Anchor Geekdom

[Russell Brown]

Russ was that at Dungeness Spit? Wife and I are R2AK junkies and combined a camping trip around the Peninsula with watching the start in PT and then driving up the strait to view points to see what we could see. We saw you at Dungeness Spit. It looked vicious out there for you and a several others. I'm amazed that such a small anchor held in that wind, though it looked protected from the waves on the strait. I miss Steve's contributions, I passed him once as he was headed out of Scow Bay in his new test boat.

Hi Eric,
That was actually Pocket Rocket you saw at Dungeness spit. Did you hike all the way out there or do you travel with a telescope? That day was around 30 knots, the day I was talking about was almost 60 knots. That little Mantus has held me in 50 knots at least 3 times. Steve loaned me a Viking, which we both think is a better anchor, but they are hard to get right now (made in Ukraine).
You have an F-31, right? What anchor do you use?

 

[eric1207]

Russ, We saw Pocket Rocket with binoculars. I assumed it was your G32 racing, or maybe you shadowing the fleet, as the likelihood of two G32s in PT are pretty small. Incidentally, I know of another G32 squirreled away behind a house near my home in N. Seattle.

Yes, F31 with an aluminum 80 Spade. I guess thats 8 Kgs. I'd have gotten the A100 but it doesn't fit the anchor locker. It hasn't dragged on me but I use more chain than most. I'm really adverse to the risk of dragging. I'm cruising, not racing.

 

[Zonker]

We used an aluminum Spade A120 for our 40' bridgedeck catamaran. (33 lbs)

Held in 85+ knots of wind.

On ~4:1 scope.

I suspect a A80 will hold an F31 in even higher winds on a good sand bottom.

 

[eric1207]

That is very encouraging Zonker. Thanks. Having crewed on a boat dragging anchor in a sudden night squall many years ago I don't want to deal with that again.

 

[Russell Brown]

Russ, We saw Pocket Rocket with binoculars. I assumed it was your G32 racing, or maybe you shadowing the fleet, as the likelihood of two G32s in PT are pretty small. Incidentally, I know of another G32 squirreled away behind a house near my home in N. Seattle.

Yes, F31 with an aluminum 80 Spade. I guess thats 8 Kgs. I'd have gotten the A100 but it doesn't fit the anchor locker. It hasn't dragged on me but I use more chain than most. I'm really adverse to the risk of dragging. I'm cruising, not racing.

We did shadow the fleet. What a mistake. it was the roughest crossing of the Straights for me. The camera was put away when it got really scary, but Ashlyn got some footage before things got too frightening.
I posted this somewhere here before, but here it is again:

 

[eric1207]

It definitely looked very scary from our perch and, as you know, some competitors had carnage & harrowing experiences

 

[Max Rockatansky]

I’m so far continue to be impressed with the Excel. Sets quick and deep. Have not yet tested its holding though. Wx has been too good

I wrote this to Steve:

“Apr 3, 2022

Wanted to report on the first shift test of the Excel.

So we are at our weekend anchorage, which is a bit north of where the Manson had the drag event that I have recounted in your thread.

This spot is north, a little west, and in a deepish hole that seems to be all sandy silt. The anchor sets such that I cannot see it, even the shank. I am set at about 10:1, all chain

Last night, despite NOAA saying only 20% chance of showers, a fairly dirty squall line came from the north and hit all the Keys. The winds went from south 5 to NE 30, with rain and cloud-ground lightning. At 0145, of course.

The Excel held. The reversal wasn’t as abrupt as a summer storm will do. I think our max wind was 30 and summer squalls deal out more than that.

But we didn’t budge as best I can tell. Madame is tired from cleaning the hulls and probably won’t go back in the water so I don’t know what the pick looks like down there.

It’s hard to divorce the substrate from the anchor as far as variables, but this combo seems the go.”

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

I still wander over to the SV Panope YouTube site. Not as convenient as linking to the latest video and discussing it in this thread, but I get why he bailed. Its the downside of anarchy and putting up with asshole trolls.

Asshole trolls, after all Steve has done here and in this thread? That’s sad. Hadn’t realized he bailed on this thread.

I have also really benefited from Steve's testing and advice. because of the weigh, I've never carried over 15' of chain per anchor. I trust rope. Got to ride out almost 60 knots of wind this spring on a 13 lb Mantus on my low-windage 32' catamaran. It wasn't real fun, but didn't budge.

