We’ve learned our anchoring lessons the hard way, by being caught at anchor, with ground tackle which was less than adequate, in situations where we wished we were at sea. That’s why we now carry such big anchors (and specify them on our clients’ boats). Our approach puts together an anchoring system that is designed for the worst possible scenarios.

What are the types of situations you need to allow for? In the tropics you will often be anchored in thin sand over coral. This does not allow burying anchors, like CQRs, to dig in. Holding is not the best for any type of anchor, but the Bruce, Spade, and Rocna types work best based on our experience. The water can be deep. It is not unusual to anchor in 60 to 100 feet (18 to 30m). And protection is often from the southeast to east (typical for trade winds) but exposed to the southwest (where convergence winds come from).

In higher latitudes you will sometimes find very soft mud off river deltas where the anchor never finds hard enough bottom to get a hold. Here fluke area is the answer. The Danforth type work best, or really large anchors of other designs.

There are other parts of the world where you will find rock-strewn bottoms, and there is really no anchor which will dig in. In this case, getting a part of the anchor to hook on a boulder/rock is the only option. In such a situation Bruce, Rocna/Spade, and the old-fashioned fisherman anchors work best.

The last situation is bottoms that are thick with grass or kelp. Here you need an anchor with lots of weight on its point, like our Rocna.

So what does all of this mean for your anchoring system? First, big anchors always hold better. Our experience is that holding power often goes up much faster than just the increase in anchor weight would indicate. You also get better penetration of difficult bottoms with the extra weight.

The bigger anchor also sets faster, and can be used on shorter scope. We typically set our big hooks using 2.5 to 3.1 scope and then shorten up to 2-1 in tight anchorages. Faster setting and shorter scope means less risk of fouling objects on the bottom and greater anchoring depth for a given amount of chain.

We also like to use high-strength chain, typically schedule seven, and we put the weight saved with this grade of chain back into the anchor.

The rest of your system – bow roller, windlass, and chain stopper – all need to be able to handle the full breaking strain of the chain (not the working load, which is typically a quarter to a fifth of the break strength).

In the real world we know that this approach works well. The Sundeer 56s were supplied with 110lb (50kg) Bruce anchors and 5/16″ (8.5mm) schedule 7 ACCO chain. The Sundeer 64s were a step up, using the 176 pound (80kg) Bruce and 3/8″ (9.5mm) schedule 7 chain. One of the Sundeer 64s rode out a major hurricane at anchor in Grenada a few years ago with big seas and winds estimated at between 125 and 160 knots (depending on who you talk to), so we know the system works well!

For Wind Horse we’ve gone with a 250-pound (115kg) Rocna and are very pleased with it.

While we are on this subject we should discuss second anchors. We do carry several additional anchors. One of these is for use as a kedge should we go aground, and the other is a back up should we lose the main hook. We rarely anchor with double anchors. We don’t like the extra work, and the risks rise exponentially with twin hooks if the weather deteriorates and you have to exit quickly. In the olden days we would occasionally put out a second anchor in a blow, but then we got smarter and put the weight of the second anchor into the primary hook, where it would work all the time.

Bottom line – think of the worst possible anchoring scenario (your back to a lee shore, unexpected wind and waves beating on your bow, and no way to put to sea) – and size your anchor and related gear accordingly.