SUCH A DRAG

Anchoring is a very important boating skill, since it’s just as important to be able to prevent 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 attempts at anchoring. The main worry is always that the anchor will not dig into the seabed, or else uproot completely for whatever reason, leaving the boat to float away, sometimes with catastrophic and life-threatening results.

An objective is to get the anchor to lie flat along the seabed, where it has the best chance of scooping its way into the bottom. The way to achieve this to lay a good length of rode, about five or six times the anchoring depth (the rode being the total length of chain, or anchor line and chain, from the boat to the anchor). This is the reason for using a heavy chain with a good catenary (catenary being the curve or hang of the rode between the bow of the boat and the seabed).

Plenty of rode by itself doesn’t