OFF THE HOOK
It’s time for an anchor upgrade aboard Jennywren but which one did Mike Rothery go for and why?
Anchoring can be a very divisive subject. I often post on the YBW forums and when the subject of anchoring appears, you can almost hear the forumites at their keyboards saying “here we go again!” But I thought it might be interesting to write a few words on the anchor upgrade that I gave Jennywren a few years ago and the success that we have had since.
Jennywren is a 13-year-old Princess 67 that my wife and I bought from new and she was fitted with the usual Delta style anchor you tend to see on boats of this era. We keep her in Sant Carles Marina on the Spanish coast.
A favourite pastime is to pop out to our fantastic local lagoon and “drop the hook” for a few hours. Our lagoon has a sand/mud bottom so anchoring with any anchor is really easy. But, for us, anchoring is more of a challenge during our longer cruises when we are away for several weeks. The Delta anchor is a ploughing anchor and that’s what it does – ploughs. I wanted a general purpose anchor that works on most sea beds – something that I could set and forget.
I always say, the only thing worse than getting an anchor stuck on the bottom is getting an expensive anchor stuck on the bottom, so I decided to opt for a more affordable galvanised anchor. The Rocna design seemed to be the favourite amongst my friends in our marina so I bought a 55kg one and fitted it to our existing roller. Like some others, the Rocna has a semi-circular hoop that ensures it lands on the seabed ready to “dig in” as soon as it is pulled. Very often, our old Delta anchor would lay on its back when initially deployed. The overall weight of the ground tackle seems to be important for a good hold so I also upgraded the chain from 10mm to 12mm and I also changed the windlass to the next model up so that it could cope with the extra weight.
The difference this upgrade has made is significant. Instead of faffing around trying to get the old Delta to set, we now just drop the Rocna in a nice sandy patch and, using a short burst into reverse gear, let the boat drift back. There is usually a noticeable jerk and the bow swings to wind as the new Rocna sets itself. The Mediterranean is great for this kind of thing because the water is generally so clear that you can actually watch the anchor setting.
Even with a wellset anchor, I always monitor the boat’s movement using a mobile phone app. At anchor, we prefer to keep the use of our generator to a minimum and most of the time the boat runs off the batteries. Mobile phones use very little power so I have fitted some USB power outlets in all Jennywren’s cabins. When we go to bed, I set an anchor watch on a mobile phone and keep it next to me on the bedside table.
WEATHER WARNINGS
Additionally, I use a Bluetooth wind anemometer on the boat’s radar arch and this simple device connects with an app on the same mobile phone. In my experience, wind always picks up before the boat swings or drags at anchor so the wind input from the Bluetooth app is a great prewarning of any change in the weather. Most of our experience was gained when we had the
Delta anchor but these days, the Rocna anchor and heavier chain give us more confidence, and provide us a more restful night’s sleep.