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Kenomac · 05-07-2014, 05:07

A little better?

**noelex 77** · 05-07-2014, 06:26

The wind overnight was a only a tiny bit lighter.

Normally the anchor will not bury deeper until you get stronger wind, but sometimes it will dive just a fraction more if you get the same wind for a prolonged duration. Presumably because eventually there is a bit more force from a gust that is above average, or just at the wrong time when the boat is sideways.

There is also an effect of the sand moving around, filling in depressions and knocking down the sand that has been heaped up by the anchor. In the hard sand around here this does not normally occur much, with drag marks clearly visible a week later. However, with the wave action created by strong wind the sand does moves around more and the effect is visible.

This does create some problems with anchors that hold by heaping up sand rather than the fluke diving down. The collapse and redistribution of the heaped up sand does erode some of the holding power. The anchor has to continually move backwards to heap up more substrate, which is not ideal.

This was the Mantus today:
It has set just a fraction deeper due to the prolonged strong wind, although there is also some filling in of the depressions and levelling out of the sand, which makes it hard to quantify the effect.

The Mantus has a large fluke area and it this is now a very long way down.

**noelex 77** · 05-07-2014, 08:33

I made a short video of the conditions:

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SV Lift · 05-07-2014, 10:21

Interesting thread so I thought I would contribute. Here's a couple shots from a few days ago in the Exumas (Bahamas).

My engine (starter) died so I've been picking anchorages based on ease of sailing in and out of. These were taken in about 5m of water over medium soft sand. 4:1 scope with the anchor hucked off the bow and chain paid out with the boat drifting in 10-15kt wind. Photos were taken an hour or two later.

The photo shows it set quickly but has a slight list. Without an engine I couldn't back on it. I think stronger wind would have leveled it out as it set deeper. A few days later had a 40kt thunderstorm and the anchor was buried until the rollbar was just under the surface.

Anchor is Rocna 25kg on a 15ton 13m boat. This just barely meets the size recommendation, but works fine so far. Only had one failure to set so far - see the last photo. And no comments on my teak. Obviously it is more important to spend time in anchor threads than varnishing.

motion30 · 05-07-2014, 10:25

Sv lift
where in the exumas as are you? I am south of little Exuma near hog cay

Cephious1 · 05-07-2014, 23:48

Great job and terrific photos,I found this very interesting,,thank you

Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Kenomac · 06-07-2014, 10:44

90 degree wind shift over the past 24 hours, not very windy 10 knots at most. The Ultra has not moved. The rode now leads at a 90 degree angle to the anchor set.

downunder · 06-07-2014, 23:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by monte

Noël ex. Are they free diving fins ? I just bought some scuba fins but wondering if I should change them for bigger ones. Ire they noticibly better for diving ?

The longer free diving fins are much better for freediving and are also fine in many of more open areas for scuba.

Much better and safer for snorkling in currents or winds.

creers

**noelex 77** · 07-07-2014, 02:59

We have been joined by a Turkish luxury crewed power yacht (65 feet?).

Unfortunately I did not see the drop which was last night, but this is how the Ultra anchor looked the next morning (in 6m @5:1) (Mermaid photos on her pre-breakfast swim)

The result is very similar to the Spade which was dropped in almost the same spot by the catamaran a few nights ago.

It has taken the Ultra quite a long time to set, although without seeing the drop it possible that the anchor was dragged backwards at a very short scope while laying out the chain. However, this usually produces quite a shallow scrape mark rather than the result we see here.

The eventual set is reasonably good, with almost all the fluke buried, but like the Spade there is a bit more heaping up of the sand rather than the better dive down of the fluke that the Mantus displayed, in what looks like the same substrate.

Nevertheless, this is still a good result.

**noelex 77** · 07-07-2014, 08:51

There was slightly more wind this afternoon, 20-25 Knots. The nice thing about this is that it provides a known force on the anchor. So I went to have a look at the Ultra.

You can see it has set just a little further. The fluke and chain guard are now completely covered. It has also rotated level and has managed this in only a short additional distance. The sand is, however, still a bit too heaped up for a perfect result:

**noelex 77** · 09-07-2014, 01:03

If you have clear water, you do not even need to dive to get anchor photos

.

This is our Mantus sitting just off the stern a few minutes ago with the shadow of the boat on the bottom and of yours truly taking the photo:

**Wotname** · 09-07-2014, 01:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by noelex 77

............

OK, we all know this is an excellent thread but have you noticed how the quality of the photos just keep on improving. I thought they were excellent a couple of posts back but really, these ones are better again

How far can this go?????

And is it the mermaid or the master taking the best ones?

**noelex 77** · 09-07-2014, 09:19

Thanks Wotname.

We often swim together and take turns using the camera with each duck dive so its not really obvious who took which photos, but my mermaid has a much better eye for what makes a good photo so all the good ones are likely to be hers.