ANCHOR TEST

BY BILL SPRINGER

HOLDING POWER WE PUT THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF FORCE ON 14 DIFFERENT ANCHORS TO SEE HOW WELL THEY WORK. SOME RESULTS MAY SURPRISE YOU

HICH ANCHOR HOLDS BEST? It should be a simple question. We’ve put a man on the moon and have decoded the human genome, so surely someone has designed the ideal anchor—one that sets quickly in all bottoms, steadfastly stays in place even in storm conditions, and reliably resets itself if the wind Wshifts dramatically. It should also be light enough for a couple to handle on a 35-to-40-foot boat and be easy to retrieve when the time comes. How hard could it be to design and build such a basic device? Harder than you think. After three days of testing 14 different anchors in three different lo- cations off Santa Cruz, California, Jeffery Moser from Power & Motoryacht magazine, Toby Hodges from Yachting Monthly, Chuck Hawley and sev- eral colleagues from West Marine, plus yours truly from SAIL confirmed what we all knew going in—that the effectiveness of any anchor is highly dependent on a long list of variables. Some variables (scope, anchor de- sign, and weight) can be controlled; others (bottom surface, wind, and swell) can’t. We also knew that the validity of our results depended on ensuring that all variables (apart from the design of the individual anchors) were kept as uniform as possible; all anchors were tested multiple times with identical scope in identical conditions. We tested in three different locations—on the west and east sides of Santa Cruz’s wharf and off New Brighton Beach, near Capitola. The seas had just a hint of swell in all three locations, and the wind varied from flat calm to a maximum of 12 knots. We took bottom samples at each location with a weighted core sampler to determine the composition of the top 5 inches of the bottom surface. All three locations had a layer of fine dark sand on top of harder, finer, claylike sand. The New Brighton location appeared to have a thinner layer of sand and a harder layer of claylike sand than the two wharf locations.

60 SAILMAGAZINE.COM OCTOBER 2006 PHOTO BY ONNE VAN DER WAL OCTOBER 2006 SAILMAGAZINE.COM 61

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Spade SAILMA 3-458-62 PRICE: $582 › 0 Sarca 2 S › om . c . OCTOBER 2006 : 38 LB

wmar Rocna 0 .le WMAR INC ormance 2 WEIGHT LE www Perf :: Oceane

Manson

Hydrobubble 7:1. The CQR’s relatively sharp point looked capable of penetrating the lay- the penetrating of capable looked point sharp relatively CQR’s The 7:1. digging in, the point from kept have to but appears something sand, of ers has CQR the Claw, the Like reading. 2,000-pound that got we when except on the beach. trench dug a considerable It also years. for been around The maximum load we recorded during our first three pulls on 5:1 scope was scope 5:1 on pulls three first our during recorded we load maximum The time the of the most felt but never pounds, we 350 to up spike short very a coax manually to tried we how or went we slowly how matter No set. anchor The bottom. the of surface the along skip just to seemed it set, to anchor the anchor did briefly hold pounds 2,000 over of west of load the on pull four, not were we and confidence inspire not did pulls three first those but wharf, able of the when pull to to results replicate scope four even was increased The CQR is another tried-and-true anchor that yielded surprising test results. test surprising yielded that anchor tried-and-true another is CQR The

AVERAGE OF PEAK STRAIN AT ALL LOCATIONS Fortress completely. During most of the 5:1 pulls, pulls, 5:1 the of most During completely. it seemed to set and release rapidly without ever really catching. One pull a under dragging slowly was it showed were we but pounds, 300 about of load the that certainty with say to able never considered re- similar we recorded We set. idea had anchor scope.One 7:1 with sults simply were flukes that the Claw’s was harder the telling penetrate to also enough was sharp not pull beach sand.The claylike in that the Claw dug a much trench longerthan other anchors that pro- duced better results during the hold- pulls. ing-power

Delta .99 ::

CQR

PRICE: $99 Claw ›

203-458-6200 203-458-6200 S s › om

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.le 2, 2, 0 The Claw is Lewmar’s version of the 500 WEIGHT INC. LEWMAR www seabeds. However, our test results came came results test our However, seabeds. as a bit 5:1 of with a anchor surprise:this for The maximumrecorded we only load was that pounds.And 886 was scope released anchor the before spike short a popular Bruce anchor that cruisers have have cruisers that anchor Bruce popular a in easily stows It years. for using been bow roller, its one-piece construction de- reportedly is it and super-strong, is signed to be effective in a variety of

1,500 1,000 1,000 ANCHOR TESTING ANALYSIS: 3,500 5,500 2,500 4,500 3,000 3,000 5,000 5,000 6,000 6,000 2,000 2,000 4,000 4,000

