[Rhodes22-list] Anchoring -- It's Not Just Me

[Bill Effros]

Bill Effros

 From the current issue of Practical Sailor:

Anchoring in MUD


I always enjoy your anchoring articles and quote from them often during 
my anchoring lectures at boat shows. This time, I must comment. (I 
performed anchoring tests for Fortress when they first came out, and 
much of my research material is still used by them. That test spanned 
two years and covered 300 completely different anchoring incidents at 
locations starting in Newport, R.I., down the East Coast of the United 
States, and at many islands in the Bahamas.)

I note that in your test, you had considerably heavy chain that appears 
to be either 5/16 or even 3/8 in the photo and more than six feet in 
length. Again, I implore all Fortress users and especially the testers, 
to RTFM (read the fine manual). If the factory recommendations and my 
own proofs were followed, you would have had quite different results 
from your test. You cannot use chain in those circumstances and the 
greater initial scope you try, the worse the problem becomes. The 
cantenary in the chain simply makes a groove in the mud, the shank is 
quite blade-like, and the moment tension is put on the rode, especially 
if there is considerable scope, the sharp-edged shank follows and dips 
below the points of the flukes. The then-upward facing flukes make the 
anchor plane on top of the mud. You could pull it forever in that mode 
and never get it to set. I have personally rescued several people from 
predicaments of this type, notably up Spa Creek in Annapolis, Md., where 
there is just slimy ooze that has been building for generations. 
Unshackle the chain, and the anchor works well and holds far better than 
most.