First, for reference: go to Tuning an anchor rode by Al Frasse and take a read, or after you read this blog. It is the best article I have ever seen on using chain, line or chain/line for anchoring. He gives some GREAT mathematical scenarios for the use of chain and/or line for anchoring. All of my samples in this article are derived from running the spreed sheets he provides on the site.

Ok…ladies and gentlemen, grab a cup of joe and listen to my reasoning regarding too much weight in your bow. You may not agree which is fine. In the end you are responsible for the safety of your vessel and those who sail with you. So what you do is up to you. I will not fault anyone for that. This is all my theory and I’m stickin’ to it mainly because it has worked well for me. Isn’t that the way it usually works in the end?

Let’s start with a situation and a realization.
My wife (then) and I were on a cruise from L.A. to the Sea of Cortez. This is aboard Angelsea, our 22’engineless Falmouth Cutter. We had been anchored in Cabo San Lucas and departed for La Paz which is about 150 miles up into the Sea of Cortez. Our first leg was to a bay called Los Frailes about 50 miles up the coast. The last 30 miles into the anchorage we were headed on a course that is pretty much due north. The sail started out a pleasant one…close reaching in about 12 kts of wind. But that was soon to change. We had a tail wind and a current at about 1 kt to help us along. Everything was cool, or so it seemed. Now about 15 miles from the anchorage it looked like we would make it in by night fall. Then the wind started to pick up out of the north, and blowing contrary to the current that was helping us along.
North winds this time of year in the Cortez happen and usually can be quite strong. Well, this was a doozey of a norther. By nightfall it was blowing 35-40 against the current. We were reefed down to the 3rd in the main and the first or second in the staysail, depending on the state of the wind. The seas were square. At the time we were carrying a 65lb ABI windlass and 200′ of 5/16 BBB right up in the bow. This was 310 pounds total w/anchor or like having 2 average sized men sitting right on the bow. This proved to be too much weight for Angelsea. She would nose dive into the oncoming swells and almost come to a stop. Of course because of our course to destination and the direction of the wind we were beating. (I then realized why they called it beating).
We beat off Los Frailes for 3 days and made 5 miles to weather. Finally we turned tail and sailed back to Cabo. We promptly went ashore to have an ice cream cone 

Now to the analysis:
Not only is anchoring and the gear to do it important for one’s safety, but a vessel MUST also be able to beat off a lee shore in most circumstances. Sure, there are times when things go so bad it’s “bring out the sea anchor!”, and hopefully you have enough sea room through prudent planning to survive. So weight in the bow is an important consideration balanced with the gear to keep you put in one place. It’s not an easy decision really.

So what did I change on Angelsea?
I took the ABI bronze windlass off and went to 100′ of 1/4″ HT and ½” multi-plait line. That took 200 lbs out of my bow. Angelsea now sailed like a witch to weather easily lifting her bow over the seas. It was an entirely different boat. This setup for my primary working anchor worked well for over 10 years in the Caribbean.

Let’s look at trade offs, specifications and scenarios for going lighter with the anchor gear. After all we all want to sleep well at anchor.

¼ G4 is rated at 2600lbs. WLL (working load limit) with a safety factor of 3 giving us a breaking strength of 7800lbs

5/16 G3 is rated at 1900lbs WLL with a safety factor of 4 giving us a breaking strength of 7600lbs.

I have no idea what the reasoning is for the different safety factors used for the different materials.

So as far as strength goes we can use either ¼ G4 (HT) or 5/16 G3 (BBB).

Now to shackles to hook this all up with. Shackles have been a weak link in the past for ¼” chain, as equivalent strength has not been available. Most shackles with equivalent strength will not fit 1/4″ chain. So we have a weak link so to speak. But there are shackles out there that do. Look up Van Beest shackles from Holland. They are sold here in the US. Their 9mm shackle looks like it will fit  ¼” chain. It is rated at 1500lbs WLL, but that is with a safety factor of 6. Again no idea why this safety factor, but they are the Dutch and the government may require a higher safety factor. So the breaking load is at 9000lbs. If we use the same safety factor as the HT chain, that would be a WLL of 3000lbs. If anybody knows the reasoning for the different safety factors, please speak up,

Now for some sample scenarios I ran with the excel sheets from France.