Average holding power (5:1 scope, lbs) scope, (5:1 power holding Average

Y Y B S O T PHO ABNER KINGMAN ABNER 4-4465 7 a :: agg 888-6 › PRICE: $350 S › S m/bulw o c ANIE . o : 28 LB OMP

.notec s at 3:1. The overall results for the Bulwagga were good, but good luck good but good, were Bulwagga formancedroppeddramaticallyoff trying to get it to sit neatly on your

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The concept behind the Bulwagga is

backup/kedge anchor, provided you have have you chors we tested. It provided would be a useful anchor, backup/kedge the necessary stowage space. it in a locker. Its unconventionalItsshape locker. a in it can’t it and handle, to difficult it makes be taken apart to be down storedbelow. Thateasily said, it comes closeas “throwto it overboard,it’s sure tocatch something” asanyofthe an- fairly straightforward. Its three large flukes flukes large three Its straightforward. fairly flukes two that ensure designedto are will always be properly aligned to dig into the bottom no matter how anchorthe is oriented. help to anchor the of center The the in pivot shank can flukes working two the on load the keep Bul- the pulls test our of all In equalized. wagga set quickly and held a mummaxi- of 2,974 pounds of load before releasing abruptly (rather than drag- ging). concludedWe that this anchor 35- a load the handle to able be should anchor an on exert can boat to-40-foot WEIGHT MELE C www A

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or is the ome o ome at is 255 pounds in 15 knot 15 in pounds 255 is at w om f t s ’ 800 pounds in 42 knot or diff or c a . at anchor C 00pounds ould be as much as t as much as be ould including na including Y or a 40-f , 4 s; 1, ding t F , edict. am bo am s orm anchorthat c r . ontal lo ably lo 2 t AB ailbo o s azine T THE NUMBERS MEAN , s on anchor r pr c ) table f table ) -be s ne indic c C e 000 pounds and that other ound that s thatound , e a s Y O A The oot f viously an anchor should be able t able be should anchor an viously Shana Shana Rae, -f 5 e ading We were able to apply We f onsider ailmag 0 o c put on s (AB the horiz Ob 1 in 30 knot 60 knot pounds quir s authoritie lo c anchor an figur W WHA tested is available in a wide wide a in available is tested we used for of weights; range recommended weight the a 35-to-40 foot boat. how record accurately and to up the reacted anchors to 5,000 pounds of load, thanks ves- to research the 52-foot,92,000-pound sel 35-to-40-foot sailboat would scope that would a cruiser on a sailboat 35-to-40-foot use. actually Each anchor

