In Last week’s Just Cruising, I related a short yarn about deploying a second anchor while anchored in a river in northeastern Australia to settle our boat down in swirling winds. I knew the move would stir some comment and two of the best are below. GD
Hi George,
I am one who thinks that it is rare to need two anchors off the bow, especially nowadays with anchors making such a leap in ground tackle effectiveness in the last couple of decades. I also believe that there are enough downsides, some with potentially serious safety ramifications, to having two anchors off the bow that, when discussed, there should be many caveats and equivocations, especially if one’s audience has a large portion of readers still early in the cruising learning curve. Too often, many, especially newbies, resort to two anchors when there are much easier and safer alternatives.
A few wind shifts and you have an awful mess/tangle as the rodes wrap around each other. Add to that a midnight fire drill of some sort and you are unable to retrieve the anchors because the rode is fouled. I suspect you might have been wrestling a 45 pound Bruce as you second anchor (a combo many of us left with in earlier days: CQR as bower with a Bruce as secondary). Even in the best of conditions wrestling the second anchor with 20 feet of chain and rode into a dinghy and getting it positioned and launched without damage to boat, dinghy and/or crew is a challenge. And usually, it is done not in the best of conditions.
And getting up two anchors in a zero-dark-thirty fire drill, even if no tangle, is time consuming and a potential for problems.
My second anchor is a Fortress FX37 (19 pound) and, with its 12 feet of chain, deploying it is a bit of a challenge.
For instance, you sound not concerned with dragging, just the yawing back and forth with its attendant jerks. Clover, if memory serves, was a ketch: why not just put up a reefed mizzen? On my former boat, a yawl, the mizzen would be up for weeks at a time perfectly weather cocking us to the wind and steadying the boat.
Single masted boats might more easily and safely put out a riding sail: some of the “wedge” designed ones get good reviews.
So, I am uncomfortable with those articles which make two anchors sound like a quick and easy way to solve anchoring problems.
My best, Dick Stevenson, s/v Alchemy
Good day George,
Your story is sure to generate quite a few comments. I’ll take the bait. There are quite a few omissions in your careful consideration before setting that anchor I would hazard a guess to say. A few would be in no particular order: Could the boats motion be altered by lashing it’s helm possibly hard over or another position? What was the expected weather? Where you in danger of damaging coral or restricted by its presence? Were there other swing restrictions like depth or distance to other boats? Were nearby boats behaving similarly or threatening by their motion? Could the swinging motion be dampened by lengthening significantly the primary rode? How long were you planning to be at that anchorage? What was the present tide and current situation? Would you be likely in a reversing wind/tide situation causing you to wrap your rodes around each other? Could you have just set a stern anchor possibly with short scope safely to dampen the sailing effect? Was there thought of an anchor buoy/retrieval line in case one rode needed to be cast off or the anchor pulled by dinghy? Lastly a plan was in place to retrieve two anchors? I’m sure you ran through all or most of these. A second cup of coffee was probably considered as well before acting. The consequences of wrapped rodes in many conditions are not fun. Quite a few times, sailors after setting that anchor for a good nights sleep find themselves delaying coffee in the morning trying to unsnarl the mess…..Just a few thought to grind on whilst I hang on the hook in mud at a mostly deserted anchorage in Malaysia.
Best regards,
Craig White s/v IL SOGNO
