Angie lowering the anchor with the electric windlass – her right foot is pressing the deck-mounted windlass switch
Crews on different boats have their own style of cruising. Some boats like to tie up to docks every night, but our preference is to anchor out whenever we can. It gives us more flexibility in where we can go, and we don’t have to worry about jockeying with other boats for space at the dock.
One key reason that we’re able to comfortably anchor is our ground tackle – the anchor itself and it’s connection to the boat.
Anchor going out – thanks to Neal and Lynn of M/V Navigator for this picture (and for sharing their anchorage with us…)
Our anchor is a Spade – it has a concave face (like a shovel, hence the name) with a lead insert so that a majority of the weight of the anchor is centered directly above the tip. The anchor itself weighs about 75 lbs (or 33 kg) – it’s two sizes larger than what is typically recommended for a boat the size of Madrone.
The foredeck with the anchor deployed. The rope on the port side is a snubber – it takes the load of the anchor and chain off the windlass and transfers it to a strong deck cleat
The anchor is connected to the boat with ~200’ of 3/8” chain, with an additional ~100’ of 3/4” nylon rope to use if we are anchored in deeper water. The chain weighs about 300 lbs (or 135 kg) or so, which means that we can put a lot of weight in the water if needed.
While the weight of the ground tackle is one key criteria for safe anchoring, another is the ratio of the water depth to the length of chain deployed. Known as “scope”, this ratio is important for helping the anchor to dig into the bottom initially and also for helping the anchor to dig deeper as force is applied.
We aim for 4:1 scope if possible – this is widely considered adequate for anchoring with a heavy anchor with a good length of chain. With 4:1 scope, we have 4’ of chain deployed for every 1’ of water depth.
Cleaning the anchor chain as it is pulled back up to the boat when leaving an anchorage – washing the mud off means that it doesn’t sit in (and smell in) the anchor locker
Calculating the right length of chain to ensure the right scope is complicated by the tides. In northern BC and Alaska, the tidal range can be up to 20-25’. That means that an anchorage that is 30’ deep at low tide may be 50’ deep at a higher tide. So, we sometimes end up with a little more scope at low tide, and a little less scope at high tide.
One of our worst nightmares would be having our anchor drag and ending up with poor Madrone on the rocks. We love our Spade- we both sleep soundly, even when the wind is whistling through the rigging, knowing that our anchor & chain are doing their job.
