After I first started sailing many years ago it didn't take me long to realize that it was much better to anchor securely the first time, rather than to be stumbling on deck at 3 am on a blustery, rainy, pitch-black night, trying to haul in, then re-set a dragging anchor. Anchoring is a very important part of boating skills, because it's just as important to be able to stop a boat moving as it is to make it move. Whilst different boats react differently when anchored, there are still some common tenets that apply to all theories of anchoring.

The main concern is always that the anchor will drag, or uproot completely and the boat will float away, sometimes with catastrophic results. The best assurance to avoid this is to lay a good length of rode - rode being the total length of rope and chain from the boat to the anchor. A good long rode does not in itself guarantee an anchor won't drag, and hauling in 250' feet or so of heavy chain, all in the above-mentioned conditions, quickly makes most people want to learn to do it right the first time.

The main cause of most anchors dragging is wind, and Britannia has above average windage, having two masts, three roller-furled sails and the squaresail yard, plus a large cockpit Bimini.

The primary objective is to get the anchor to lie flat along the sea bed, where it has the best chance of digging its way into the bottom. This is the reason for using a heavy chain to give a good catenary. In deep anchorages even a long rode will tend to straighten out and lift if the boat is pushed backwards hard enough by wind or current, and cause the anchor to break free and drag. An age-old method to minimize this is to weight the chain along its length with what is generically called a kellet. This is a heavy weight, usually with a pulley attached that enables it to slide down a line and chain, and help to keep the rode flat on the bottom. Such a device has no actual gripping capability, so even when it touches the bottom it will not add any actual holding ability to the anchor, but just help the rode stay level with the bottom. Most kellets are usually devilishly difficult to store on a small boat, being both heavy and unwieldy. However, using a second anchor instead of a simple weight can help the main anchor, especially if it could be persuaded to also dig itself into the bottom as well. But how best to achieve this situation?

After much trial and error I devised a simple method to employ my second bow anchor, in conjunction with the main anchor, that has proved to be drag-free even in the most severe conditions.

Firstly, I firmly believe any main bower anchor should be as heavy as the anchorman, or woman, can reasonably handle, irrespective of the boat size - within reason of course. Having said that, it is possible that the spate of different shaped anchors that have appeared in recent years don't need to be as heavy as the old styles, but for me, heavier will always be better. An all chain rode is likewise better than a chain and line combination, because of the extra weight.

Britannia has two CQR anchors on rollers on either side of the bowsprit. The main bower is a 60 lbs and the other weighs 35 lbs. I actually wish I had two 60 pounders, this being the heaviest I can handle safely by myself. The 60 pounder is on 250’ feet of 3/8” inch chain, with a further 250’ feet of 3/4” inch nylon line, used for deep anchorages. The "little anchor" has no chain or rope attached to it at all, and is used only in conjunction with the main bower. Of course, it can always be used separately, but my method uses the second anchor attached to the chain, in such a way that it not only acts like a heavy kellett, but actually digs into the bottom as well.

I made a strong rope bridle using a 5/8” inch diameter nylon line, with stainless thimbles spliced on each end. One end is permanently shackled to the stock of the 35 lbs anchor, then passes around the underside of the bowsprit and bobstay and up the roller of the main anchor, on the other side of the bowsprit. To do this my bridle is 7’ feet long, but the length will vary with different bow configurations. Boats without a bowsprit and an easy to reach bow roller can have a very short bridle.

Having set up this simple arrangement, here's how I anchor - every single time for an overnight stay, without exception, irrespective of the weather forecast.

After letting go the main anchor and paying out two or three times the depth, I then allow the boat to fall back with the wind or current, or drive it back with the engine, until it feels as though the anchor has begun to hold. I then attach the rope bridle to the anchor chain with a locking carabiner shackle that goes through a link; the other end still being attached to the shank of the second anchor. I then shackle a length of strong line to the shank of the second anchor, that of course needs to be longer then the amount of chain I finally intend to pay out.

The second anchor is then pushed off its roller, where it hangs by the bridle on the chain. I then let out more chain and allow the boat to fall back. This is usually an extra two or three times the depth. When the second anchor touches the bottom, (that can be felt with the line attached to it and the slackness of the chain), a hefty burst on the engine drags both anchors along, and hopefully beds them both in simultaneously. FIG 1

I now have the heavy main anchor well bedded in at the head of a good length of chain, with the second anchor attached to it by the bridle and also bedded in, then another length of chain up to the boat. This gives Britannia a total of 95 lbs of anchors, complimented by a load of heavy chain.

All this might sound a bit of a rigmarole to deploy, but it's really quite easy when organized properly beforehand. I can anchor using this method almost as quickly as any boat using a single anchor, but with a good deal more peace of mind if the wind pipes up. This anchoring method can be adapted to any boat using two anchors, and who does not have two anchors on their boat?? One the other hand, when we are day-sailing and decide to anchor I will anchor in the normal way, with only the single bower, and we keep an eye open for any unusual movement of the boat.

Fig 1 shows how the anchors lie after deployment. If the wind shifts say 90 degrees, (always at around 3 am of course), the boat will initially swing to the second anchor, but if this drags it will pull the chain around with it and invariably dig in again. If it refuses to hold, the whole rode will eventually straighten out in the new direction and the boat will lie to the first anchor and most likely also the second. This complete scenario has never happened on Britannia, but we have sometimes found ourselves in the morning lying to the second anchor, yet with the confidence of knowing there is also a load of chain in advance of it with another whopping great anchor also bedded in, even if it is facing in the wrong direction.

Weighing anchor is a bit more effort than with a single anchor. The chain is hauled in until the second anchor appears, when it can be cleaned and hauled over its bow roller using the line attached to its stock, then it can be secured and the bridle and line unshackled from the chain. At this point the boat is still anchored by the first anchor and I usually take a breather. The main anchor is then brought up in a normal manner and off we go. My portable anchor wash system is described here

For me, the point of doing all this is that the method has never dragged on Britannia, or any other boat on which I have ever employed it. I wonder how many people can say that about their anchoring successes. I have also adopted a policy of always, and I mean always, anchoring with this method overnight.

There are other benefits to the system, apart from a drag-proof moor.

In rough conditions it is definitely comforting to know you are lying to two anchors, with a sturdy line attached to the second anchor as a backup. Who has not worried just a little on a wild night, if the chain or line will hold on a single anchor? It is also much easier and quicker to use my method instead of laying two separate anchors, say at 45 degrees. No tricky maneuvering is needed and no chance of the twin rodes tangling if the boat swings.

If you normally anchor with a length of chain and rope, you should simply shackle the bridle of the second anchor to the last link in your chain, to achieve almost the same degree of security.

By way of an epilogue, I will recount this true story:

We were once anchored by my method in Cala Portinatx, a beautiful rocky cove in northern Ibiza, the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean. A Mistral had been forecast from the north, but it arrived in the night much stronger than predicted and the cove was soon awash with boats dragging their anchors and heading for the rocky shore, along with the associated mayhem. But not my 20 ton 40’ foot ketch. My only concern in keeping watch was in case other boats crashed into us. One small boat drifted up, the exhausted occupants unable to re set their tiny anchor or even motor against the wind. I heaved them a line and attached it to our aft cleats as they drifted astern then stopped. Then a second boat scudded by and I heaved them a line likewise. All three of us remained like this during a very blustery night, during which a large motor cruiser was driven up a sandy beach by its frantic occupants, (which was certainly an effective way to stop the boat dragging). Two boats were completely wrecked on rocks, and one person lost his life.

It is certainly worth anchoring well, even in a flat calm and a good forecast, because old Neptune is known to frequently change his mind

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