Lyle Hess 26′ Falmouth Cutter (12000Lbs). Inspired by a forum post at the Bristol Channel Cutter forum for a 26′ Falmouth Cutter.

Scenarios:

Anchored in 22′ of water and freeboard of 3′ = 25′ total

All chain 5/16 G3 (BBB) – Labeled 5G3
100′ of 1/4″ G4 chain w/1/2 nylon line – Labeled 4G4

Working load limit for 5/16 BBB is 1900 lbs,
WLL for 1/4 HT is 2600 lbs

Wind 20 knots, gusting to 25 knots – over 30kts I deploy a second anchor.
Force of wind calculated for 30′ boat, as a safety factor and to take into account the extra rigging and spars of a Lyle Hess design.

Force of wind at 20kts 163 lbs, Force of wind at 25kts 741 lbs (gusts) w/ boat at 30 degrees yaw

Note: we do not want to exceed a 10 degree pulling angle at the anchor. After that point we will lose way too much holding power.

20-25 kts of wind

4G4 100′ chain and 25′ line (5 to 1) – Angle ranges from 0 to 8.8 in the gusts with a max dynamic force of 1096 lbs

5G3 with 125′ chain (5 to 1) – Angle ranges from 0 to 9.9 in the gusts with a max dynamic force of 2568 lbs

Now we increase our scope by 25′ with either chain or line to 150′ (6-1)

4G4 – Angle ranges from 0 to 6.3 in the gusts with a max dynamic force of 1033 lbs

5G3 – Angle ranges from 0 to 7.7 in the gusts with a max dynamic force of 2433 lbs

Lastly, go to http://alain.fraysse.free.fr/sail/rode/rode_b.htm and run some of your own scenarios through the spread sheets there. It’s a good exercise and very informative.

Last year anchored in Charlotte Amalie Harbor I experienced one of my wildest times at anchor, even worse than riding out a Cat 4 hurricane in the mangroves. I was anchored in 30’ of water with my 100’ of chain and 50’ of line out (5-1). The wind was blowing 10-50 knots (confirmed by some Mega yachts close by at the marina). The large range of wind speed was what caused all the problems. After a major gust, and the chain and line had been stretched out, the boat would spring forward then go beam to the wind because the rode was so slack. So when one of the 40-50kt gusts hit it was right on the beam. A couple of times I was knocked down to about 40 degrees, or visually my side decks were underwater. Stuff flying all over my cabin below. IT WAS WILD!
I would normally have put out a second anchor, but I was clear astern and wanted to see how well the system would hold. The bottom was excellent holding by the way. This wind condition went on most of the day. I didn’t budge an inch.

Chafe!
Now to last last and final argument in the chain line debate, chafe. One of the reasons I use 100′ for the first part of my rode is for the chafe factor. Here in the Caribbean we have coral rubble bottoms and coral heads that the rode can chafe against. Although I try not to anchor to close to coral heads. First, you don’t want to damage the coral. Second if you do get close and the wind shifts, you can wrap the chain around the head. This makes for a bad situation if you get something bad in the night. With the chain effectively shortened you can easily have a shock load when the load comes up short on the chain. This can easily break the chain.

With the chain/line combo, you get the best of both worlds. In most cases when you are anchoring close to coral heads it is fairly shallow. So you can use all chain at 5 to 1 in 20′ of water. Oh, and put out 6 or7 feet of line instead of using a snubber. In 30 feet of water you can deploy all your chain and 20′ of line to give 4 to 1, or 50′ of line if it is going to be blowy. With the wind blowing and the angle of the rode, the line is still fairly shallow and not even near the bottom. In 25 years of sailing the Caribbean this has always worked well for me.

On my present boat, Shanti, which is a 15000 lb 28’ Bristol Channel Cutter I use 100’ of 5/16 HT, hooked up to 200’ 5/8 multi-plait nylon. This is handled by an all bronze manual ABI windlass. The windlass is located about 8’ aft of the bow and dumps the chain in the bilge right in front of the mast. I use a 22’ Delta anchor, which as far as I can figure equals the holding power of a 35lb CQR. And as you can see with line in the equation I have a lot less dynamic load on the anchor.

