Photos of Anchors Setting

[colemj]

Is the shaft of that bugel anchor bent?

Mark

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by colemj

Is the shaft of that bugel anchor bent?

Mark

It did not look bent.

The camera I use is basically a point and shoot camera in a waterproof housing. Most of the underwater photos are taken at maximium wide angle setting and there is a bit of distortion which can make straight lines look a little bent on occasion.

I always try to have a careful look at the anchor, although it easy to concentrate on the view screen. If anyone sees any mistake, or something I have missed please point it out.

Owners drilling holes in the anchor shank are quite common. I don't think it is a good idea, but it is surprising how few problems this practice seems to create

[colemj]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

This is a camera artifact (zoom in and look at the shank)?

I don't have a problem with those holes, and don't think a smallish round hole in a shank will have any deleterious effects on most anchors.

Mark

[transmitterdan]

Originally Posted by colemj

This is a camera artifact (zoom in and look at the shank)?

I don't have a problem with those holes, and don't think a smallish round hole in a shank will have any deleterious effects on most anchors.

Mark

Mark,

I agree the holes are a non-issue. I think the "bend" that seems to be in the shank is an optical illusion. This is right where the shank has a curve in the vertical plane. That makes it look like it is bent in the horizontal plane when viewed from the back and side but if you were looking at it with 2 eyes in 3D it would most likely not look bent.

[noelex 77]

I have been promising for a long time that I should be able to find sand soft enough to get photos of anchors like the CQR and Delta completely buried.

I saw this quite often when I was diving on anchors in Australia. Those lovely soft sand beaches that you see in the tourist brochures not only exist in Australia, they seem to be everywhere . The underwater sand substrate is often very much the same. It is quite common for anchors like the CQR and Delta to be completely buried in this sort of substrate.

In the Med I only hit soft sand like this very occasionally. This is the first time in 18 months a can recall a CQR or a Delta that has buried its fluke and shank.

This was a stainless steel plow (CQR copy) and as you can see it is doing a great job.

I did some investigation of the substrate. The top layer of sand were soft, but a course grainy sand. This gave way a few inches below the surface to talcum power like sand. This can just be seen as the white layer in the bottom of the trench. I have some better photos of this to come.

There was another anchor close by that also had its shank and fluke completely buried, but you will have to wait .

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by colemj

This is a camera artifact (zoom in and look at the shank)?
Mark

Mark I can see the effect you are noticing in the photo and I think it is just an optical illusion as Transmitterdan noted. It is caused by the heaped up sand which is producing a curved shadow. If you put your finger over the the shadow the illusion disappears, at least for me.

I don't have a photo from directly above, but this photo shows the shank reasonably well.

[hoppy]

My Vulcan today. After dropping I reversed up with a lot of revs, didn't move and expected to be nicely dug in. In the end I'd just caught a ledge.







There were some marks that indicated that the anchor probably started on the edge of the boulder field

[hoppy]

My neighbours anchors. All were here before I arrived.

I did try to photograph a 4th anchor but the seagrass was so thick I lost the chain 1m into it.

A Cobra living life on the edge


A Cobra (I think) dug into the weed area quite well


A lucky Spade in a sandy patch

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by hoppy

My Vulcan today. After dropping I reversed up with a lot of revs, didn't move and expected to be nicely dug in.

"A trick I learned from an old friend." Mr. Spock

[hoppy]

A thunderstorm just came through the anchorage. Nice light show then the wind swung around 180 degrees. Not so windy, perhaps in the low 20's as a guess (had the instruments off)

One yacht was drifting backwards at a rapid rate before the anchor dug in and it came to an abrupt stop. They ended up between two others, quite close so they have moved and reset.

The cobra in the grass ended up quite close to a motorboat on a mooring buoy and has moved now.

I am much closer to the other Cobra, but I expected that because when I photographed it, the anchor chain looped around placing it much closer to my anchor than the boats on the surface suggested.

I was planning to go to shore for dinner, that won't happen now. If it settles down a little more, I might go for a quick swim to check my anchor.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by hoppy

I was planning to go to shore for dinner, that won't happen now. If it settles down a little more, I might go for a quick swim to check photograph my anchor.

There I fixed your post

[noelex 77]

This was a Delta with the fluke and shank buried. Yeah!

It has taken a bit of distance to set, but in the end it has set very well, although some of the bury is from heaping up the sand. It was in almost the same area as the previous CQR copy.

You can see the layer of distinctly different and softer white sand. While the setting distance is long, the progressive dig in with an increasing amount of white sand is great to see.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

There I fixed your post

Done as requested

My Vulcan did a 180 and dug its toe in about 1m from where it was earlier. I am running the motor to charge my lappy now and gave a burst in reverse and seem to be well fixed there. The Vulcan does seem to be good at finding something to grip. I'm not sure if my old Delta's shank shape is as helpful at making the to dig in.


Same Cobra as before after a 180. Moved 0.5m

[Kenomac]

My anchorage neighbor's Kobra. He was unhappy with the set shown in posts 1613-1615 after seeing my pictures. He pulled back a little harder on the anchor which then pulled it out. This is his attempt at a reset. The two of us are not overly impressed with the performance of this anchor. The next two posts will show the same Kobra anchor in sand.

My Ultra is completely buried in underwater sod 150 ft away.

[Kenomac]

Another Kobra view.