It was a beautiful day for a sail as we fired-up the engine and dropped the mooring. The wind was almost ahead as we powered down the creek, heading for Chesapeake Bay. But just as we got into the narrow – between a point of land and a row of scallop trawlers – our engine quit. With the wind pushing us toward the steel hulls I quickly dropped my Viking anchor, which dug in and stopped the boat from drifting. It was thanks to that anchor, that a potentially nasty situation became no more than a minor inconvenience.

If you consider the fact that a boat has a throttle but no brake, the anchor can be viewed as nothing less than a vital piece of equipment. Whatever your boating style, you never know when you might need an anchor – and perhaps need one badly.

A classic "Fisherman's" or "Herreshoff" anchor.While most boats new and used come with something, the choice of which anchor(s) to carry and how you deploy them should be an active decision based on your boat, the bottom conditions you encounter, the weather in your area and the length of time you plan to stay anchored.

In this series, we will cover how to select an anchor, how to properly deploy it and how to manage problems such as drag and retreival. As with all activities on a boat, there is no substitute for experience, and this may be especially true when it comes to anchoring. But preparation also has its place, and choosing the right anchor for the conditions you encounter is

THE BASICS

First some terminology: the long shaft of an anchor is known as a shank. Across the bottom of the hook are the arms, which terminate in broad flukes. The place where the shank joins the arms is the called the crown. Located at right angles to the arms is the stock. Not all anchors have all these parts, and some parts are arranged differently, but the vocabulary is still helpful.

In the beginning, people tried to hold a boat in one place by tying a rope to a big weight and dropping it into the water. It soon became obvious that this was not very effective. Eventually, someone decided to lash sharp branches to the rock creating the first hooking anchor. In time this style of anchor evolved into the anchors we use today, a style that has served mariners well for centuries.

Anchors come in two main types: hooking and burying. The purest form of hook anchor is the grapnel, which is useful when anchoring in rock, but is seldom otherwise used. Burying anchors come in many different forms. And the truth is that most modern anchors combine both functions. They can hook on rock or coral and bury in sand or mud.

EARLY IMPROVEMENTS

The first improvement made on the traditional anchor was to replace the wooden stock with a metal one that could be folded down along the shank, making it easier to stow. This became known as a "fisherman" style. There were several variations, including the "Herreshoff anchor," which have different fluke shapes and sizes suitable for different bottom conditions.

This kind of anchor is lowered to the bottom, where it lays on its side. When you pull on the rode, the line that connects it to the boat, the anchor flips up so that one of the flukes is poised to dig into the bottom. Continued pulling causes the fluke to bury, which holds the boat in place.

That leaves the other half of the arm and its fluke sticking pretty much straight up. If the boat swings, as it would with a change in current, the rode can wrap around, or foul, the upright arm and pull the anchor out backward. Aside from the potential to foul, this anchor style will hold steady in a wide variety of bottom conditions, including those that are rocky and weed-infested. With a small fluke area, the anchor does not hold as well in sand or mud as a modern anchor of the same weight. It can also be difficult to bring up without marring the side of the boat.

A later variation on the fisherman is the "Northill," which was originally developed for use on seaplanes. Compared with the fisherman, the arms are shorter and the flukes larger, but the main difference is that the stock has been moved down to the crown. It will also fold. This anchor works well in a soft bottom as well as rocks and coral. But it still has the potential to foul and is also hard to recover without dinging the boat.

West MarineTop, a Danforth-style anchor by Fortress. Center, a classix CQR plow anchor. Bottom, a modern Delta plow anchor. An answer to the fouling problem led to the development of the "stockless" or "Navy" anchor, which are often seen on large vessels. The stock and arms are gone, and the flukes pivot on the shank. When lowered, this anchor lies flat on the bottom. Pulling the rode causes the flukes to dig in.

This anchor's main advantage is that it can be pulled up into the hawse pipe to store, saving the arduous catting, fishing, and lashing of the traditional anchor it replaced. It remains the most common anchor on large naval and commercial vessels, but it is impractical for recreational craft. It only works well on large vessels. I have seen Navy anchors as small as five pounds, but at that size, they would make a good doorstop and little else.

DANFORTH

The Danforth Company developed a variation on the Navy anchor that was based on burying. The anchor has a similar configuration but includes a stock at the base of the anchor. The flukes are larger, thinner, and sharper and it is very light for its holding power.

Here the strength of the flukes are paramount. Several companies now make Danforth-style anchors, but the original Danforth was not (and is not) aluminum. Fortress anchors (and the discontinued Viking) are aluminum.

Danforth-type anchors are best in hard sand, less so in soft mud (but that is true of almost any anchor). Because of its light weight, the Danforth does not do well in weeds, and if you plan to anchor in rock or coral, you should have the high-tensile version.

This anchor performs best with a low angle of pull. If the strain comes from alternate angles after the anchor is set, it may peel out of the bottom and may or may not reset.

Like the Navy anchor, it can be pulled up into a hawse pipe, if your boat is set up that way, or it can be stored on bow rollers. Some boaters also use chocks to store it flat on the foredeck, ready for use.

PLOW ANCHORS

Another kind of burying anchor is the plow type. Indeed this looks like a plow, with the flukes in the form of a double plowshare, attached to a shank with a pivot joint. As it is pulled, the flukes simply bury deeper in the bottom.

There are a number of copies, but the original is the CQR made by Simpson Lawrence. Plows work well in sand, mud, or clay. They are less successful in a weedy bottom. They have enough hooking power that they can be used over rock or coral, though there are other anchors that work better.

One great feature is that a plow will often reset if the angle of pull changes. If the anchor comes free and the rode is pulling on the shank, the device is shaped so that the plow will face the bottom, where it can grab and re-erstablish itself. Not all anchors do that.

Plow anchors are best stowed on a bow roller, as the shape makes them awkward for any other arrangement.

What might be considered an evolution of the plow is the Bruce anchor. It is based on anchors used for mooring offshore oil rigs but have become very popular among recreational boaters. It is a one-piece anchor with a broad, three-lobed fluke attached below the shank. It has much the same characteristics as the plow: it will hold well as a burying anchor in sand and mud, and can be used as a hooking anchor in rock or coral. Like the plow, it stores well on a bow roller but is difficult to stow elsewhere.

Of course, new models are being introduced all the time. One such model is the Delta anchor , which combines features of the plow and the Bruce. It is made in one piece, like the Bruce, but it has the sharp point and broad flukes like a plow. Deployed from a bow roller, it can both hook and bury.

IN PRACTICE

So which kind of anchor is the best? It would seem simple to take a number of different anchors out, set them, pull on them with a powerful boat and see how much it takes to break each one out. Some magazines have endeavored to do just that. But the truth is that boats, bottom types, wind, current and other variables have a strong influence on the results.

What you need to carry will depend on the kind of boating you do and the areas you tend to visit the most. If you usually head out, anchor for lunch and then return home to the marina, you need a simple anchor system that is easily deployed and that will hold you steady for a few hours in local conditions. If you frequently overnight, a heavier working anchor may be in order.

Walk around your marina and see what your fellow boaters are using. You will generally find that one or two types predominate, and following their lead is a good start. You can always adjust based on your experience, either moving to a larger anchor, a different model or simply adding a second.

If you plan to travel, you may need a more versatile rig, capable of holding the boat firm in a variety of conditions. You may have separate anchors for sand and mug, rocks and coral – even a heavy storm anchor for energencies. Your deployment strategies may also get more sophisticated. But every good system starts with one good anchor – and a lot of practice.

TOMORROW: Deployment Systems