Russell - silly question, but how do you store the rope you use? What I mean is, do you have a windlass and, if you do, by using a lot more rope relative to chain (i.e., not anchoring on an all chain rode but instead mostly rope), do you have to sit there and stuff the rope bit by bit down the hawse hole? (I’ve got limited experience anchoring with rope on a boat with a windlass/hawse hole, opposed to a boat like, say, a coastal cruiser, e.g., a smaller Catalina with big, shallow anchor locker that hinges wide open and that you can simply flake the rope in. On my boat with windlass/hawse hole, I find it a bit of a “nuisance” to sit there and feed the rope down bit by bit — instead of letting the windlass drop the chain down...as a result I’ve lazed out and gone with mostly chain. But we’re a heavy boat and the weight doesn’t affect us much unlike a lively boat like yours.)

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

Name that anchor. Seen in the Med (Cartagena, Spain)

 

[Autonomous]

Looks like it has hairy legs. Must be French.

 

[cje]

FOB Anchors — Calibra Marine Equipment Ltd

Practical Boat Owner – It relates a tale of woe in Greece whereby a yacht attempting to reset anchor in a crowded anchorage without lifting properly, drags over several other boats’ anchor chains, lifting them out in the process, with the subsequent mess all drifting down onto the authors’...

www.calibramarine.com

 

[lakeneuch]

Yes, looks like a FOB type or britany type anchor. Very common in la grande nation, don't know if there really is a relation with hair.

 

[Zonker]

Very common as original equipment on older European boats, esp. Fr.

I know them as Brittany type. Very cheap, not very good.

 

[accnick]

Very common as original equipment on older European boats, esp. Fr.

I know them as Brittany type. Very cheap, not very good.

Looks like a Cargo Cult version of a Danforth.

 

[sculpin]

Looks like a Cargo Cult version of a Danforth.

It worked, they got a boat...

 

[robtoujours]

Very common in Europe. Very cheap. That may be related to how often you see them, especially on charter boats. I've only used them as a lunch hook in calm conditions. Very intrigued to see how they would stack up on Steves tests!

 

[cje]

Don't make us search, just post them.

 

[Jud - s/v Sputnik]

@Panope

Killick/killock anchor

Was walking on Saltspring Island the other day and stumbled across the classic old Tristan Jones book, “Seagulls In My Soup” on the road (which I didn’t recall ever reading; besides I find his stuff is a bit ‘ridiculous’).

Anyway, the next evening at anchor, reading Jones’ amusing tales and outlandish character sketches, he writes (in Ch. 6, ‘Hanging Johnny’), “Cresswell sat among the tiny wavelets like a dowager duchess in an infants’ school. The water of the bay was so clean that we could clearly see the killock anchor on the sea-bottom thirty feet astern of the rudder.”

Intrigued, I looked up killock anchors. And wondered…could Jones, a famously impecunious writer, actually have trusted his boat and home to such an anchor (no matter how impecunious), and not afford a better anchor for his own security? (We’ll never know. BTW, killock/killick is also a type of related hitch/knot, it turns out.)

Nova Scotia man finds possible historic Killick anchor on beach

John Benoit of West Jeddore, N.S., says he has been beachcombing for over 50 years, but his most recent discovery -- a Killick anchor -- is by far his most memorable.

beta.ctvnews.ca

Killock (anchor)

collections.peabody.harvard.edu

It’s an amusing book, and Jones is a skilled writer, but I’ve no interest in the practical use of a killock/killick…unless, of course, you happened to make and test one for a video

 

[LewSipfher]

Killick, there!

 

[Jim in Halifax]

BTW, killock/killick is also a type of related hitch/knot, it turns out.

Its also a naval rank, as in "the killick of the mess"

The word Killick is also slang for a Royal Navy sailor with the rating (rank) of leading seaman, leading hand or leading rating in the Royal Navy and is senior to able seaman and junior to a petty officer. It is equivalent to corporal in the other services. The badge is the fouled anchor (an anchor with a length of rope twisted around it), worn on the upper left arm in formal uniform, white front (only when in formal uniform) or overalls and on the shoulder slides in working dress, although this has been updated to single hook in the chest center. The rank insignia is a fouled anchor.