Anchors Away

One of our goals when we docked Nine of Cups at the Atlantic Yacht Basin was to raise the waterline. We offloaded hundreds of pounds of stuff destined for yard sales, thrift shops and consignment shops. No, we're not thinking of giving up our life aboard Cups any time soon, but thinning out some of the 16-year accumulation of stuff seemed prudent. Anchors seem to be a passion with David. He's even written a book about anchors. We have had six aboard for several years, and in an effort to thin down the inventory, he decided to part with two of them.

Stored on deck we have a 50 kg Bruce and a 43# Danforth. On the bow roller, we have an 80# Manson Boss which is now our primary anchor. On the aft deck, we have a 10# mushroom anchor for the dinghy. Below decks and under our bunk in the aft cabin, there's a 35# CQR and a 32# aluminum Fortress. It was a heartbreaking decision for the captain … which two would go?

The 50kg (110 lb) Bruce was our primary anchor until we reached Australia. Anchoring along the southern Australia coast is difficult. With hard sand and lots of grass, it was hard for the Bruce to dig in. We replaced it in Port Adelaide with a 80# Manson Boss. The sharp claw of the Boss has been doing a fine job ever since and fits better than the Bruce in the bow roller. David built an anchor chock on deck to store the Bruce, but after hauling it around for the past couple of years and not using it, he felt it was time to retire the old guy.

The CQR was used in the high latitudes as a series anchor with the Bruce, but we've seldom used it in recent years. It go the heave-ho, too.

We loaded both in the SUV and toted them to Lin's house hoping that they'd be sold either via Craigslist or at the yard sale. No luck. As the days in Boston dwindled and the anchors, nestled in pine needles in Lin's backyard, fought off gypsy moth advances, David reluctantly contacted Bud at Newport Nautical Supply, a well-known chandlery and consignment shop in Newport, RI and we made the trek down there with the anchors in Lin's trunk. Needless to say, the car rode much lighter on the return trip.

After offloading the anchors and bidding them adieu, we headed next door to Bishop's 4th Street Diner, a Newport institution and, knowing how much we enjoy diners, a natural place to stop for breakfast. Despite the pleasure of dining, we couldn't help feel a little sad at parting with the anchors. I think we're missing Cups.

The Blue View - Our New Book

When we first moved aboard Nine of Cups in 2000, we dreamed of sailing off to as many far away places as we could, and since then, we have managed to find some pretty amazing and remote locations. One thing we quickly discovered, however, was that the learning curve for our new way of life was steep.

A case in point is the art of anchoring. We learned that what works well in Narragansett Bay isn't always the best approach when anchoring in the heavy kelp and deep anchorages of Tierra del Fuego, the coral atolls of the South Pacific, the deep grass and hard sand of the south coast of Australia, the muddy rivers of Panama or even the Florida Keys.

Over the years we've gained a lot of knowledge about ground tackle and anchoring techniques under different conditions. How do I deploy two bow anchors? When is it best to use a stern anchor? How do I rig anchors in series and why? What the heck are snubbers and kellets, and how do I use them? How do I pick an anchorage to weather an approaching storm, and how do I prepare for it?

Much of this knowledge was gained by talking with and observing the many cruisers, voyagers, yachties and fishermen we've met in our travels. As we learned a new anchoring technique, it often took a few iterations to work out the bugs and streamline the operation, and we made mistakes – lots of them.

Over the past couple of years, I've devoted a number of Blue Views to the art of anchoring. We collected these blogs, expanded on them, added a number of new topics and organized them into our new eBook, Nine of Cups Guide to Anchors and Anchoring. It covers everything from selecting the right ground tackle for your boat and your cruising plans to how you go about deploying a series anchor. If you are just starting out as we were in 2000, we think it will make the learning curve a lot less steep and help you avoid some of our mistakes. If you are an experienced cruiser, we think you will still find that it contains a great deal of useful information.

Nine of Cups Guide to Anchors and Anchoring is available in a .pdf format which will work just fine on your iPad, laptop or PC:

$4.99

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It's also available in Kindle format from Amazon:

The Blue View - Anchor Chock for the Bruce

 

When we bought the new Manson Boss anchor for Nine of Cups recently, the hardest part of making the switch was figuring out how to stow our big 50kg (110lb) Bruce anchor. I didn't know whether the new anchor would be a better all around anchor than our old trusty Bruce, and I was certainly not ready to part with it.

We now have an embarrassingly large inventory of anchors. Along with the 80lb Boss and 110lb Bruce, we have a 35lb Hi-Tensile Danforth which is a marvelous stern anchor and has definitely saved our bacon on a couple of occasions, an aluminum FX-37 Fortress anchor, and a 35 lb CQR. The CQR is too small by itself to hold Cups, but we have used it on many occasions along with the Bruce when using two anchors in series. This arrangement worked particularly well in the windy anchorages of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. The CQR and Fortress are stowed below deck under the aft bunk, but there was no way I'd want to try to wrangle the Bruce into the aft cabin, even if I could find room for it. I still want it available for use until I gain more confidence in the Boss, so ideally it should be stowed somewhere on deck and forward.

I made a few measurements and looked at all the possible locations where it could be stowed, and the best spot appeared to be next to the mast pulpit on the port side. I enlisted the help of Marcie, the designated winch wench, to hoist the Bruce up with the spare halyard while I guided it into place and made sure it would fit. This is where the Danforth currently resided, so I'd have to find another spot for it, but if I could build a chock that would support the Bruce in an upright position, it looked like it would fit nicely.

I drew up a sketch of what I thought would work and headed into town in search of materials. All I needed was a six foot length of 2 x 6 (180cm x 50mm x 150mm) seasoned or treated wood and a bunch of galvanized nuts and bolts to make the chock plus some hardware to attach it to the deck. After a train ride, two buses and a fair amount of walking, I found a salvage yard that had some great, well-seasoned hardwood timbers, and bought a length of jarrah wood. Jarrah is a red Australian hardwood that is quite heavy and dense, and it is well suited for marine applications. It was a heavy hunk of timber to carry back, but other than the odd look from bus drivers and fellow passengers, I managed to get it back to Cups without incident.

Cutting the dense, 2” (50mm) jarrah using only a jigsaw took some time, but eventually I got all the pieces cut to size, drilled and bolted together.

The groove at the bottom holds the Bruce upright and the two blocks under the flukes make sure it can't fall over. I through-bolted the chock to the deck to make sure it would stay put, then lashed the shank of the Bruce to the mast pulpit to keep it in place. Almost all the weight and strain is taken by the chock with very little stress on the pulpit.

I discovered that the Danforth anchor rests nicely on top of the chock as well, in its original location on the inside of the pulpit, so I didn't have to relocate it after all.

Hopefully, the new Boss will perform faultlessly and our old Bruce will spend its retirement happily ensconced in its new chock, but if not, we can have it attached and ready to deploy in half an hour or so. Then the only problem will be how to stow the Boss...