Kedge anchor question

[adamf]

Hi, I recently bought a SO37 and mainly sail on the East Coast. This is my first boat and as part of my safety regime I am looking to buy a kedge anchor which I can use to try and winch myself free in the event of accidental grounding. Can anyone advise what type, size of both the anchor and chain/rope type combination to use please? Thanks in advance.

[MalcolmP]

Guess UK East Coast? if so fairly shallow and lots of mud which makes anchoring easier. Presume you would lay out a kedge from a rubber dinghy? in which case weight and ease ease of use is critical as heavy anchors with chain and dinghys are a nightmare mix. I find the fortress alloy anchor, although unwieldy, very good in terms of weight and easy to set - I would put a few metres of light chain - it is unlikely to break so go for quite small and maybe just 6 metres of so. Get a floating line as the weight is then less of an issue as you lay it out - also I would go for quite thin no more than 10mm - but long say 50 to 75m - it is amazing how hard it is to row out with an anchor with a massive non-floating rope attached

Others may well have different views, but this has worked for me in the past - although stating the obvious if I ground on a rising tide best to wait for the flood to take you off and avoid grounding on a falling tide anyway

Malcolm

[MartyB]

A lot of folks also go for an anchor that is light, so they can literally throw it! assuming they do not have a dinghy on board. Hence a lighter one ala aluminum, or smaller steel base danforth style. A smaller plow/bruce or equal style might also work. Not sure I would go for very much chain, maybe a meter/3feet at most, and that would be only if I was near a lot of sharp rocks/coral type issues. If mud or sand, then a floating line attached to the anchor as Malcolm mentioned.

Not sure there is a right or wrong frankly. Think about the different anchor war/threads on other forums, for everyone that feels this method is best, another says it did not work. Reality is, what ever works for you, is best! I've described how I would do it, ie the smaller anchor I can throw!

Marty

[Anwen (Deep Joy)]

Another vote for Fortress. I have just bought an FX7 and rigged it as a kedge with 5 metres of chain and 20 metres of multiplait line. I'm not sure when I will need it, as round here there is generally reasonable depth, but better prepared than caught short.

[adamf]

Hi everyone. Thanks for all your advice. I am relatively new to all of this and so all suggestions and advice are very welcome. I hope that I am not caught out but in the event that it does happen then I want to be prepared. Malcolm is correct in stating that I would probably row out with the anchor in a dinghy and so I think all your comments regarding weight of the anchor and line etc are very valid. Thanks everyone.

[dublin]

Tecommended method appears to be

Put the anchor and warp in the dingy
Pay out the warp as you row away from the boat. This avoids having to row pulling the warp through the water
Ifusing the outboard, reverse and pay the warp out over the bow -this avoids th risk of getting the warp fouled in the ob prop

[Full Circle]

I have an SO35 and I have 2 kedges. Also on East Coast UK.
One is a 10kg Bruce which has 10m of 10mm chain and 70m of Anchorplait. I keep these in a mesh anchoring bag with stout handles.
The other is a Fortress FX16 which folds away and is light. This has 6m of chain and 70m of Anchorplait also.

For info, my main anchor is a genuine 35lb CQR with 60m of 10mm chain. Never have had any problems with that.

[adamf]

Thanks again for all the great advice.