Photos of Anchors Setting

[hoppy]

Soon I hope I'll be ready to contribute to this thread totally on topic

Just need the mast back and some rigging and a new bowsprit with anchor roller, then I'm cruising

The new Rocna Vulcan 20kg and old Delta 16kg


Whilst it fits nicely on the roller, the story is not good for raising and lowering. I have to be super gentle to avoid a hard hit of the gelcoat. Whilst the super gentle approach is fine when testing in the marina, I know that in the real world of solo anchoring in tight anchorages, plus throw in some chop, then the Rocna will be banging into the bow way more than I'b be happy with, even with a SS protector. So very happy I'll be getting my "kill two birds with one stone" bowsprit next week (replaces my selden bowsprit for my coloured sails)

[kas_1611]

Hoppy,

Welcome to the Vulcan Owners Club

Keiron

[noelex 77]

Congratulations on the new addition to the family.

Is there a special wave you give to other boats when they enter the anchorage .

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Is there a special wave you give to other boats when the enter the anchorage .

Yes, but that is a secret only Kas, myself and other Vulcan owners know


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[monte]

Hands on hips seems to be the special wave in most anchorages

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by monte

Hands on hips seems to be the special wave in most anchorages

Don't forget the intense stare

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Congratulations on the new addition to the family.

Is there a special wave you give to other boats when the enter the anchorage .

Damm, the secret is out

When I replied earlier, I was on the phone and the attachment was not visible

Now that the secret is out, I sadly feel that the initiation process of finding a Virgin (bloody hard work) and throwing her into a volcano was a waste of time and a waste of a good virgin

[noelex 77]

This was another Delta dropped by a charter yacht. It was in deeper water, about 13m but the sand looked identical.

This Delta has done much better than the last example. It has set quicker than I have seen a Delta set for a long time (the whole drag mark cannot be seen, but it ended not far from the left of the photo). It is quite well buried with just the tops of the fluke visible. The sand here is nice and soft, in fact it is very like the sand I see in a lot of locations in Australia. In this sort of substrate the Delta and most anchors will normally bury and work well. It is close to the ideal substrate.

People who cruise areas with softish sand like this cannot understand the fuss about anchor design because there is little difference between different models.

I am still not sure what happened to the Delta in my previous post. This is just the sort of substrate where it will do well. I can only think the scope estimation of 4:1 was slightly optimistic. The Delta is not great at short scopes. It can really struggle at 3:1 especially in shallower anchorages.

[noelex 77]

This anchorage was a mixture of sand, weed and rock. We chose the sand . 7m @5:1.

Not the greatest set. There is a reasonable list and a bit of heaping up. Nevertheless, the Mantus has set within a couple of feet. 3/4 of the fluke is buried and that is a big fluke area.

You can see some rock in the background, but I suspect most of the problem was the non existent wind when we dropped. With the prop walk, it means the final setting force is a very different angle from the initial pull. In addition, no wind means the engine alone supplies all the setting force, while even 5-10 knots of breeze gives bit of extra grunt.

There is always some concern that there is rock under the sand layer with this sort of set, but the maximium wind forecast for the next few days is only 22 knots.

The only practical concern if the substrate is marginal is other boats. We are in need of supplies so have temporarily abandoned our love of deserted anchorages for a location with a grocery (well actually more like a corner store) only an hour's walk away. The big smoke .

Unfortunately, that means other boats. On the plus side there should be some other anchors to see even early in the sailing season.

[noelex 77]

This boat was interesting. It had a young couple on board with a sailing instructor.

I was listening to the sailing instructor's lecture on "how to anchor" as the boat circled the anchorage. Sound carries well over water.

He gave very good practical advice. Unfortunately, he did not seem to heed his own words.

The first lesson was how to picture where the another boat's anchor was located. As we were the only boat in the anchorage I guess that was us .
They circired our boat several times while the instructor explained how to pick the ideal spot to drop.

The mystery was that after all this explanation, the instructor asked the lady at the bow to drop the anchor 50m almost directly in front of us (a laser rangefinder is great). Very close to where you might expect our anchor to be in 7m of water. However, the wind was light I knew our anchor was more off our port side. Still they managed to drop only 15 m away from our anchor when there was plenty of room.

I then heard a very detailed lecture on how to use transits to tell if the anchor is holding while reverse is applied. Perfect. This is an area that beginners often get wrong. The reverse was nice and gentle. Textbook. Everyone was looking sideways at the transits pointed out by the instructor.
Back the yacht came - and further back, back and back, obviously dragging.

Our anchor lay directly in their path and I held my breath. They now started to pass to port. I thought our anchor would likely stop them dead and probably fling the poor bow lady off her feet. She seemed to have given up on the transits and was shouting "I don't know what I am supposed to be doing", which seemed quite appropriate.

Fortunately, they did not catch our anchor chain. They continued on, dragging another six or eight boat lengths.

Eventually they stopped reversing and friction ground them to halt. The young couple went for swim no doubt confident they had been given proper instruction on how to anchor well .

Note: Please don't think I am implying that sailing instruction is a bad idea. Everyone I have met (no matter how experienced) who has been on a sailing course, always comments on how much they learned. We should also be aware that teaching people a practical skill is difficult. I taught people to fly for many years. It is harder than it looks. You have to let them make mistakes.

Photos to follow .

[noelex 77]

his was the drop point for the Delta. It started in 8m@6:1, but finished in 5m@9:1.

[noelex 77]

This was the drag mark as it passed over our chain only a couple of metres from our anchor. The Delta was dragging from right to left.




You would expect the dragging anchor to almost always catch on the chain. I have had this happen many times, but surprisingly, probably just as many times the dragging anchor has slid over the chain, as it did in this case.

It shows how poorly a dragging anchor is digging into the substrate. If you look closely you can see that our chain has been kinked slightly to the left and perhaps pushed under the sand a little. The anchor did not get under our chain, but it must have come close.

[malbert73]

Wow what a picture! Blows my mind that you got that shot of the drag mark. Likewise unbelievable that it didn't snag your chain.


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[noelex 77]

After crossing our chain, the Delta kept going and going and going .......

[monte]

Haha thats a great story, observations noëlex. Amazing they didn't catch the chain too!