"CaveLamb" wrote in message
m...
Wilbur Hubbard wrote:
"CaveLamb" wrote in message
m...
Jessica B wrote:
Ok, so I have a sailing question about anchors... obviously there are
different anchors for different situations, but you don't necessarily
know what you're going to find when you go someplace? So, how do you
decide what anchor to take with you? Clearly, as you said, you can
take two (or three?) but they must eventually get kind of heavy... I
guess there must be guides, but what if you're going to visit several
places and they're all different?

Hopefully, this question is good enough for Justin! Sheesh...

Take them all!

And in the end, weight counts.


Weight counts but weight isn't the be-all/end-all.

A lighter patent anchor that digs in and buries itself can hold better
than a heavy 'navy type' anchor that does not, for example.

And, too much weight on the bow can be detrimental to the pitching moment
of a small sailboat.


Wilbur Hubbard

Among my collection of anchors are two Danforth types.
One is steel and heavy. The other is aluminum and very light.
Both are the same size.

What little use I've given them still shows that the heavy anchor
holds better.


Those aluminum "Fortress" or Fortress-copy anchors are, indeed, too light
for their size until you get into the largest sizes. If you shipped one of
comparable weight (and thus huge in size) as your Danforth it would hold
better in most conditions where the holding was adequate, bottom
composition-wise, by virtue of it's greater surface area.

But, consider this. Compare a 15 pound Herreschoff fisherman anchor and a 21
pound Danforth. In certain bottoms the Herreschoff will hold like crazy,
(rocky, pitted bottoms mostly where a fluke can fall into a small pit and
snag) while the heavier Danforth will just end up skittering along.

So, weight does matter but it is only one factor. . .


Wilbur Hubbard