You know, I just can't remember at this point. It would set briefly, then on
a short watch, it would drag. So, we'd let out more scope and it would set
again briefly. We repeated this until we either ran out of room to let out
more scope or it was obvious that no matter how much we let out, it wouldn't
make any difference.

I've use the Danforth in a weed/sand area with a good amount of success. If
I could actually get it in a patch of sand encircled by weeds/grass, it
would generally hold. Aim was important... there's the sand, NOW! g

When I first started sailing in situations that required anchoring for lunch
or sleep, I remember being quite nervous about doing it and tended to put
the engine in hard reverse to try and really, really, set the hook, but I
soon figured out that was not helping at all. In the bay, we drop the hook
and just let the boat drift back on its own. Job done. Occasionally, its
necessary to give a light hand to reverse, but this is typically when
there's no wind to push the boat back.

The most difficult place I found was Cooper's Island, BVI, which is mostly
grass. The first time I was there, it took three shots at it before it
stuck. The second time, it stuck the first time, but we dragged a bit later
that night. Since then, I either didn't have any trouble (checking with a
dive on it) or elected to take a mooring.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Jeff Morris" wrote in message
...
JG wrote:
In the SF bay, Danforths work fine. When I was in Belize, we had a
primary plow on 43' catamaran, which didn't hold no matter what we tried,
but the relatively tiny Danforth worked like a charm.

What type of plow? And did it not set (perhaps a very hard bottom), or
did it set and drag (a very soft bottom), or seem to set, and then release
(rocks or weeds)? In the first two cases, a Danforth will work better; in
the third, its catch as catch can, so to speak.

I imagine that there is something to be said for being familiar with what
you have, along with choosing the appropriate anchor.

A common trend in an anchor discussion is that people will say "I used an
XXXX anchor for years and never had a problem." Newbies will generally
have problems until they figure is out.