Leave it on or take it off?
Here’s something I’m curious about… for those of you with ocean passages under your belt, do you leave your anchor on the bow while offshore, or do you remove it and stow it down below?
I recently watched a video by Skip Novak where he talks about preparing the deck of his boat for an offshore passage. Along with plenty of other good advice, one of the things that he recommends in the clip is, for longer trips, removing the anchor and stowing it below for the passage.
Now to tell the truth, until I saw that video, I had never considered such a thing. When navigating shallower waters close to shore, I always like to have our anchor rigged, and if not immediately ready to deploy, set up in such a way that we can drop it with a minimal amount of work, just in case. I guess though, that if you’re going to be off soundings for a week or more, crossing an ocean where there is a potential for heavy weather (isn’t there always?), there isn’t a ton of need to have that big chunk of steel out on the bow, exposed to the sometimes significant force of the waves. My thought is though, unlike the way that it is shown on the video, removing it while on a dock, I’d prefer to be able to remove the anchor, and re-install it on the bow, at some point offshore where we have a safe amount of sea room. Who am I to argue though? 🙂
Your thoughts?
While on the subject, I really like our new setup for securing the anchor. It is solid!
Don’t forget to stow your lamb! Lol
My thought would be to remove and stow properly for an ocean passage. Hardware tackle can fail, or a plough through a wave can put some serious strain on your gear. I wouldn’t worry about it for Island hopping, however where you are planning to go is a different story.
We always secure our anchor when not in use. To avoid to much preassure on the windlass and to avoid having all 100 m of chain out if the windlass fail to hold the chain.
During our two Atlantic crossing we hade it secured with two different ropes. One to protect it to drop and one to secure it side ways. Both lines had to be replaced after each trip. we also secure the chain. we lift it up a bit and secure it around the gipsy to prevent it from running out if the securing lines would brake.
On our way back to Europe we got some nasty head winds and waves. there was so much water hitting the anchore that I wished we hade taken that away and stored in some other place. It is enormous forces that hits the bow.
But I guess it also has to do with what type of weather you are expecting. Heavy head winds. tripple the security lines or stowe it.
Definitely leave it on. You would really have to secure it well below for it to not be a liability, and if you come in under adverse conditions, or find yourself unexpectedly on a shoal, the last thing you need is the extra step of loading up your anchor. Do secure it well on deck though, as you have done. (Nice setup). Just my 2¢ though.
Leave it on–but well lashed down. You never know what kind of gnarly landfall you’re going to make and how quickly you may need your anchor. We’ve known enough instances of people coming in under sail or tow (after having their engine hydro lock or get dirty fuel) after a boisterous passage when the anchor was needed ‘right now’. I can’t imagine trying to dig out an anchor or hook it up properly in the last minutes of a bad passage–seems like a recipe for trouble. But that’s just me.
Never took ours off for an oceancrossing. But always made sure it was properly secured. If you would take it off you really need to think about where and how to store it.
Hakan
I would not want to have to re-install it on a pitching deck in an emergency situation. On the other hand, having the excess weight of an “upsized” anchor located way out on the bow seems undesirable as well. I would consider stowing it as close as possible to the COG, assuming there IS a suitable location, and installing a lighter secondary anchor, say a Fortress, on the bow to have it ready to go in an emergency.
Clearly the boat will sail better if several hundred pounds of anchor and chain are moved closer to the CG. I suspect it is laziness that more sailors don’t do it. And the most important question is how you will reinstall it. There is no way a tired short handed crew could do this at sea, so they will need to be 100% confident that they can get to a dock or anchor temporarily with a secondary anchor in a sheltered cove.
I had one come loose while sailing across the gulf of mexico one night in ten foot waves and 30 knots of wind. Pulling 200 feet of chain up from that pitching, wet and cold bow deck was something I really don’t want to ever do again.
I suspect the bottom line is that it depends on the bow roller strength and fit of the anchor. Some are flimsy and stick out too far, and some anchors fit poorly. I’ve read stories where an anchor came loose, but how well was it secured, really?
Perhaps a safe compromise is to add additional lashing to prevent any movement, and to brace against lifting at the front end (I suspect that is the risk). As it is, mine goes underwater plenty and it is not the thing I would be worried about in a bigger storm (I have a tail lock not too different from yours). I cannot imagine–and I can calculate–that wave forces are within 2 orders of magnitude of anchoring forces (though they are in different directions). I think Skip is simply not a calculation guy and has gone with old safe practice.
Mike,
A few considerations:
1. Our boat weighs 32T. What effect will moving that 88 pound anchor really have? If we had a 32 foot boat, yes, I can understand the concept. Your boat is also pretty heavy and I doubt that removal of the anchor will completely eliminate hobby-horsing.
2. When leaving a place like a marina or a mooring, I’ve often thought that if something went wrong, I can always drop the anchor and stop – but not if it has been removed and stowed.
3. You have to secure the anchor, whether its on the bow or at the base of the mast, whatever, you still have to make it secure.
4. If you’re at anchor, stowing the anchor for an ocean passage means that you have to do this after the anchor is lifted. This also takes time.
5. I believe that most of the accidents and injuries that happen to cruisers are just like this, moving around a heavy anchor on an unsteady deck. Back strain, bruised shins and broken toes are pretty common. Ask yourself, is this the smart thing to do?
6. We actually have two anchors on the bow, and for a bloody good reason too. We personally know a couple who had an Amel 53 with one anchor on the bow. Their SS chain broke in the middle of the night during a squall and they decided to leave the anchorage (re-anchoring was problematic at midnight because they did not have a second anchor ready) by following their track out. They hit a reef and sunk the boat, losing everything.
Nope, we will never follow this practice. Its fine for some people, but not for us. Lash that anchor down very very well and enjoy the peace of mind that it gives you.
We did on the Mexico-Marquesas run but we wouldnt again. We did on our upwind legs, and we *would* again.
On a passage that we expect to be upwind, we seriously think about it. When the bow is going into waves, even tied well, it slams on our boat. But because it is such a pain to reinstall while underway, otherwise we dont. We have a huge aft lazarette and can stow it safely in there. Also, sometimes you are exiting out a pass and we really want the anchor as part of emergency plans then.
We’ve just done 7000miles of mostly upwind sailing from Malaysia to Australia via PNG and left our oversized rocna and our oversized Manson plough on the bow. Secured properly the 90kg of both anchors has little obvious effect to our 30ton 13.3metre schooner
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, everyone!