Gale Anchoring

The anchoring system is often neglected on yachts. It is often seen as a rusty-dirty system that negatively impacts the yacht’s performance due to its heavy weight at the bow. For this reason, racing yachts don’t have anchors at all, and so can only moor against pontoons or other yachts.

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But for us this is very different. Our anchoring system allows us to sleep at night in peace and safeguards the yacht when we are exploring on land.

Like many modern production yachts, Legato had a rather weak anchoring system. The anchor itself was quite small (16kg Delta) for a 10-ton yacht, the chain not strong enough (8mm), the windlass quite weak (120kg Working Load) and slow (25 m per min or less), and chain locker also quite small. This configuration should still be OK for normal coastal cruising, but probably too weak for gale conditions.

The following are strengthening projects that I undertook, influenced by the excellent resources I found on www.morganscloud.com (subscription based), among the very few in-depth resources that exist on this topic on the web. Mine are mostly compromises, as a lot of things on a boat.

Anchor

Replacement with Spade S100 (20kg) which is one size bigger thatn the original, and among the best in design. This is the biggest that can fit at the bow without modifications.

Still, this anchor might not be strong enough for gale conditions. We therefore have a storm anchor, a Fortress FX55, which is two sizes higher than our boat (normally for 52’ to 58’ boats). It has a working load of 1.8T and can hold much more in hard sand (7.3T), even in mud (2.4T). Unfortunately it doesn’t fit well at the bow for long distance cruising, while being in Aluminium (14kg) it is too fragile for everyday use. So we will have to change anchor now and then.

The old Delta and another spare will be used as Kedge/ Backup if needed.

Chain

What is the purpose of an anchor that holds over 2T if the chain cannot hold 1T? Our 8mm chain cannot be upgraded to 10mm due to extra load on the windlass and lack of space in the locker. Instead, the chain has been replaced with an 8mm grade 70 with certified safe working load of 1.8T (break load over 7T), i.e. double the original. There very few manufacturers of this type of chain in the world, the only one I found in Europe is Maggiegroup (Italy).

Attachment of this chain to the anchor poses another challenge as the biggest shackle that can fit to the end of an 8mm chain is 10mm. But again, these shackles have a working load of less than 1T so the shackle becomes the weak link of the entire system. After a lot of research, I have found a shackle with a working load of 2T that fits an 8mm chain. This was purchased at www.toplicht.de, together with the G70 chain.

For safety reasons, I prefer chain-only rode, and 80 meters is the maximum that can fit in the locker. I would have preferred 100 meters, but 80m is probably still OK if not too deep water.

Windlass

Unfortunately, the windlass cannot be replaced with a stronger model without serious modifications at the bow, which I prefer to avoid at this stage. Fortunately it has a good free-fall mechanism for the chain, so its low speed is not a problem while releasing chain. Using the clutch is anyway a better method to lower the anchor, rather than using the windlass’s “Down” button, even with a faster windlass.

While at anchor, a snubber and chain stopper will be used so the windlass robustness becomes irrelevant at this stage. The windlass force is only needed to lift the anchor, which should be possible for our total rode (chain + anchor) weight.

I have also fitted a remote control, useful when being short handed.

Riding Sail

Legato tends to swing a lot on anchor, compared to other boats. This is probably relevant to the fact that it is quite light at the bow. Swinging is uncomfortable and causes a lot of strain on the anchoring system, when the chain is under maximum tension.

For this reason we have a FinDelta riding sail which minimizes swing by increasing the windage at the stern.