T&T: Anchor Size Recommendations

[Faure, Marin]

>I know, I know, the first response from Rocna fans will be "that's a
small price to pay for peace of mind...", but for about a third of that
cost I can get a grossly oversized Bruce (or pick your flavor) that has
been proven to keep me and thousands of boats in this region reliably
secure,


You should get whatever makes the most sense for all the aspects of your
boating--- bottom conditions, stowage, price, size, weight.... you name
it.  We (and some other boaters we boat with) have had very poor
experiences with the Bruce, and there's no question about its being
consistently rated n tests as among the worst anchor configurations in
terms of holding power, at least in the recreational boat sizes--- they
seem to hold North Sea oil rigs in place just fine when they weigh
hundreds if not thousands of tons :-).

However it stands to reason that if we dragged with a 44 pound Bruce
would probably wouldn't have dragged with a 88-pound Bruce.  But now
we're talking an anchor that's way too large for our pulpit and windlass
(and me).  So we started researching alternatives.  I hadn't even heard
of the Rocna at that point, but I read a post on the GB owners forum by
someone who was asking if anyone had had any experience with the
so-called new generation of anchors.  He mentioned several by name
including the Rocna.  So I looked it up on the web, read about it,
watched the rather disturbing video on their website (disturbing since
at the time we still had the Bruce), read independent reviews, and
talked to the folks at the company in New Zealand.  In the end, we
decided to give it a try.  Shipping was not an issue for us since we
simply drove up to Vancouver one weekend and picked it up from the
company that makes them for Rocna in North America.

But I would not presume to say that it is the best anchor out there.
Nor would I presume to say that people who use Bruce or CQR anchors are
going to have bad experiences with them, because a lot of people's
experiences worldwide would prove me a liar.  For us, the experiences we
had, particularly the last one, with the Bruce elevated the acquisition
of a reliable anchor far above the need to a new chartplotter or radar
or radio.  But we needed an anchor with a proven design that would fit
on our bow pulpit.  A big giant Bruce wouldn't, nor would a big, giant
CQR.  But the recommended size of Rocna would (barely).  To paraphrase
and earlier poster, technology advancements are not limited to the
people who make cell phones and computers.  Advancements in anchor
concepts and designs are just as possible.  There are probably fewer
"environments" that are as resistant to change as boating.  But the fact
that the traditional anchor designs have worked well for people for
decades or longer does not mean there isn't room for improvement.

But it does not make sense (I think) to buy an anchor just because a
bunch of people say it's the "best anchor you can get."  This is why we
bought our Bruce, and we eventually learned that blindly following the
recommendations of a lot of people does not automatically mean you've
made the right choice for your boat and what you're going to do with it.


______________________________
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington