The Offshore Voyaging Reference Site

Third Anchors, Storm Anchors and Spare Anchors

In the first three chapters of this Online Book we defined which anchors we like for our primary anchor (SPADE) and kedge (Fortress) and how big they should be.

These recommendations were pretty straightforward, with little ambiguity, and I’m very comfortable with them. But now, as I look at what anchors we should carry in addition to the best bower and kedge, the whole thing gets murky, with a lot of variables.

Let’s give it a go:


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More Articles From Online Book: Anchoring Made Easy:

  1. Introduction
  2. 4 Vital Anchor Selection Criteria and a Review of SPADE
  3. SARCA Excel Anchor—A Real World Test
  4. SPADE, SARCA Excel, or Some Other Anchor?
  5. Rocna Resetting Failures and Evaluation of Vulcan and Mantus
  6. Some Thoughts On The Ultra Anchor, Roll Bars and Swivels
  7. Specifying Primary Anchor Size
  8. Kedge (Secondary Anchor)—Recommended Type and Size
  9. Third Anchors, Storm Anchors and Spare Anchors
  10. Anchor Tests—The Good, The Bad, and The Downright Silly
  11. Making Anchor Tests More Meaningful
  12. We Love The Way Our Anchor Drags 
  13. Things to Know About Anchor Chain
  14. Selecting a Chain Grade
  15. Anchor Chain Catenary, When it Matters and When it Doesn’t
  16. Anchoring—Snubbers
  17. Anchor Rode Questions and Answers
  18. Q&A: Hybrid Rope And Chain Anchor Rodes
  19. Anchor Swivels, Just Say No
  20. A Windlass That Makes The Grade
  21. The Perfect Anchor Roller
  22. Install A Wash-down Pump—And Save Money!
  23. Anchoring—Kellets
  24. Anchoring—Chain: Stoppers, Termination and Marking
  25. 20 Tips To Get Anchored and Stay Anchored
  26. Choosing an Anchorage
  27. Choosing a Spot
  28. 15 Steps To Getting Securely Anchored
  29. One Anchor or Two?
  30. Two Anchors Done Right
  31. It’s Often Better to Anchor Than Pick Up a Mooring
  32. Yawing at Anchor, The Theory and The Solution
  33. Yawing at The Anchor, an Alternative Cure
  34. How To Use An Anchor Trip Line
  35. ShoreFasts—Part 1, When to Use Them
  36. ShoreFasts—Part 2, Example Setups Plus Tips and Tricks
  37. ShoreFasts—Part 3, The Gear
  38. Gale And Storm Preparation, At Anchor Or On A Mooring
  39. Storm Preparation, All Chain On Deck
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Eric Klem

Hi John,

I reached a very similar conclusion on our third anchor when I was going through this. We have a Mantus primary, a Fortress secondary and a Manson Supreme as the backup that is 1 size smaller than the primary. I bought the Manson as a backup anchor for a previous boat that used a Rocna primary so it was a different size and since we are not headed as far away from civilization as you at this point, I feel fine with this difference. If I were to buy my third anchor from scratch, I would buy an identical Mantus to our primary as it would fit the anchor roller well, it would stow well and we have found this to be the best performing anchor we have ever owned.

I am curious as to what your thoughts are on getting a 120lb Spade up on deck? It has been several years since I have handled a Spade but if my memory is right, the fluke has most of the weight so disassembling doesn’t help as much as it would with an anchor that doesn’t a lead tip and therefore has more equally weighted parts that can be carried up separately. I guess it might not be a huge deal as you would rarely need to do this.

I have over 1000 nights on fisherman style anchors and there are things that I really like and really dislike about them. Most of those nights were either with a 500 or a 750lb version so it may not scale all that well to cruising yachts. The anchors set really well and worked incredibly at short scope but the holding power was low for the weight and the chain tended to foul on the stock. If someone does plan to use a fisherman a lot, I would recommend looking at how traditional sailing ships carried them. For calm weather, they would use a combination of a cathead and lashing the fluke to the rail. For rougher weather, it was traditional to pull the flukes inboard and lash them flat to the deck with the stock sticking vertically over the side which could be a practical option for a cruising boat provided that adequate protection was put to prevent damaging the deck or topsides. This is a very secure arrangement that has no issues with wave impacts and allows the anchor to be deployed and retrieved in a reasonable amount of time by first lashing the head in place with the anchor vertical and then lifting the flukes into place.

Eric

Bill Robinson

Hi John,
I think that you are 100% correct here.
I carried 75lb Paul Luke aboard for 16 years, and never used it in anger. The one time that I did use it in a trial, convinced me of its difficulties re launching and recovery, especially single handed in a blow. Imagine how far you would drift while assembling, hoisting and swinging out a Luke, and the drama if it had to be recovered so that one could leave, if a wind shift made that necessary. I subsequently sold it, and made myself a 2 piece “Rocna”. The stock is a T section where it passes through the fluke, (so it can never fail), and is held in position by a bolt. It stores well in the Vee of the bilge, and is easy to carry , using the roll bar as a handle. It can be assembled very fast. Peter Smith did make a similar, 2 piece Rocna, but it was never produced commercially. My anchor inventory is 25kg Rocna, a Fortress, and the 40kg, 2 piece ” Rocna” , as a storm/ spare anchor. Jenain is 11m long, and displaces around 12 tons.

Rick Salsman

Hi John:
Hope all is well. Good article, thank you. Needless to say I was pleased with your choices. We’ve been using a 30kg Spade as primary for years and have 2 Fortress’ as back ups, a 37 and a 55. I like your idea of the 2nd spade.
While at the catamaran show in La Grand Motte there was an anchor there, from Turkey, called the Ultra. They have an interesting “upgrade(?)” on the Spade concept. They demo’d their anchor along with the Spade and Fortress and CQR in a small sandbox. It was impressive. They also had a unique swivel that stops twist. The downside is they are expensive. I wondered if you had researched the Ultra and if so, what your thoughts are?
Ciao from Sunny Sicily.

Marcus

It seems that Rocna have released a new anchor called Vulcan that does not have a rollbar. Looks very similar to the Spade. Would be interesting to see how these compare.