled mooring. We've just spent a few months in an area full of moored boats, most of which (including ours) had bridles and it got very entertaining in big blows watching the dancing about. Maybe they work better on other boats but doesn't seem to help us, thank you though

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Warby12

Thanks Jedi! I will focus on the mizzen next time, I appreciate your thoughts. Ours is very stiff and fully battened, will be worth pursuing.

With a bridle, I would lead it from the bow fairleads just like when on a bridled mooring. We've just spent a few months in an area full of moored boats, most of which (including ours) had bridles and it got very entertaining in big blows watching the dancing about. Maybe they work better on other boats but doesn't seem to help us, thank you though

We found a single snubber tied to the starboard cleat works much better than a bridle. Much easier to use and less sailing behind the anchor

Note that most people use far too heavy rope for this. It is not an anchor rode, but a stretchy shock absorber. We are 25 metric tons and 20 meters long and we use a 5/8” 3-strand nylon line. We have had many storms, incl. hurricane Isaias just weeks ago and it never broke. I did try 1/2” and managed to break that in a violent squall, so went up one size.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Warby12

Hi, our boat tends to weave around a lot on anchor in heavy winds and I stumbled on a post a while ago about anchor spring lines but couldn't find a lot of information. I've tried setting one up yesterday and it produced some questions:

1.Does this look right in terms of how far aft to run it and how far down the chain it should be?

2. Is it ok to attach the anchor spring to the chain with a rolling hitch? I tried a couple of snap shackles but they were a bit unwieldy to handle over the bow.
I'd rather sort this out in calm weather

This is fine. But note that there is no right or wrong amount to haul on it -- you vary that to get the amount of deflection which works. You might only need a slight degree of it.


And as others said -- try also a riding sail, reefed mizzen, which often works wonders. Or combination of riding sail and a bit of a tweak from an anchor spring line.


And yes, of course, a rolling hitch is fine.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Warby12

Thanks Jedi! I will focus on the mizzen next time, I appreciate your thoughts. Ours is very stiff and fully battened, will be worth pursuing.

With a bridle, I would lead it from the bow fairleads just like when on a bridled mooring. We've just spent a few months in an area full of moored boats, most of which (including ours) had bridles and it got very entertaining in big blows watching the dancing about. Maybe they work better on other boats but doesn't seem to help us, thank you though

As others have said -- no need for an actual bridle. Just run an additional snubber to a side cleat.



And make sure you have made the chain off in a manner which is as strong as the chain -- either a chain lock or a stout strop. Snubber is no substitute for the strong link between boat and ground tackle.

[wguinon]

Two anchors in a vee works well at the cost of dealing with the extra gear. Some have had good luck with a small drogue hitched to the rode to damp yawing

[thinwater]

Do remember that rigging the boat to ride at an angle increase windage significantly. At 30 degrees it is about double that of the boat in a straight line, depending on the boat. Don't take my word for it, measure it.


This may not be more than the yawing force, if it was yawing badly, and it does not move the anchor.


The standard solutions:

• Riding sail (or mizzen in the case of a ketch). V-styles are many times more effective than traditional flat sails. Also anything off the bow that doesn't need to be there (dinghies, reachers, anything forward of the beam).
• Bridle (mostly for multihulls).
• V-anchor (a last choise unless there are other good reasons, which there can be--let's not fight).
• Hammer lock (a second anchor set on very short scope or just dragging. About 1.5 scope. No really like V-anchoring at all, more like a very efficient kellet. Not for sensitive bottoms.
• Kellet (for rope rode).
• Drogue on bow or rode. Particularly in deeper water (more rode out) this can really slow the swing. But you still swing. Pretty easy to do. Many things work, with a few pounds of tail weight to keep them down, since you will tack over them.

I've used all of these, according to the boat.

[Warby12]

Thanks all! I will explore all of this with pleasure. We do use a nylon snubber and a chain lock, the anchor spring line and reefed mizzen will be focused on now.

We had a bad experience with a 180 degree 45 knot wind shift that brought us side on to another boat who had less chain out than us. It was a catamaran that sat perfectly still in the wind (weird) but we wove back and forth constantly. We both put fenders out and the damage was minimal. The other guy was very understanding.

I was on the engine trying to drive us away every time we headed for his boat. Eventually all of this rushing about caused our anchor to drag (25kg Rocna on 60 meters of chain). We had anchored on a hill of sand which we must have dragged off the top of (won't do that again). We dragged back about 10 metres to directly behind him where we both sat quietly like ducks in a pond until the wind died down the next morning.
Hence the interest in non weaving.