OCTOBER 2006 r e T rful w S e w TE GAZINE.COM he goal of this test this of goal he was to determine the performance at to determine ed a po bo SAILMA t us Our primary goal was to to was goal primary Our s e te max holding po W 62 before before its maximum load is reached—in specific a a specific at and location test primary test scope was 5:1 5:1 was scope test primary water, of feet 20 roughly in but we also tested per- formance with scopes of 3:1 and 7:1. holding maximum the learn impor- more power—and, acts anchor each how tant, how quickly the anchor set, its holding power (as by measured a digital dy- the to attached namometer rode and wired intolaptop a computer, whether and (as it determined by using draggedvisual ranges and precise Our measurements). GPS characteristics of 14 an- bot- sand hard a (on chors tom) deemed suitable by their manufacturers for a cruising sailboat in the 35-to-40-foot range. We judged performance on THE OBJECTIVE ANCHOR ANCHOR T ANCHOR TEST :: :: WEIGHT: 36 LBS › PRICE: $259.99 WEIGHT: 22 LBS › PRICE: $420 MAX LEWMAR INC. › 203-458-6200 FORTRESS MARINE ANCHORS lbs www.lewmar.com 954-978-9988 5,000 AD www.fortressanchors.com LO The Delta is a one-piece plow-type anchor with large flukes. It was one of several anchors that held substantial The Fortress FX37 was one of several an- loads on multiple pulls east of the wharf. On one pull at 5:1 chors we tested that consistently set quickly scope, it set quickly and held firm up to 5,000 pounds. Dur- and held up to 5,000 pounds of load on mul- ing two other 5:1 pulls, it held to a maximum of about tiple sets in multiple locations. Its sharp, large 3,500 pounds, then slowly dragged (holding 3,500 pounds) flukes dug in immediately. As we increased for about 600 feet before releasing. Performance was The test the loads and the rode became bow-string team moved considerably poorer at the other locations. It appears hundreds tight, the boat shuddered and kicked up some that the Delta’s angled fixed shank, relatively sharp point, of pounds of impressive turbulence at the stern but the anchors over and large flukes helped it set quickly and hold (up to a point) three days anchor didn’t budge. At only 22 pounds as long as the scope was at least 5:1. Performance declined of testing the Fortress was one of the lightest an- sharply at 3:1. The beach pull confirmed that the anchor chors we tested, and it was the easiest to set and dug in almost immediately, rather than plowing a stow (it can be broken down and will fit in a fluke slightly during our veering test. This long trench before setting. TESTING PROCEDURE :: a slim bag). It also held over 5,000 pounds was while the anchor was under load, so it s we gathered anchors for ley, and his colleagues from on 3:1 scope. With its light weight, quick set- would be unfair to say anything other than MAX lbs the test, we found that West Marine have conducted ting and retrieval , enormous holding power it withstood a tremendous amount of abuse 5,000 some manufacturers countless anchor tests over the at a variety of scopes, and easy stowabil- and still functioned properly. It would be dif- AD A LO were a bit skeptical. They wanted years in our test location (they ity, the Fortress ranked high among all the ficult (but not impossible) to secure in a bow assurances that the evaluation test any anchor West is con- anchors we tested. However, we did bend roller when not in use. would be unbiased and that sidering carrying in its stores), each anchor would be tested in but had never tested anchors pened when we veered sharply similar conditions. This was weighing between 20 and 40 on the rode. Scope was deter- our guiding principle, and we pounds off Santa Cruz. West Ma- mined according to Shana Rae’s described our methodology to rine sells roughly half the anchors depthfinder and confirmed via :: What’s most curious about each manufacturer prior to the we tested. leadline. We also used a boat MAX test. West Marine’s VP of Prod- Our procedure was as con- close to shore to pull each an- lbs the Hydrobubble is the uct Development, Chuck Haw- sistent as possible. Each an- chor in wet sand on the beach 5,000 shape of its blade. Instead AD chor was pulled on the same rode to make it easy to see how each LO of Delta or CQR-type flukes), (1-inch nylon rope with a 20- anchor set. the Hydrobubble’s blade DATA GRAPHS: EACH PULL WAS GRAPHED USING THE COMPUTER 5 foot leader of /16-inch chain) at Each test was conducted forms an upside-down V. It EAST OF WHARF › 20' CHAIN / 108' 1'' NYLON / 25' DEPTH least three times with 5:1 scope. the same way. The anchor was seems the pull of the shank )

s 6,000 Sample of anchor that did not set Sample of anchor subjected to full pull We moved the test boat (con- attached to the rode and then drives the flat V-shaped blade 5,500 Observations: Seemed to skip Observations: Engaged 5,238 lbs deeper into the bottom. This er (lb firming our new location with dropped over the side. The w 5,000 along the bottom. Stopped test immediately, held to because of excessive dragging 5,000 lbs. Test terminated the GPS) before each new pull rode was attached to the dig- could help explain how it pen- 4,500 to ensure the anchor had a ital dynamometer, which was etrated the hard bottom even though the point wasn’t par- 4,000 chance to set in a fresh sea bed, wired to a PC that recorded the and instead of testing each an- strain on the gauge three times WEIGHT: 16 LBS ing up to multiple 5,000- ticularly sharp.This anchor’s e holding po 3,500 PRICE: $249 performance exceeded our ag chor three times in succession, per second. The boat idled for- pound pulls. The minimal

er 3,000 v we pulled the first anchor, ward until the appropriate ANCHOR CONCEPTS flotation provided by the capacity to exert force on it, A 2,500 weighed it, moved the boat, scope had paid out and the 888-282-2535 eponymous bubble helps the and I was able to take it apart 2,000 set the second anchor, weighed anchor had set. Once a set was www.anchorconcepts.com anchor orient itself so that its and bring it back from Cali- it, and so on, to make absolutely confirmed, engine revs were heavy stainless-steel blade is fornia in my luggage. It may 1,500 sure that no one anchor would slowly increased until the an- When placed alongside all always positioned to dig in at look unconventional, but the 1,000 be tested in a specific area of the chor dragged, released, or the other anchors in our test, the optimal angle. Quick sets anchor with the effervescent 500 name may represent a new 78 lbs bottom. We also tested the an- reached 5,000 pounds. Then the the Hydrobubble Standard 45 and multiple 5,000-pound 0 chors with 3:1 and 7:1 scope and whole process was repeated didn’t get much respect at pulls at 5:1 scope prove it and effective way to anchor 10 10:5 10 10:5 12:44:4 12:45:4 12:46:4 12:4 12:48:4 :56:40 :58:40 7 9:40 7 separately checked what hap- with the next anchor. first—until it started stand- worked beautifully every time. a boat. Time :40 :4 7 7 7 7 7

