Sword Anchor?

[Kettlewell]

What ever happened to the Sword anchor? It seems to have disappeared from the market and disappeared from testing and discussion. It looked very promising, and then it was gone. I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild.

[MarkJ]

They were written off?



Lol

[boatman61]

Maybe the answers in here.... picture is the Oceane version... looks a loada crap to me...

Copy & paste
The Sword is an anchor design which has gone through three or four re-designs and re-branding exercises. It was known for some time as the Océane, then briefly as the "Rock*C", and then as the Sword, which remains the brand under which Sea Tech & Fun continue to manufacture. Meanwhile, its designer Alain Poiraud, no longer directly involved with the Spade company, developed yet another iteration, the "Raya", under a Brazilian organization called Ancora Latina.
The anchor was originally intended as a budget version of the expensive Spade. Its design does away with the complicated hollow shank and lead cavity of the Spade, attempting to use an awkward shank shape and placement to facilitate correct setting. This concept is less than successful and results in inconsistent setting behavior. Holding power if set is excellent, but attaining the set is not reliable. The fluke is concave, but the rolled plate benefits from no structural reinforcement. The Spade may safely be considered superior, as independent testing demonstrates, and the engineering design of this budget version results in reduced strength and durability.

[senormechanico]

That thing looks ok for winds under 5 knots and no swell.
That shank looks like an invitation to being bent under any significant load.
I wonder how many are in junk piles all twisted up?

[Hydra]

Sea Tech & Fun discontinued Oceane and Sword anchors. They are presently announcing 2 new designs. These are the pictures I received in their last (February 2011) newsletter.

They look surprisingly similar to the Bügel and Rocna anchors!

I inquired twice by e-mail but no information (technical, price, etc.) is available at the moment. It seems that they are still tuning the designs.

Alain

[SA/USA]

Yes, the last comment is correct. They are still under design and modification status and won't be released for sale until complete. We did have the prototypes at the recent boat show">Miami Boat Show for display purposes only. We expect that when they are ready, that the Spoon and SeaBlade will be somewhere in the 30-40% range less than the Spade Anchor. But that is just a guess at this point until the final designs have been determined.

[Kettlewell]

Will they all be made in Tunisia? Has the political situation there put a kink in your supply chain?

[SA/USA]

Yes, they still will be made in Tunisia. The political situation has had no affect on our supply chain and I do not expect any problems in the future.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by boatman61

... Copy & paste ...

From:
Spade and Sword anchors (Rocna Knowledge Base)

[SA/USA]

The Spoon and the SeaBlade are not meant to compete with the Spade anchor, but rather be available to the weekend sailer and fisherman that need a quality anchor but at a more affordable price point.

[Kettlewell]

More affordable price points sound good. They will be interesting to see and I look forward to hearing how they perform.