Rocna anchor

The Lytles sail a 20-year-old Bowman, which has been based in the eastern Caribbean for the last 14 years. They have recently returned with the yacht to the UK. “Our experience with the Rocna is confined to the Caribbean where there is no Scottish kelp, but it sets in a very short distance and if it does not set you can be confident it has got foul of something like a tyre or a lobster pot. It is said that, apart from the day you buy your first yacht and the day you sell your last one, the third best day in a yachtsman’s life is the day he throws away his CQR and buys a Rocna. We have complete faith in this anchor and it digs right in, which a CQR rarely does, usually just lying on its side.”

A 20kg Rocna costs £467 www.rocna.com