64 SAILMAGAZINE.COM OCTOBER 2006 OCTOBER 2006 SAILMAGAZINE.COM 65 ANCHOR TEST

:: MAX The Manson Supreme is one of lbs several newer anchors we tested 000 5, that combine a rigid shank, a sharp LOAD Soil samples Bulwagga Claw point, a scooplike (rather than a plow-type) blade, and a roll bar that ensures the anchor is always prop- erly oriented on the sea bed. It also set quickly and resisted multiple 5,000-pound pulls at 5:1 scope east The strain gauge (inset) fed the data directly of the wharf. Results at the other lo- into the computer as well as to a second cations were also good, consis- read-out on deck (below) tently topping out at 2,500 pounds before releasing. The Manson was was also able to withstand 5,000 CQR Delta Fortress pounds at 3:1 scope. On the beach, it dug in without dragging. Its shape appears compatible with most bow rollers, but it would protrude more WEIGHT: 35 LBS › PRICE: $450 than a Claw or a CQR, and its roll bar PLASTIMO USA › could possibly interfere with some 941-360-1888 › www.plastimo.com bow pulpits. DATA AND :: ANALYSIS :: Hydrobubble Manson Supreme Oceane WEIGHT: 38 LBS › PRICE: $259 ith the digital dynamometer WEST MARINE we were able to record the 800-262-8464 W maximum load exerted on each www.spade-anchors.com anchor, to graph how increased load af- fected the anchor, and to incorporate ac- The most obvious difference between curate time and GPS data, along with the Oceane and the other one-piece visual range marking to show dragging. plow/scoop-type anchors we tested is Thanks to Phil Cowley of West Marine, who that its C-shaped shank is attached right provided the dynamometer as well as the at the front of the scoop, close to the software expertise to process the data. point. In our on-the-beach tests the This procedure virtually eliminated any er- Rocna Sarca Anchorlight Spade Oceane pivoted quickly on its sharp rors that could arise from physically jot- MAX point, and its C-shaped shank lbs ting down readings of over 100 pulls at did a good job of converting the 5,000 different scopes. lateral force on the rode into down- LOAD Over dinner on each test day we reviewed ward/digging force on the scoop. How- recorded multiple maximum the day’s results—everything from bot- ever, the Oceane did not produce pulls. None of the other anchors we tom sampling, hydraulic-crane operation, consistent results. East of the wharf tested had such profoundly different to each anchor’s performance or lack of per- and at New Brighton, the Oceane results between venues, and the rea- formance. Then, when we were all back failed to set after multiple attempts on son is not readily apparent.The Oceane’s in our respective offices, we again dis- scopes of 5:1 and 7:1. However, west unique shape makes it difficult to stow cussed each anchor’s performance via a con- West Marine of the wharf it set immediately, and we on a bow roller. ference call to confirm our analyses. Wasi Performance 20 XYZ

66 SAILMAGAZINE.COM OCTOBER 2006 OCTOBER 2006 SAILMAGAZINE.COM 67 ANCHOR TES T

EFFECT OF SCOPE ON HOLDING POWER MAX ) s 6,000 lbs 3:1 1,500 5,000 AD er (lb 5:1 LO w 4,000

3,000

2,000

e holding po :: 1,000 ag WEIGHT: 26 LBS › PRICE: $200 showed brief spikes, then a quick release. It also er

v 0

A WEST MARINE › 800-262-8464 briefly held 1,500 pounds on 5:1 scope before slowly Bulwagg a Delta Fortr e s s Manson Rocna Sar ca Spade Wasi MAX www.westmarine.com dragging and releasing off New Brighton. But that lbs ,000 EFFECT OF LOCATION ON HOLDING POWER was only one pull of many—hardly enough to show 5 D The Performance 20 is a Danforth-style anchor the anchor is capable of holding anything close LOA ) Test location East of wharf New Brighton West of wharf s 6,000 marketed by West Marine, so when we were to that much load dependably. The Fortress 5,000 consistently unable to get the anchor to set at showed how effective a Danforth-type anchor could er (lb w 4,000 a variety of scopes and locations, there was be, so the only explanation the team could come considerable scratching of heads. For the majority up with was that the flukes of the particular an- :: 3,000 WEIGHT: 32 LBS › PRICE: $560 of pulls on increasingly longer scope, the anchor chor we tested weren’t sharp enough to pene- SUNCOAST MARINE › 604-781-8347 2,000 seemed to set and release quickly. Several pulls trate the hard, claylike sand. e holding po

