On 2007-10-31 10:46:40 -0400, Skip Gundlach said:

Do you bend on each anchor before launch, or do you set one for the
area you already know, and leave it attached? And, if like in the
Chessie, what do you do when the bottom conditions change repeatedly
(the alluvial area was where we were lots, but the last couple of hooks
has been hard, and from what I could see, the intervening ones were
sand, e.g.)

We always have the "general purpose" anchor -- for the area -- bent on
for instant deployment. Some times, some anchor must go down *now*.

If we could mount two at the same time, the other would be quite a bit
different and also ready to drop if the first was insufficient. The
standard configuration used to be a plow and a claw, but there are
better anchors than both these days.

One thing that maximizes success is to get *IN* to the anchorage early
and test unfamiliar ones with a hand set, letting it set a bit by
itself, then a moderate back-down. Rushing the set is a bad idea.

Most protected Bay anchorages have a lovely mud bottom, but we have
moved a couple of times when we found a bottom we couldn't get a good
grip on. 50' can make the difference.

--
Jere Lull
Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/