Here is an unusual but significant reason to use an oversized anchor. We’ve been anchoring in tidal estuaries with lots of reversing current. When we picked up the hook to move yesterday it came up with the chain wrapped three times around the stock. That means under load the pull on the anchor was not as designed, reducing the holding power. But this anchor is so much larger than suggested that it still has plenty of muscle.

Clearing a foul like this is not difficult. Here are the steps we used:

• Snug the fouled anchor against the bow roller assembly.
• Take a line from the Sampson post (you could use a cleat) through the roll bar, and back to the Sampson post.
• Ease windlass so that chain is loose and anchor hanging on the line.
• Maneuver the three wraps of chain down the anchor stock (we used the boat hook).
• Ease one end of line holding the anchor until the anchor is supported by the chain.
• Retrieve line so it does not foul windlass.
• Winch the anchor home or deploy.

This entire process takes less than five minutes.