The Truth Is Out About Old Style Anchors

by John February 1, 2007

There is an interesting comparison test of anchors in the October 2007 issue of SAIL magazine. All the usual anchor suspects are put through their paces but what stands out is the very poor performance of traditional anchors, particularly the CQR, against more modern designs like the Rocna and SPADE.

Update On Our Thoughts About The Luke Fisherman Anchor

by John May 1, 2007
A 150 lb Luke Fisherman anchor on the aft cabin top of aluminum sailboat Morgan's Cloud.

Up until we bought our 120lb (55kg) SPADE anchor in 2002, our 150lb Luke Fisherman anchor, that we affectionately call ‘Big Bertha’, was our anchor of choice in kelp and rocky bottoms like those found in Labrador and Greenland.

Anchoring In The Modern World

by Colin August 1, 2008
A Rocna anchor on the bow of a OVNI 435 aluminum sailboat.

The first sailors anchored using heavy stones, attached to long ropes, and often with an army of slaves to pull them up. Thank God those days are over, and that we now have excellent choices of anchors available, and powerful windlasses to retrieve them.

Mooring Gear—Staying Put

by Colin June 1, 2009
Mooring Strops

What does the word “harbour” mean to you? A safe haven, perhaps, sheltered from all sides? Well, in some of the less frequented parts of the world it can mean something quite different. Many “harbours”, such as Hugh Town on St Mary’s in the Isles of Scilly, are far from safe in all conditions, being [...]

A Question Of Scale—Anchor Size

by Colin September 1, 2009
OVNI 435 Pèlerin at anchor with a closeup of the anchor bow roller, chain and snubber.

This summer will remain in my memory as one for strong winds and great sailing. By the time we reached Scotland in early July we had just about seen the last of the light winds that we had enjoyed in West Cork, and a more mixed regime had set in. No matter—these were ideal conditions [...]

Swans Island And Anchoring

by John June 17, 2010

We are finally out of the boat yard after the re-power and so I thought I would celebrate with a Photo Short.

Taking The Strain

by Colin July 22, 2010
One of our new snubbing lines and hook, with a standard hook for comparison

During our time in the Rias of Galicia we’ve enjoyed many comfortable nights at anchor. But as is the case in any area surrounded by hills we’ve had plenty of wind at times, rolling down off those same hills, or funnelling down the valleys. We had one memorable night where despite the fact that we [...]

Anchor Swivels, Just Say No

by John September 12, 2010
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We have never seen the point of anchor swivels. In our opinion all they do is add a potential point of failure to the anchoring system and provide no benefits in return.

Storm Preparation, All Chain On Deck

by John September 29, 2010
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On Morgan’s Cloud we are always looking for new and better ways to minimize the chance of damage when riding out storms or hurricanes at anchor or on a mooring. And given that we  have spent a lot of time in the high latitudes and further that I kept boats on moorings year round in [...]

Anatomy Of An Accident

by John December 3, 2010
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It was 4:00 am on a black early morning anchored at Cape Lookout Harbour when Phyllis and I were awoken by a crash from up forward followed by a sickening scraping sound. A quick look out the companionway showed the outline of another sailboat reversing away from our bow. The outline looked a lot like [...]

Things to Know About Anchor Chain

by John May 11, 2011
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One of the cool things about running this site is that gear manufacturers are now beginning to recognise the purchasing power and general clout that you, our readers, wield. So now when I ask a whole bunch of questions about a manufacturer’s products—many of them dumb, I’m sure—they are more likely to find the time [...]

A Windlass That Makes The Grade

by John August 7, 2011
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In my last post I wrote about us having to anchor twice and weigh anchor once in gale and strong-gale force winds with higher gusts. In this post I’m going to write about the capabilities you need to have in a windlass when the anchoring gets tough. And these features are not just for those [...]

Rocna Versus SPADE, Strengths and Weaknesses

by John November 23, 2011
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Our position here at Attainable Adventure Cruising Ltd has been, and continues to be, that the Rocna and SPADE are both great anchors that have made previous generation anchors like the CQR and Bruce obsolete. But that leaves the question: What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two anchors? To try to at [...]