Sleep easy at anchor
Roger Hughes describes a twin-hook anchoring technique that has served him faithfully for decades
A twin-hook anchoring technique to keep you safe in the roughest storm
When I was new to sailing, many, many years ago, it didn’t take long to learn it was far better to anchor securely, than to be stumbling on deck at 0300 on a blustery, rainy, dead black night, trying to haul in and reset a dragging anchor. I soon devised a drag-proof method of anchoring and on my present 45ft schooner I still use the same system.
The normal method to avert dragging is to lay a good length of chain rode, about five or six times the depth, but this in itself doesn’t guarantee a single anchor won’t drag – and if you have to haul in about six times a 40ft (12m) depth in order to re-set the anchor, (in the above mentioned conditions), that’s an awful lot of chain and effort.
The idea with any anchor is to try to keep it flat on the bottom, when it has the best chance of digging in – even if it was not doing so at the beginning. An age-old method was to weight the chain about half way along the rode with what is generically called a kellet. One such device, made in New Zealand is called an Anchor Buddy. It's a heavy casting with a roller in the middle which is slid down the chain or line. It has no actual holding power by itself.
I devised a more sophisticated method, using a second anchor, which I have found to be drag-proof even in the most severe conditions.
The system
I have two CQR anchors on twin rollers either side of my bowsprit. One is a 60-pounder (27kg) and the other weighs in at a mere 35lb (16kg). I actually wish I had two 60-pounders, this being the heaviest I can manage. I firmly believe a main bower anchor should be as heavy as the anchorman, or woman, can reasonably handle, irrespective of boat size – within reason of course. It is possible that the spate of modern anchors we have seen over recent years don’t need to be as heavy as the old styles, but for me heavier is still better.
The 60lb bower is on 225ft (68m) of 3⁄8in (10mm) chain and 200ft of 5⁄8in (16mm) line. The 'little’ anchor has no chain or rope attached to it at all until it is deployed.
I made up a strong rope bridle, with stainless thimbles spliced and whipped each end. This remains permanently shackled to the stock of the 35lb CQR while still sitting in its roller, then passes round the end of the bowsprit and up the roller of the main anchor. On my boat this bridle is 7ft long, but the idea is to make it as short as possible and the length will vary according to different bow setups. If you only have one bow roller, a second anchor can be shackled to the chain with a very short bridle.
How to anchor
After letting go the main anchor and paying out usually about three times the depth, I then let the boat fall back with the wind, or drive it backwards, until the chain comes up and it feels as though the anchor has snubbed in. I then shackle the rope bridle
to the chain, the other end already being attached to the shank of the second anchor. At the same time I bend a good length of strong line to the second anchor. This needs to be at least as long as the rest of the chain you intend to let out.
I then push the second anchor overboard, where it hangs by the bridle on the chain, as I back the boat up and let out more chain, along with the rope attached to the second anchor. I usually let out two or three times the depth again, then snub the second anchor.
I now have the main anchor dug into the bottom, a good length of chain and the second anchor attached to it, (a total of 95lb of anchors), then about the same length of chain and a rope up to the boat (see Diagram 1, right).
All this might sound like a bit of a rigmarole, but it really isn’t if you organise it properly beforehand. I can anchor with this method almost as quickly as any boat with a single anchor but with a lot more peace of mind if the wind pipes up. My boat weighs in at over 20 tons with no shortage of windage in the form of three roller-furled sails, a squaresail yard, and a large cockpit enclosure.
The system can be adapted to any boat with two anchors. If you use a chain and rope rode, the bridle should be shackled to the last few links of the chain.
Dual anchor benefits
If for any reason, wind or tide, the strain on the boat becomes strong enough, (always at around 0300 of course), the rode will straighten out until the bridle becomes tight and tries to lift the
second anchor. If this was bedded in it will resist the chain trying to lift it off the bottom and act as a spring, dampening the effect of whatever is causing the rode to tighten and ensuring the chain to the first anchor remains flat on the bottom.
If the wind shifts, or the tide turns, the boat initially swings to the second anchor. If the wind or current is so strong it drags the chain round, pulling the second anchor with it. What happens then is the second anchor again beds in (see Diagram 2, previous page).
If the second anchor should fail to grip, the whole rode straightens out in the new direction. This has never happened to us because the second anchor always beds in long before this happens.
Weighing anchor is only slightly more trouble than you would normally have, with or without a windlass.
To retrieve the anchors, the second anchor is hauled in until it can be brought on deck by hand, or on my boat, hauled through it’s bow roller with the rope. The bridle is then unshackled from the main chain. At this point the boat is still anchored by the first anchor, and you can take a breather if you like.
The main anchor is then brought up in your normal way.
Drag-proof method?
For me, the main point of doing all this is: the system has never dragged on any boat I have ever anchored! I wonder how many people can say that about their anchoring successes.
I have also adopted a policy of always – and I mean always – anchoring with this method overnight.
There are other benefits. In rough conditions it’s very comforting to know you’re lying to two anchors on two separate rodes. Who hasn’t worried, just a little on a wild night, if the chain will break, or the single anchor let go?
I would much sooner have the trouble of laying and recovering this lot when I am ready, than the worry of dragging at night, with all the associated dangers.
This system is easier and quicker than trying to lay two separate anchors, say at 90° to each other. There is no manoeuvring to be done and no chance of their rodes tangling up if the boat swings.
Safe in the roughest storm
We were once anchored by this method in Cala Portinatx, a beautiful cove in northern Ibiza. A Mistral had been forecast, but it came in the night much stronger than anticipated and the bay was soon awash with boats dragging their anchors and heading for the rocky shore, along with the associated mayhem. But not us. My only concern was keeping watch in case other boats crashed into us.
One came up on us, the terrified occupants unable to re-set their anchor or motor against the wind. I heaved them a line and attached it to our aft cleats, and they drifted astern. Then a second boat scudded by and we did the same. All three of us remained like this during a very blustery night, during which a substantial motor cruiser was driven up a sandy beach by the frantic occupants. Two boats were completely wrecked on rocks, and one person sadly lost his life.
It is certainly worth anchoring well, even in a flat calm and a good forecast, because you never know when old Neptune might change his mind...