Hi all,
I've been musing on how to handle anchoring in difficult conditions when single handed.
I don't mean the everyday non-challenging situations - I'm sure most singlehanded here can handle those.
I mean those when you absolutely positively have to anchor and get it right the first time.

For example, crowded anchorages, strong currents, excessive wind, close to rocks, etc,etc.
Usually, the problem for me is having to be in two places at the same time - the bow and the controls. In the past I've taken the anchor back to the cockpit and dropped it from there, but my new Mantus anchor is not so easily handled.

So, what do others do?

regards,
allan

Assuming we are not talking emergency anchoring and therefore a planned anchoring, what it comes to is preparation.

I always prepare by veering my anchor, ie it is out of the chock and suspended over the bow so that when the boat's position and point of anchorage coincide, it is just a matter of letting the anchor go.

If you are single handed and want to release the anchor from the cockpit, lash the anchor with a slip hitch with a trip line back to the helm. It is fairly simple and you will figure it out.

Do a couple of trial runs till you perfect what works on your boat.

The anchoring bit is easy. Do as Cisco says. If it isn't blowing your socks off or you are in a strong current you have time to motor into position (windward of where you want the pick to be) and then go forward and let the anchor run out.

Make sure that the anchor rode is secured to a strong point so if it gets away from you you don't lose it all overboard. We anchored my sister's Valiant 40 in the channel near Inskip Pt in a bit of current. The anchor winch clutch wasn't working and by the time we realised the problem she started running back with the tide and we couldn't stop it. Luckily the bitter end was secured so we just came up with a jerk.

Recovering the anchor in a hurry in a blow is not easy if you don't have a power winch with a cockpit control. I have a manual Muir 500 so I motor up to the anchor, run forward and crank in as much as I can before she settles back onto it. Repeat this until she breaks free then motor into deep water to recover the rest of the chain and anchor.

Buy an anchor that always, always, always deploys and never needs you to wet nurse it. And always comes up to the roller right way up.

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PhoenixStar said..
Buy an anchor that always, always, always deploys and never needs you to wet nurse it. And always comes up to the roller right way up.

In a perfect world, that is the ideal. It is not so much the anchor you buy but rather the way you set up your fore deck.

Getting an anchor to come up to the roller the right way up!!!! How do you do that?????

The shank of the Vulcan is curved so that as soon as the first few cm hit the roller the anchor flips upright. Every time. And it is very forgiving - I have abused the set every way I can think of to see if it is possible to stuff up a set and I have yet to confuse it. Dumped chain on top of it, veered it, set in forward and reverse, doesn't matter. The manufactures instruction is to set with 5 to 1 scope then come up to 3 to 1, nice in a crowded anchorage.

I was not aware of that feature. Would a Manson Supreme behave the same way??

The best anchor in the world I belive doesnt have a top or bottom it is mirrored and has a round shank , unfortantly the makers have gone into receivership and closed the door. The Manson supreme I found in the Whitsundays would always come up upside down.

No, I had a Manson supreme on a 12 m cat and it was an excellent anchor, but with a longish strait shank it tended to weather cock when you were washing it by sailing forward with it under the water and then come up to the roller upside down - and then with its fairly deep shank it tended to jam in the cheek plates. All the long shank anchors needed a kick start on all the boats I have owned except in a pivoting roller assembly. I'm gob smacked by the efficiency of this anchor. Can't sing its praises loudly enough. After a hard blow with the rode tight as a bar I couldn't believe how easy it was to retrieve it from good holding ground.

If you can learn to heave to and stop the boat to nearly dead, then you have all the time you need to walk to the bow and drop the anchor.

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cisco said..

PhoenixStar said..
Buy an anchor that always, always, always deploys and never needs you to wet nurse it. And always comes up to the roller right way up.

In a perfect world, that is the ideal. It is not so much the anchor you buy but rather the way you set up your fore deck.

Getting an anchor to come up to the roller the right way up!!!! How do you do that?????

With an all chain rode and anchor fed down via the gypsy and without a swivel on the anchor it will always come up the same orientation as it went down. I align the chain from the anchor shackle to the gypsy without twists and using the same link orientation to the gypsy. Comes up untwisted onto the roller every time.

Had a Sarka on a cat, without exception the worst anchor I ever had anything to do with. Sometimes would not set first or second try, dragged in every bottom type without any warning until at last I said, "Enough is enough" and I resolved to lift it for the last time in Trinity Inlet. Then it decided to set and set hard. I tried every trick to break it out, finally veered it hard enough on a short rode to get it free and it came up with a bent shank.
This was the recommended size for the boat, a number 6 on a 6 ton boat. It dragged in loose coral, sand, mud, in Carters Basin, Fitzroy Island, Mission Bay, Pancake Creek Trinity Inlet, Mary River - pretty near every where. Bought a Manson Supreme, heaven after hell.

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PhoenixStar said..
Bought a Manson Supreme, heaven after hell.

With the Manson Supreme do you think the chain is better shackled to the eye or the slot or do you change between them according to the bottom you are anchoring in??

That is, to the eye for sand and mud and to the slot for coral and rock??

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cisco said..

PhoenixStar said..
Bought a Manson Supreme, heaven after hell.

With the Manson Supreme do you think the chain is better shackled to the eye or the slot or do you change between them according to the bottom you are anchoring in??

That is, to the eye for sand and mud and to the slot for coral and rock??

I never had much success with the slot. the shackle doesn't slide along reliably. In the Louisiades we used an anchor buoy (fender) shackled to the eye at the fluke end. The deep shank on the Manson tends to jam in the cheek plates if you don't watch it.