Anchoring Mooring

Ever since some ancient mariner broke a toe tripping over the killick stowed in the bow of his curragh, sailors have sought to solve the mysteries of ground tackle stowage. The solutions have been endless, and as a rule com­promises. A significant portion of the interior volume of a 19th century warship was given over to the storage of anchor rode. Even aboard modern boats, the search for the proper stowage of several anchors and chain, plus hundreds of feet of sometimes slimy nylon anchor line, is one that occupies both designers and boat owners. Two "modern inventions" — the anchor well, and the bow roller — have greatly eased many of the problems of ground tackle stowage. But even these developments vary greatly in quality and design, some creating more prob­lems than they solve.

Conventional commercially available anchor chocks, though convenient, can be nasty metal toe stubbers and not particularly attractive. In contrast, wooden chocks are easy to make, handsome, and relatively snag- and toe-proof.

Hurricane Gloria was a most impolite lady. She barreled up the Atlantic coast, scaring the heck out of people from Florida to Massachusetts. Despite the fact that the storm didn’t live up to its billing, hundreds of boats in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts were destroyed or severely damaged. In some cases, the boats were lost through no fault of the owner. No amount of preparation will save your boat if another boat drags down on it in the middle of a hurricane. In other cases, however, lack of proper preparation was a major cause of a damaged boat. There’s no excuse for that type of loss.

Anchor lockers are a convenience to coastal cruisers but no friend to offshore sailors. Passagemakers often forgo a deck-clearing locker for a belowdecks anchor-chain well. An angled spill pipe leads the anchor chain from the deck to the well, which often is under the forepeak and behind a watertight bulkhead. The setup not only eliminates the flooded-bow worries inherent with an on-deck locker, but it also moves the chain and anchors’ weight lower and further aft, where it should be to avoid hobby-horsing.

Take a cursory glance at a new 35-footer and you might easily conclude that, except for cosmetic changes, the boat is essentially unchanged from those that made their debut in 1995. But that is not the case. In contemporary designs, modifications to deck layouts, the design of creature comforts, and boathandling systems, all reflect the market's desire for easy use, as evinced by below-deck sheeting systems (X Yachts), electrically controlled stern platforms (C&C), and removable traveler systems (Etap), for instance.

Choosing an anchor best suited to your cruising style must take into account the area you are cruising, the type of boat you will be sailing, and the demands you will make on your gear. Purchasing an anchor and its chain and rode can be an expensive proposition.

Letters to Practical Sailor, January 2011. This month's letters cover subjects such as: Sailing non-profits, wind gens, pressure cookers, wood finish and mildew remover.

The editors at Practical Sailor get a few reports of broken anchors each year. Typically, these are failed fluke welds on Danforth-style designs or bent shanks on plough-types. The experience of Ted Goodwin, whose 43-pound cast aluminum Barnacle anchor catastrophically broke on the Bahama Bank earlier this year, is fortunately quite rare. …

Picture this: You fire up the iron jenny in preparation to exit a crowded anchorage. As the anchor slides onto the bow roller, the engine overtemp alarm shrieks a noisy reminder that youve skipped item number 2 on your pre-departure checklist-open the engine cooling water seacock. Your water-pump impeller typically would be toast at this point, but youve got an ace up your sleeve, SpeedsealLife. So you simply duck down below, open the seacock, verify the engine temp is good, and then continue on your way. At your destination, you check the impeller, verify that its fine, and life is good.

Letters from the August 2010 issue of Practical Sailor. Subjects include: Shore anchoring, feathering props, earth-friendly cleaning products, staying hydrated and dink repairs.