Photos of Anchors Setting

[noelex 77]

Lakka is a great spot to study anchors. Most of the bay is about 3m deep and a very uniform substrate.

You can see 40 anchors a day in real conditions during summer (in winter you won't see another another boat for weeks). Fantastic, especially during a wind shift, or when stronger wind comes through and you watch how the anchors cope. I am glad I didn't have an underwater camera then because I would have been exhausted .

When it gets a bit much go to nearby Antipaxos. This is paradise. Almost as many anchors to look at during the day (many on a short scope), but at night they all leave for a more secure location. Perfect. Often we were the only boat anchored there overnight even in peak season.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by rgesner

Noelex,

What brand/model of laser rangefinder do you find "great for this?"

I have a Leica 1600-B

There are plenty of much less expensive models that will do the job almost as well.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Lakka is a great spot to study anchors. Most of the bay is about 3m deep and a very uniform substrate.

You can see 40 anchors a day in real conditions during summer (in winter you won't see another another boat for weeks). Fantastic, especially during a wind shift, or when stronger wind comes through and you watch how the anchors cope. I am glad I didn't have an underwater camera then because I would have been exhausted .

When it gets a bit much go to nearby Antipaxos. This is paradise. Almost as many anchors to look at during the day (many on a short scope), but at night they all leave for a more secure location. Perfect. Often we were the only boat anchored there overnight even in peak season.

Also a good place to check your depth sounder...

Draft 1.95 (maybe little more with all my gear) + me 1.85 + fist 0.10.... Depth sounder showing 4 meters, perfect.

[noelex 77]

This CQR was the small ketch's anchor.

These days I see very few CQR (or articulated plow) anchors. This is the first one seen this year. They just don't work in these harder substrates. However, this one had not dug in simply because there was no force applied after dropping and in the light wind it was just sitting on the bottom. This photo was taken more than 12 hours after they dropped. In light wind the anchor will hold with minimal set or, as in this case, even with the anchor just sitting on the bottom.

[JPA Cate]

Yeah, noelex,

She'll lay there ....... for a while.

Incidentally, Northumbrian friends use a CQR; and it got funky and wouldn't stay set. They got the worn pin replaced, and voila, their anchor's staying put again! Some people seem to get pretty good service from them. These guys are moderately widely traveled, having gone from Tasmania, via NZed, French Polynesia, and HI to Alaska and return to Australia, using that anchor.

So while some of us think the CQR's a P of antiquated S; in fact, perhaps, if properly maintained, it is not.

Ann

[noelex 77]

Yes, good point Ann. When the pivot pin or the bearing surfaces become worn, it does effect the geometry of the CQR:




However, there are still many substrates where the CQR does not work even when it is in good condition, but where more modern anchors can set with apparent ease.

I watched CQR anchors underwater, mainly in Australia, for many years. Here they generally performed well. Viewing them, I would not have believed the above statement about the model's limitations, but once you try and anchor away from the nice soft sand that characterises the Australian anchorages (and creates those great beaches) and see it underwater in hard substrates you realise the limitations.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by rgesner

Noelex,

What brand/model of laser rangefinder do you find "great for this?"

Thanks - Rusty

You can also use radar for this. That's what I do. Radar is extremely accurate for range.

[noelex 77]

Radar is great, it has the advantage you can keep track of multiple boats (and your own) at the same time and from the comfort of your chart table if you have an inside MFD.

The rangefinder will pick up distances more accurately, and specifically you can ping a very small target such as an individual rock, or the bow of a boat.

In some ways it is a bit like comparing AIS and radar. There is an overlap. They are both useful, but of course not essential.

[noelex 77]

The wind increased slightly and the CQR slid back into the weed. This photo is 24 hours later. Weed is a substrate a lot of anchors struggle with, but even when totally unset the weed itself is likely to provide enough grip for an anchor to hold reliably in 20 knots or so. People mistake this lack of dragging in this sort of wind strength as evidence of their anchor performing well in weed. In reality, almost any heavy object would grip in tangle of weed well enough to hold at these low windspeeds.

The real test comes with stronger wind when the fluke must dig down to underlying substrate. Very few anchors do this well. In this case, the CQR has not set at all. It is still on its side just run up against the edge of the weed, although to be fair, with more force and distance there is a chance it might start to dig in. A good new generation anchor would have set in this distance.

[noelex 77]

Surprisingly, the ketch stayed another night without re-anchoring. After the solution of simply motoring away from the cat the previous night while leaving their anchor unchanged, another close encounter was likely. Dawn reavealed them close again. Had they been closer in the night? There was no great danger with this sort of distance, but the lesson should have been learned from the close encounter the night before.

This was more than 24 hours after the night time photo:

[monte]

Pretty close for comfort and not French or Italian flags!

[redsky49]

Originally Posted by hoppy

Also a good place to check your depth sounder...

Draft 1.95 (maybe little more with all my gear) + me 1.85 + fist 0.10.... Depth sounder showing 4 meters, perfect.

This is really funny. No one comments? Really???

I appreciate your dedication to this thread. Including supporting your boat on your head!

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by redsky49

This is really funny. No one comments? Really???

We were all rendered speechless .

[noelex 77]

This was a small Bruce (33 lbs) in 6m @ 6:1.

The Bruce anchor is unusual in many ways. It will set from an upright position.

This one had obviously landed upright. It had dragged a long way (20m?) with a shallow drag mark indicating minimal digging in. However, in the end it has buried a lot of its fluke. One nice feature of the Bruce is that it nearly always has some grip.

It tends to work better in the larger sizes, but given the odd substrate it is doing a good job.

One problem with the Bruce is that in this position any sideways load caused by a change in wind direction will cause it to fall over. With a high list it has only a small amount of grip. The shank is very strong, but also very heavy. If it buries deeper this problem is eliminated, but that tends to only happen in softer substrates.

[noelex 77]

This was another convex plow anchor: a Shark. It looks very much like a Delta, and as you would expect performs in a similar manner.

The heavier reinforcement at the rear of the fluke and on the slightly higher shank placement relative to the Delta do the anchor no favours, although in practical terms the difference is small.

In this case it was dropped with little force and is just sitting on top of the weed.



This shows the general area where the Shark was dropped. Note how the chain has flattened the weed. Also note how the weed bed is considerably elevated from the small patch of sand that can be seen in the distance. These weed beds are built on rock causing the elevation. One mistake I see people making in these sort of anchorages is boats cruising around looking for a relatively shallow spot to drop their anchor. They seek out the spot that is 5m deep not 8m. Often they do not consider that they are also inadvertently selecting the areas built on rock.

In this anchorage I suspect a lot of the sand patch areas have rock not far underneath hence the unusual anchor performances I am seeing. Nevertheless, if there is enough sand on top of the rock you can get a reasonable grip. The deeper spots are actually the preferred drop point.