Get your ground tackle setup right, and you’ll sleep much easier while you’re cruising. Get it wrong, and your boat could wind up on the beach in a bad blow.
Ground tackle is a complete system, including the anchor itself, the rode (chain, rope, or some combination thereof which connects the anchor to the boat), and the windlass (or other means of retrieval). Remember this: Good ground tackle can overcome poor anchoring technique, but even the best technique, in the worst conditions, won’t overcome poor ground tackle.
The Anchor
Gone are the days of the plow-style CQR anchor as a primary and ubiquitous bower anchor. Nowadays, a single bower anchor is de rigueur, made possible by the leap in anchor technology over the past
