Anchoring

Courtesy of Door County Sail and Power Squadron

 

While there is no requirement for a boat to carry an anchor, it is a must for all but the tiniest craft.  Anchoring is done for two reasons: a) to stop to enjoy fishing, swimming or meals, or to stay in one place overnight, and, b) for safety, to keep the boat from going aground or into other danger.
The anchor should be suitable, not only for the size of the boat, but for the type of bottom you are likely to encounter.  A rocky bottom suggests a different anchor than a sand or mud bottom would.  A 3-6-foot galvanized chain should be attached directly to the anchor.  The weight of this chain helps the anchor to dig into the bottom more readily, and the chain is better able to resist abrasions than a line.

The anchor line itself, attached to the chain, should be suitable for both boat size and water depth.  The general rule for anchoring is to pay out five to seven feet of line for every foot of depth you are in, so if the water is 15 feet deep, you would require 100 feet of line. An extra line carried on the vessel for this purpose is always a good idea.  Nylon line is by far the best for anchoring, since in additional to its great strength, nylon stretches, taking up much of the strain caused by wind and waves. (Polypropylene, which is rather inexpensive, is a poor choice, since it does not stretch, and deteriorates in sunlight, becoming progressively weaker with time.)

The anchor should always be attached to the bow of the boat; never the stern.  An anchor set at the stern can lower the transom, allowing waves to swamp the vessel.  Be sure when you anchor that you allow room for the boat to swing in a 360-degree arc without hitting any nearby boats. Winds can be capricious in this setting.

The anchor should be gently lowered from the boat, never thrown or swung round and round and let fly, one of the easiest ways to foul an anchor.  Similarly, when weighing anchor, the boat should be brought to a point where the anchor may be removed by pulling straight up on it.