On Easy Go we have set Bahamian Moorings, two chain anchorage moorings, two chain v moorings and my favourite a Moitessier Mooring. The Moitessier mooring is simple to set and retrieve, does not allow the chains to get tangled on each other and has incredible holding power. We have successfully sat out a couple of Cat 1 hurricanes with this mooring. We were once blown ashore after setting a v two chain mooring.

We set the Moitessier mooring by putting down our main bower which is either a Bruce or Fisherman 's Anchor. We set this well giving it the entire scope required for the depth. If we have anchored in less than 25 feet we will then retrieve the chain until we have about 60 feet remaining in the water. We attach a second anchor, out little bruce usally, to 30 feet of chain and attach this chain to the main chain rode with a shackle and swivel. We set this anchor down carefully and again let out all the chain we need for the anchorage we are in. This places the anchors about 30 feet apart. We have only one chain over the bow roller, no tangles and if the wind gets up we can let out more rode and even put a float on the rode to act as a hydraulic damper/snubber. We have swung around on this system without dislodging the anchors and have never had a foul up even in kelp.

We have yet to drag anchor with this method and Easy Go has been known to sit to this anchor system for four months.

To retrieve we bring in the chain until we get to the connection of the two chains then bring in the 30 feet and small bruce, while staying connected to the bottom, put this all away then finish getting our bower up and stowed.

Hi Bill,
I am not surprised by the situation you describe. The Bruce has the highest percentage set on first try of any anchor (all the new ones included). It also has the lowest drag value (meaning lowest holding power),particularly if it catches a rock or gets blocked with hard substrate as you describe. Many people recommend overspec-ing the size of a Bruce for that reason. Steve Dashew was one such proponent, until he switched all his boats to Rocnas. The new generation scoop-type anchors (Rocna, Manson Supreme, Spade, Ultra) dig very deep and are far less prone to pulling out. They are engineered to allow the substrate to pass over them rather than catch and pull.

Vice Commodore, OCC 

I totally agree with wmccandless. Combine the weight of the two anchors and use it all the time. It served us well for 10 years. We use a 50kg Bruce on a 36ft boat. Then last summer we were hit with (ofically reported) 60 kts and dragged. 6:1 scope. About a mile later the storm subsided. At first I thought the anchor was hooked into something, but when I got it up it carried a huge ball of bottom. All I had was a 100kg dead weight of anchor and bottom mud. I couldn 't even see the anchor. It took many minutes of poking at it with an oar to break the ball of bottom from the anchor. Instead of digging into the bottom, the anchor "grabbed" a chunk of the bottom and pulled it out.
I still use the big Bruce, but I think a tandem burying anchor would have prevented my dragging. I think I would want the burying anchor the farthest from the boat, with a infinite scope.
Bill Doar
s/v Advent II

Two anchors are a waste of energy and can be a big problem if trying to up anchor in a crowded anchorage in a blow. Take the weight of two anchors and convert to one big anchor and a heavy chain rode. Sleep well at anchor and stop fiddling around. On our Najad 490 we had a 50 kilo bruce and 10 mm chain and never dragged once in 10 years. Cheers

The issue is that scoops rarely drag (if ever when properly set) whereas ploughs (esp. CQR) drag fairly often.

That 's why we set two scoops if we need to, but with our oversized Rocna we rarely need to.

Vice Commodore, OCC 

Plough or scoop (or Danforth), whatever you set as your primary, if it is dug in and then drags (as opposed to pulls out) isn 't it going to make much the same mess of the bottom and ruin the holding for the secondary? I can 't imagine that furrow will be any less disturbed by a scoop than a plough so I still don 't see the advantage of deploying in tandem. You are relying on the holding of the primary - once that slips.....

As regards Bahamanian mooring, yes, i am used to putting a weight down to keep clear of the keel - but I have always used a separate rode for each anchor. I imagine it might be hard to recover such a rig on a single rode ..... but frankly no harder than untangling the cat 's cradle that follows a lively night in a narrow anchorage in variable conditions. I will try it.

