anchoring and marlinspike seamanship 227
HOW WILL YOU USE YOUR ANCHORS?
All anchors fi t into one of three general categories. Th ese defi ne how you use
the anchor.
Working Anchor. Th e main bow anchor, called a working anchor or bower,
is the boat’s workhorse. Use this anchor for long stops or overnight anchoring.
Some boats carry a second, lighter working anchor, nicknamed a lunch hook.
Use a lunch hook for brief, temporary stops, but never for overnight stays.
Kedging Anchor. Kedge anchors are used to pull you off a shoal if you go
aground. Th e word kedge is a general term, not an anchor design. Some mariners
prefer to choose a large kedge, such as the Luke or Admiralty Pattern anchor
that looks like the anchor in a sailor’s tattoo. Th ey load the kedge into a dinghy,
row it out, and deploy it in deep water. On small boats, you might choose to go
with a light throwable kedge (see “How to Use Casting Kedges for Ungrounding”
below). Make sure your kedge has these capabilities:
Easy to handle and deploy in foul weather.
Digs and holds in the seabeds of your cruising area.
Quick to retrieve aft er ungrounding.Storm Anchor. Use your largest anchor to hold the boat in exposed, un-
protected areas (more on this later), or in storm conditions. Choose the largest
anchor that you are comfortable handling alone in heavy weather. Th e Paul E.
Luke Company states that most mariners can handle anchors up to 80 pounds
without a windlass. We will discuss special storm anchoring techniques later in
this chapter.
TYPES OF ANCHORS
Lightweight Anchors
Danforth. Lightweight anchors model them-
selves aft er the famous Danforth anchor. Th e
incredible Danforth helped win World War II
by getting our troops in and out of Normandy
on D-Day. Each landing craft , fi lled with men
and supplies, dropped a huge Danforth just
outside the surf line. Th en, the coxswain would
back the boat into the beach, close enough to
put our soldiers ashore. When they were done,
they winched themselves back through the surf,
weighed anchor, and were off again.
Danforth and Fortress anchors are lightweight and
easy to stow.