Photos of Anchors Setting

[malbert73]

This stainless delta has landed in perfect sand conditions though has unorthodox rode.


It set within an anchor length with minimal heaping up


Unfortunately a giant snatched it out of the water and the boat was lost




Joking aside, the delta bottle opener has been flawless setting in beach tidal pools. Imagine if it was a spade.



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[kas_1611]

Originally Posted by malbert73

This stainless delta has landed in perfect sand conditions though has unorthodox rode.
Attachment 128963

It set within an anchor length with minimal heaping up
Attachment 128964

Unfortunately a giant snatched it out of the water and the boat was lost

Attachment 128965


Joking aside, the delta bottle opener has been flawless setting in beach tidal pools. Imagine if it was a spade.


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Brilliant

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by kas_1611

Brilliant

+1.
We just need all the companies to produce 10 gram models and send them to Malbert and his able assistant for comparative testing .

Great T-shirt BTW . A future anchorholic?

[noelex 77]

Watching boats anchor is better than TV .

This Pogo 12.50 came in late in the day. They dropped their anchor very close to ours. Not really their fault, as the wind was light and shifting so our anchor was lying off our port stern.

I rarely say anything in these sort of situations, but in this case I felt it was worth telling the skipper where our anchor was located. He ignored the information and continued anchoring, but at least went for dive to see for himself. They realised the problem and picked up anchor but for some strange reason despite an open anchorage moved only a short distance further away.

Still, the separation was fine and I was perfectly happy. However, we were still reasonably close. The skipper decided on the strangest solution I have ever seen. With snorkel and fins he grabbed the anchor chain and attempted to tow the boat further away. No I am not kidding. Even stranger, in the light wind he actually succeeded. After about 20 minutes of vigorous kicking the boat was indeed, temporarily, further away.

Of course all this is in vain. In anything more than very light wind the boat will move. The relative positions of the anchor and amount of scope are what is generally important. You cannot "park" a boat at anchor.

The Pogo looked a great boat and a heap of fun. However, I am not sure about the strength of that bow roller for the rough and tumble of cruising. Sorry, they left in the morning before I could get a photo of their anchor, but it was their second visit to this anchorage. Their anchor was the Kobra in post #2360.





It is hard to take photographs realistically depicting the separation of boats, but this was at dawn. The position of the Pogo would have been exactly the same without the towing effort. This sort of distance is fine although you need to take into account a very light racing boat with a retractable keel and a cruising boat may well react differently to changing wind and current.

[noelex 77]

This was the same morning, but a boat on the other side. I felt this boat was too close for comfort.

Unfortunately, they came into the anchorage late and I did not see them anchor, but it was undoubtedly the same problem, that is our anchor was not where they had expected it to be.

The weird thing is that it is a big anchorage with plenty of room, but once there are two boats close by (ourselves and the Pogo) skippers start to think there must be something special about that particular spot.




I know it is very hard to get a realistic perspective from these photos, but I hope showing a photo of the Pogo, which was close but fine, and then this Beneteau, which I felt was too close, might be helpful.

[Juho]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Unfortunately, they came into the anchorage late and I did not see them anchor, but it was undoubtedly the same problem, that is our anchor was not where they had expected it to be.

Do you recommend using a buoy to mark the location of the anchor?

[kas_1611]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

This was the same morning, but a boat on the other side. I felt this boat was too close for comfort.

Unfortunately, they came into the anchorage late and I did not see them anchor, but it was undoubtedly the same problem, that is our anchor was not where they had expected it to be.

The weird thing is that it is a big anchorage with plenty of room, but once there are two boats close by (ourselves and the Pogo) skippers start to think there must be something special about that particular spot.

I know it is very hard to get a realistic perspective from these photos, but I hope showing a photo of the Pogo, which was close but fine, and then this Beneteau, which I felt was too close, might be helpful.

Ouch that is way to close for comfort.

Always baffles me when someone comes right up alongside or behind in a big bay with loads of room. Must be the social animal thing coming out

@Juho, I for one don't think anchor buoys are a good idea. Too much chance of either wrapping it round your own keel or sail drive let alone other people getting caught up in it when they come in at night and can't see the buoy.

Keiron

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Juho

Do you recommend using a buoy to mark the location of the anchor

Not generally. This is really only a problem in light variable winds. In normal conditions it is reasonably easy to predict another boat's anchor location providing they are using a sensible amount of scope.

I prefer to keep track of our anchor position on the GPS. I usually watch most boats anchor and if they drop close to our anchor I will let them know our anchor position, or just move.

An anchor float to mark your anchor position is a little antisocial, at least in crowded anchorages. Other boats need to avoid swinging over the float, as there would then be a risk of it getting caught in their rudder or prop. This restricts the available anchoring area for any new boat. In light variable winds there is even a risk of your own boat swinging over the anchor and getting the float caught.

The other risk is to a boat entering the anchorage at night. It is not reasonable to expect them to see and avoid an unlit float. If they run over the float with a spinning prop it can cause a big mess even with quite thin, weak, line. The float can be illuminated with flashing fishing light (these are only a few dollars), but this is not commonly done, so it causes a lot of confusion.

Edit: I see Kas has posted and said the same thing, great minds.....

[poiu]

Originally Posted by Juho

Do you recommend using a buoy to mark the location of the anchor?

Not answering for Noelex as this is a different situation, but when I use a kedge I buoy the rode. Fast dinghies or most passing boats will avoid the bow because of the anchor chain, but off the stern they don't expect one and sometimes go really close. I saw a few near decapitations and/or cut rode before I adopted that practice. Actually two buoys. One with a weight to hold it near where the rode touches the water and another halfway along and in mid air attached to the boat with a 3m length of rope.