Hi David,
First, it is important to note that the Rocna, Spade, Manson Supreme, and Ultra are all scoop anchors not plough anchors. The scoop type anchors are concave. They are meant to dig as one would with a spade or shovel and they do. They just go deeper and deeper as the load increases. The ploughs include CQR, Delta, Kobra 2 and Brake. They are convex like plough shares. Ploughs are meant to plow. B)

We have aboard and use the Ultra as our primary and the Rocna as our storm anchor. We also have the Spade but find that it needs more scope than the other two. (After all, we write about anchors and anchoring so we have lots of them.) We have left our CQR and Luke behind as lawn ornaments. We have a lightweight aluminium Fortress for deploying from our dinghy especially in soft bottoms (it won 't sink the dinghy). We use a smaller Delta for kedging, stern deployment or as the second anchor when we want to point into the waves and it 's a hard bottom.

2. The more recent "scientific" tests of anchor performance shows that the scoops have far superior performance in most substrates, including those often considered to offer poor holding. Our personal experience bears this out. On the other hand ploughs typically work better than flukes in hard bottoms and Danforth-type anchors (flukes) work better in soft bottoms, so unless you know what the bottom composition is and deploy the right anchor, you are likely to experience poor holding.

3. One way to avoid the tangle is to connect the two rodes and drop the connection point with a kellet or weight down to the bottom on a single riser. Of course, then you only have one rode to depend on. As to tips once you have the tangle, we 've used the dinghy to spin the boat around until the rodes separate. It can be a bit dizzying! :silly:

4. We used to deploy a bridle that way on our sloop and it worked great. For some reason, our ketch doesn 't like that set up, so whatever works for you and your boat is what you should use.

I hope that helps. Happy Hooking!

Vice Commodore, OCC 

Daria. Four random observations.

1. You say don 't use a plough as your primary because if it slips your secondary will find poor holding. Ploughs for this purpose must include Rocna, Spade etc? What anchor combination do you use?

2. Isn 't the poor holding psoint true whatever type you use? A Danforth as a primary makes much the same mess of the bottom ( unless it pulls out entirely)

3. Whenever I have set a Bahamanian Moor, I have ended up with a right tangle. It would be useful to be able to work out how many times one has spun through 360 degrees BEFORE you try to recover it. Any tips?

4. In the rolly anchorage situation, with swell and wind in different directions, I usually prefer to set a bridle to bring the head down into the swell. Attach a warp to the anchor rode, (rolling hitch) and lead it to a stern cleat. It takes a few minutes to set up but it is easier to retrieve than a second anchor. Any thoughts?

Hi Bill,

We have used the V configuration successfully many times. Still the tandem technique has great merit in a difficult bottom substrate. Of course, you have to have an anchor that has a suitable attachment point in its crown, like a Rocna.

We have now posted an excerpt from our book on the subject here http://goo.gl/s497I.

If you do come our way, please let us know and come to visit us in Clew Bay. We are planning to head up to Scotland in the Spring but should be home in Aug./Sept. Yes, those months tend to be quite wet. Although this year,we had considerably less rain in the West than in the East and South. Perhaps a trend?

Vice Commodore, OCC 

Hi Daria,

I did not try the two anchor method last year - actually completely forgot the project... However in re-reading my post, I remain intrigued by the prospect (can 't remember where I read about it). It seems to me to have a great advantage over the tandem anchoring you describe, since you can actively set each anchor on their respective scopes - whereas the tandem approach could leave you with one anchor upside down or at least not set. I think we 'd all agree that when things start dragging is not the time to hope an anchor is going to set...

I take your point regarding possible tangles - but I suppose it 's no worse than people that deploy two anchors at 45 degrees... ?

Hoping to be in your neck of the woods next year - heading to the Azores for a while and then planning to cruise the west coast of Ireland in August/September... (I 'm thinking it 'll likely be wet!)

Cheers!

Bill Balme