Two!
More?
The quick and easy answer is, "you need the same amount anywhere you go"
No help so far, Okay lets talk a scenario that could be any of us.
You arrive at your first nights anchorage, a quiet little protected bay with a rocky bottom.
What a great vacation, hot dogs over a campfire onshore, some wine or beer, a really restful nights sleep, rich coffee in the morning, and then when you try to raise the anchor your hooked to the biggest rock in the world. after hours of pulling from all directions you finally give up and cut the line, ouch, 250 bucks worth of anchor and rode, gone. Oh well, your not going to let a lost anchor spoil a perfect vacation and off you go to the next idyllic spot in the San Juan's.
Now it really hits home, the dock is full, no one offers to or wants to raft your boat. So you think, that's okay, I'll just go ashore in the dinghy find an anchor shaped rock, bring it back to the mother ship, and tie it to whats left of the cut rode. Except the rode is too short, and you need to stay on board to keep circling in the boat because no one in your crew (wife and children) is qualified to run the boat while your rock hunting. So your current ex-spouse rows to shore, and .... see where this is going?
What should happen is you break out a spare anchor and rode that's stored and ready to deploy once you tie off the bitter end. Your admiring first spouse and children think you're a hero.
OK, dinghy scenario. Your youngest children that have just mastered rowing are off somewhere nearby while you snooze or read a book. Little do you know but they just lost both oars and the wind is quickly
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taking them and the dinghy away. They try to paddle with their hands to no avail, screaming is too little too late, and in a few minutes they're gone around the point caught in the current. Sensing something is not right, you come to your senses, look around and panic. Your soon to be ex-wife is ... you finish the story.
In my little world, its me not my child that's adrift in the dinghy, my wife is with me, and shes about to add another entry to her endless list and photographic memory of dumb things I'm remotely connected to. Even though I deploy the dinghy anchor in a bag I keep, then miraculously some good Samaritan saves my bacon, I still get all of the credit for being helplessly adrift, and no credit at all for having an anchor ready at the right time.
My current anchor inventory goes like this:
- plow anchor on the bow roller with 30 feet of chain and 575 feet of twisted nylon. I know that seems like a lot of chain, but there's an acceptable reason, maybe.
- 2nd plow anchor (same size) buried in a locker with 20 feet of chain and shackle, no line.
- folding (grapple) anchor, shackle with about 8 feet of chain (my favorite)
- danforth anchor in a heavy canvas army bag with 10 feet of chain, 150 feet of twisted nylon, and the bitter end hanging out ready to tie off in a hurry.
- itty bitty danforth and rode (no chain) in a bag with the bitter end out ready to tie on the dinghy
- several 100-200 foot coils of floating yellow poly, and one 200 foot coil three strand nylon that's heavy and really strong.
I carry the extra anchors because I already own them, and I have the room on board. Plus they are not doing any good at home in the garage. A spare anchor is just like a spare tire, you never know when you will need it. A typical situation for us is to anchor somewhere peaceful in relatively calm conditions using the plow on the bow. If we are close to shore or other boats, I will also use the grapple and yellow poly to limit our swing. If i'm expecting a 180 degree current or wind change I will set the grapple so that both anchors will have sufficient scope regardless of direction. I also lead both rodes over the bow and for long term or blustery conditions slide a heavy kellet ten feet down the two rodes, and switch the poly to nylon. Click here for some basic "Anchoring Tips"
What is a kellet? (I use an iron barbell disk)
A kellet is a weight hung from the boat suspended on the anchor rode. The use of a kellet (anchor sentinel to some) helps in light conditions because the two rodes invariably get wound up, the kellet helps keep the rodes below the keel and rudder which don't need to be wound up too. Note: a kellet is no substitute for a bigger anchor. Bigger is always better.
If I'm worried, I use the nylon instead of the poly, Why? Nylon stretches a lot and absorbs shocks and jerks to the line, poly not so much, and jolts may pop the anchor loose. Plus my poly is cheap, undersized, frayed and one day some years back withstood a forty foot Bayliner that dragged down on us. My two anchors and rode held firm, and impressed the heck out of me, but the poly was stretched like a guitar string, that can't be good.
I suggest bringing two anchors minimum when going overnight, or have a workable plan in case you lose your anchor. Would that big pipe wrench work? probably not, but how about a heavy canvas bag filled with rocks, or take off your pants, tie a knot in the legs.... now your thinking, that's right bring extra pants. What a hero!
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| This guy would steal your anchor if he could eat it. Taken on Blake Island at Tillicum Village |