[twohapence]

Originally Posted by Juho

Do you recommend using a buoy to mark the location of the anchor?

It used to be very popular.

I woke up in the middle of the night to find someone had mistaken my anchor buoy with tripping line attached for a mooring buoy.

That cured the habit.

Now what I do is I attach the tripping line to the chain with easily broken thread. Tug the tripping line sharply to break the threads then pull up and bingo, you've got your anchor back. If you're lucky.

Doesn't help you if the anchor and chan parts company though.

[Juho]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Not generally. This is really only a problem in light variable winds. In normal conditions it is reasonably easy to predict another boat's anchor location providing they are using a sensible amount of scope.

I prefer to keep track of our anchor position on the GPS. I usually watch most boats anchor and if they drop close to our anchor I will let them know our anchor position, or just move.

An anchor float to mark your anchor position is a little antisocial, at least in crowded anchorages. Other boats need to avoid swinging over the float, as there would then be a risk of it getting caught in their rudder or prop. This restricts the available anchoring area for any new boat. In light variable winds there is even a risk of your own boat swinging over the anchor and getting the float caught.

The other risk is to a boat entering the anchorage at night. It is not reasonable to expect them to see and avoid an unlit float. If they run over the float with a spinning prop it can cause a big mess even with quite thin, weak, line. The float can be illuminated with flashing fishing light (these are only a few dollars), but this is not commonly done, so it causes a lot of confusion.

Edit: I see Kas has posted and said the same thing, great minds.....

Another question would be if you recommend to have a tripping line. Obviously the answer must be no, since you can always dive to the anchor. But maybe in colder murkier waters you might use one (maybe without a buoy).

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Juho

But maybe in colder murkier waters you might use one (maybe without a buoy).

Yes, I do occasionally use a tripping line. With a rapidly setting anchor I think the risks of getting the anchor caught is minimal so I don't use one often.

I use a weak link (cable tie) in the tripping line just below the float to minimise some of the problems described. In this way, if the float is caught around our boat or someone else's, the weak link will break before the anchor is pulled out. If someone tries to pick up the float as a mooring, the weak link will also break.

It requires a little bit of slack to be left in the line. If the tripping line is required in earnest you need to reach the rope below the weak link probably from the tender.

[hoppy]

I wonder if the Pogo is the wide arsed yacht that was in Paros when I arrived.

Originally Posted by noelex 77

This was the same morning, but a boat on the other side. I felt this boat was too close for comfort.

Unfortunately, they came into the anchorage late and I did not see them anchor, but it was undoubtedly the same problem, that is our anchor was not where they had expected it to be.

The weird thing is that it is a big anchorage with plenty of room, but once there are two boats close by (ourselves and the Pogo) skippers start to think there must be something special about that particular spot.




I know it is very hard to get a realistic perspective from these photos, but I hope showing a photo of the Pogo, which was close but fine, and then this Beneteau, which I felt was too close, might be helpful.

I had a similar problem in Poros. I was anchored in 15m with 75m of chain out and a bit of wind. Then in the evening the wind died to almost nothing and swung 180 degrees and all yachts in the anchorage just spun around on their chain. So when a yacht dropped his anchor 40 or so meters behind me, he probably dropped his anchor next to mine.

Luckily they left before the wind picked up. Just in case it did I had the anchor alarm set for a small drift and was ready to blow the air horn to get their attention.

[noelex 77]

This was a FOB Rock. 9m @ 3:1.

FOB are a very respected French anchor manufacturer that unfortunately have had little sales success in other countries.

They produce a range of anchors mostly based on a Brittany design. These include anchors with adjustable fluke angles (32° and 45°) produced in aluminium (they even use some titanium parts).

The FOB Rock is quite different and is their attempt to produce a convex plow anchor. Most convex plow anchors are close in design to the Delta, but the FOB Rock is an attempt to produce something quite different. It has a much flatter blade. No one would mistake this anchor for a Delta even from a distance, which is not the case for most of the other convex plow designs.

In my view, it is a better performer than most, if not all, of the other convex plow anchors.

The combination lead ballast (which is much denser than the steel used on most convex plow anchors) the skids, a thin light shank and a thin toe, together with a broad fluke combine to lift its performance. The only qualification I would make is that I have not seen a great many examples. The other problem is the tip is quite thin over the last few millimetres. This helps the performance significantly but the danger is that It does not take much to deform this sort of tip design if it hits rock. As you have seen, it is not unusual for the whole anchoring force to be only on the last tiny bit of the tip.

Unfortunately, this owner put no reverse force on the anchor at all and it is just sitting on the bottom, even the chain is slack. The anchor has not even fallen over onto its setting position. Many people imagine their anchor setting from this upright position but unless it is a very soft substrate, most designs of anchor (there are exceptions such as the Danforth) need to fall onto their side to set.

There was no drag mark. The anchor has not moved.

So unfortunately this tells us nothing about the anchor's performance. A pity, because from the previous examples I have seen, it seems to be a very good anchor.

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

+1.
We just need all the companies to produce 10 gram models and send them to Malbert and his able assistant for comparative testing .

Great T-shirt BTW . A future anchorholic?

Ha! Just noticed he's wearing the anchor shirt. I think so- he spent hours in the tidal pools this week anchoring and re-anchoring his toy boat.

Thanks for the pics. Definitely stokes my anchoraddiction.
Mike


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