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Muaddib1116 · 11-09-2022, 18:55

After my Maine cruise last summer, I wrote a relatively detailed post of my impressions of my Sarca Excel #9, which were pretty much all positive. For a couple reasons, this year I switched to a 55kg Rocna Vulcan, which is 5kg (11lbs) heavier than my Excel. Despite this, the shorter shank fits better in my bow roller, allowing me to use a Mantus swivel, which has been quite helpful.

Based off of this season's experiences, I would say that the Vulcan performed just as well, maybe slightly better, than the Excel did in Maine. There was only one instance where I dragged during a powerset and had to retry, which was at Valley Cove in Somes Sound. This is also the only spot where I didn't have to use the engine to break the anchor free and where the anchor came up clean. This is a challenging anchorage with spotty holding.

My second night there, the wind shifted to the north, coming down the fjord, sustained around 15kts, peaking up to 19kts. Nothing alarming normally, but with an almost 180 degree wind shift (I had no idea how confident I could be with a reset), plus the swell coming down the sound, and the shore only a few boat lengths behind me, I had a pretty nervous night. I think in the future, I will only spend calm nights there, with no north winds.

The most strenuous night was at Potts Harbor in Harpswell. We had high 20's sustained, peaking into the low-mid 30's all night, with some swell coming straight into the harbor from the south. No problems at all. Not exactly a super robust test, but a comforting data point.

I don't know if the Vulcan's slightly better performance over the Excel is dues to its design, or maybe to the extra 5kg weight/size. I certainly don't know how it compares in other locals/bottoms, but I was very pleased with it in Maine. To be clear though, I think the Excel was really excellent as well, and I think the Excel is slightly better constructed. It's stainless tip edge is also a nice feature. I would have been perfectly happy to keep the Excel on my bow if it had fit better.

All that being said, I think the Vulcan is a winner for my situation, and I will keep it as my primary. I will try to sell the Excel in the Boston/RI area.

sailingunity · 11-09-2022, 19:27

Can you clarify how the Vulcan excelled over the Excel (haha) more specifically? Were you in similar situations with the Excel where it broke out?

Muaddib1116 · 12-09-2022, 06:38

I'm basing my assessment on two pretty minor things. One is a general feeling that maybe the Vulcan dug and set a little bit quicker, this is super hard to have a strong feeling about, but it is a feeling I have. The other is that I had two experiences with the Excel dragging after initial setting during the powerset.

The first and least problematic was at the top of Somes Sound, where I tried to anchor near the "Head of Somes Sound" anchor mark on Navionics. There was supposed to be decent holding, but I was trying to stay out of another boat's way and avoid some lobster buoys, at the same time trying to balance where I dropped the hook, and I didn't have enough scope out and didn't feel like I could put much more out. With weather coming from a vaguely southerly direction, I decided it wasn't worth putting too much effort into it, so I bailed out and went to the Cranberry Islands.

The second, which holds a little more weight, was in Pulpit Harbor. Again, I was avoiding other boats and buoys, so had limited choice in my spot. I felt like my scope was fine, and the initial set under idle-reverse was fine, but when I powered up, I was dragging down on a mooring buoy. I pulled up, dropped the anchor a boat length further forward, slightly to starboard, and repeated my normal steps. This time it held solid.

There are a lot of things that can explain both those incidents, and I don't really count them as any sort of condemnation of the Excel.

I think the Vulcan performed very slightly better for me this year than the Excel did last year. However, this is primarily gut anecdotal feeling. My observations are easily within the variation of my non-scientific seasonal experience, or possibly within the 5kg difference. Perhaps the Sarca Excel #11 which is 55kg would be better than the 55kg Vulcan. Perhaps I had slightly less luck last year.

It doesn't really matter to me, the Excel is great. If it had a shorter shank that fit my boat better, I would stay with it. The Vulcan works better on my boat, and even if I had felt it had slightly lower performance than the Excel this year, I will stick with the Vulcan because of that reason. Obviously I am happy that it seems to be at least as good.

Scorpius · 12-09-2022, 09:37

I have a board, hinged at the bottom of the chain locker, with a line running up through the spurling pipe. While I am hoisting the anchor I frequently give a pull on the line and the board below pushes that castle over. It has to be done fairly frequently so that when toppled the chain castle doesn't fall on itself and bury too much chain that has to come out first next time.

It works!

I'm surprised that you say that most of the anchorages in the Pacific Northwest (actually the Pacific Southwest for us Canadians) are deep. I've been cruising this Coast for over 30 years and rarely have had to anchor deep unless a long way up some of the inlets. Even there there's often a gravel bar or alluvial plain off a creek mouth where it is possible to anchor in a reasonable depth of water. Right now I'm anchored just outside of Uganda Passage in a very comfortable 30 ft of water.