www.rocna.com ag 1,000 er v 0 A Bulw D F Hy Manson OCEANE P R Sa Sp W elta ortr erf ocna asi X The Rocna is very similar in design to dr rc ade MA agg e obubble ormance 2 a ss s CONCLUSION a lb :: the Manson, but the Rocna yielded 4,000 slightly better results. Both withstood Anchors that did not generate significant holding power are omitted 0 AD :: fter three full days, over 100 test LO maximum pulls east of the wharf and The stainless-steel Wasi has a roll bar pulls, and countless hours crunch- had similar holding power on both 5:1 like some of the other anchors we X A ing numbers and analyzing data, MA and 3:1 scope; the Rocna held slightly lbs tested, but its blade and shank design we learned a great deal about all the longer east of the wharf before re- 5,000 are unusual. The blade consists of a anchors we tested and about the challenges leasing. Like the Manson, the Rocna, with LOAD :: flat, heavy triangle, and the shank an- of anchor testing. Having several its sharp point and roll bar, was one of Multiple pulls at both wharf locations gle is very pronounced. This angle ap- anchors with established reputations fail the better-performing designs we yielded 5,000-pound load readings. Its pears to provide the downward force to set sparked many hours of debate. tested; it has similar potential drawbacks, simple weighted point and mid-sized blade required to propel the flat blade down We questioned our methodology and such as how much it would protrude on easily penetrated and held without drag- into the bottom, and test results show tried to determine what could be done to a bow roller and potential pulpit con- ging. Results fell off dramatically, how- it works. The Wasi set quickly on 5:1 insure that all anchors could at least flicts. However, the Rocna’s blade was WEIGHT: 35 LBS › PRICE: $450 ever, at 3:1 scope and at the New Brighton WEIGHT: 32 LBS › PRICE: $730 scope, held to 3,000 pounds, and return some results apart from “did not more angular and had slightly upturned SPADE ANCHORS › 800-262-8464 location. Our beach pulls illustrate why SWISS TECH AMERICA › dragged before releasing when the set.” It’s possible the size and power flaps at the back, and its shank was www.spade-anchor.com the Spade was so successful. The heav- 408-505-7245 load topped 4,000 pounds. Results were of the Shana Rae could have been too great slightly longer. These subtle differ- ily weighted point immediately dug in and www.swisstech-america.com similar on 3:1 scope. to get accurate readings on some ences might explain the Rocna’s slightly The Spade turned out to be one of the nearly buried not only the blade, but the anchors. (Hawley and his team were able better test results. better-performing anchors on 5:1 scope. shank as well. to get all the test anchors to set using a MAX smaller, less powerful boat in a separate s 300lb test.) The anchors that returned poor :: AD results in our test may produce better LO WEIGHT: 12.5 LBS › PRICE: $395 results in different conditions. :: CREATIVE MARINE › 800-824-0355 In the end, we were surprised that WEIGHT: 33 LBS › PRICE: N/A suited to penetrating the hard-pack www.creativemarine.com/xyz.htm the CQR, Claw, XYZ, and Performance 20 ANCHOR RIGHT › 604-322-4008 sand. On every 5:1 pull at all three lo- performed poorly in our test and were www.anchorright.net cations it set quickly and held up to 3,000 The XYZ anchor was by far the impressed with the results of the new pounds. The data shows it consistently most innovative design we tested. sharp-point/roll-bar designs, along with The Sarca was unlike any of the other held between 1,500 and 3,000 pounds Weighing in at only 12.5 pounds, its holding ability depends solely on how well the Hydrobubble and the Fortress. anchors we tested. It consists of a large before releasing. Similar numbers were it can dig into the bottom. The shank is also equipped with a knob that insures Anchor design is evolving, but our triangular blade, a pronounced roll bar, recorded after the 3:1 pull. These set- the XYZ will flip over if it lands upside down on the bottom. On the beach it results still confirm the rule of thumb and a hollowed-out shank that allows ting characteristics deserve a high rat- flipped over and dug a long trench in the wet sand. But, no matter how hard that every boat should carry at least the shackle to slide forward during re- ing. However, several other anchors we tried, we could not get the XYZ to set in any of our tests. We recorded in- three different anchor designs and MAX trieval. Its very sharp point (it could we tested set with similar consistency lbs termittent readings that maxed out at about 300 pounds, but we were never weights to deal with a wide variety of cut you if you weren’t careful) was well and held at higher loads. 3,000 able to get a legitimate set at any location and on any amount of scope. bottom types. F LOAD

68 SAILMAGAZINE.COM OCTOBER 2006 OCTOBER 2006 SAILMAGAZINE.COM 69