Now I’m going to go get some sleep!

Gary

Tuesday we finally got some wind to test/tune the rig. Wind was SE at 10-12 knots. It seems I got the rig fairly taught when I did the static tune on the hook. The worst offender was the cap shroud once loaded. It was fairly slack on the lee side.

I used a marlin spike along with a marlin spike hitch to do the tweaking on the rig. I untied the offending shroud, then hauled on the lanyard with all my might with the marlin spike. This technique got the shroud snug. We tacked  over and snugged up the other side.

Hauling on the lanyard with a marlin spike.

So how did the boat perform? Definitely stiffer as would be expected. In the gusts ( from 10 to around 14) she stood up amazingly well and just accelerated. When we went over some large boat wakes she pitched much less and did not cycle through another pitch after going over the wake.

All in all it was great day. Beautiful with a 10-2 knot breeze. Great company. My Main squeeze, Deb. And Kevin from a pretty little gaffer the Ruth Avery.

New years eve Deb and I plan on sailing over to Jost Van Dyke and try and make the party at Foxy’s. Weather permitting. Leaving St. Thomas we will have to beat into some predicted heavy trade winds (20kts). It will be the true test of the rig and it’s performance. After our little tune up sail, I have high expectations. When we return I will post a full report on this fascinating project.

My loyal crew. Kevin and Deb.

Until next week….CHEERS and a Happy New Year!

Hi everyone,

A bit of an update on my furling system for those interested.

I have finally received all the bits and pieces I need to finish off my new furling system ( I think! ). 

1) Sail has been modified with Dyneema torque rope w/ an extra layer of heavy Dacron on the luff.  The extra layer was recommended by Erik Precourt. Erik also spliced up the torque rope for me. Although it is not hard to do ( I will have instructions sometime in the future ).

2) Code zero type furler From Precourt rigging. This is a small unit rated at 3000lb SWF and about the size of the palm of your hand, for the lower unit. The unit is rated for up to 450sqft of sail.

My furler is all black. Bottom part is carbon fiber. I used a length of 5/16 3 strand for the furling line.

 3) Low stretch high tech halyard XLS EXTRA T made by Samson http://www.samsonrope.com/index.cfm?rope=225 . Purchased from Defender marine as they had the best price, even better than Port Supply (West Marines wholesale division). Bought 115 feet for a 2 part halyard.

4) Some nice lignum vitae/bronze fairleads ( From Classic Marine in UK ) for the control line to the bowsprit traveler. And a couple of Herreshoff cleats for belaying the traveler control line and the furling line.

5) Small blocks for leading furling line aft to cockpit.

6) All bronze #16 Lewmar ST winch. With this winch and the 2 part halyard I should be able to get about 1200lbs on the jib luff for good performance to weather.

Some concerns I have:

1) The furler will not work well under the 1200lbs of load. May have to back of the halyard a touch to furl. We’ll see.

2) At 1200lbs the load may distort the bowsprit traveler. We’ll see.

3) What the evolution will be like to hoist the jib or headsail. Do I have to be off the wind, or can I do it into the wind. We’ll see.

Sunday a couple of friends of mine will help me set everything up. Most is done now, but the headstay has to be moved at the mast head to accommodate the 2 part halyard. Hopefully we will be sailing by Sunday afternoon.

I’ll let you know and have some pics…stay tuned!

Gary

Mini UPDATE:

Well I didn’t get a chance to take Shanti out sailing on Sunday. But I did get up the mast with the use of an ATN Topclimber. Monday I finished everything up and hoisted/furled the jib. so here are some observations.

ATN Topclimber. I moved my boat off it’s mooring and motored over to a little cove called Honeymoon Bay. I did this because where I am anchored is a bit rollie. But dinghy wakes gave me a problem anyway while in Honeymoon. It’s amazing how some people just don’t pay attention! I only had one individual slow down when he saw me up the mast. Everybody else was full tilt boogie as the passed and waked Shanti. The problem I found with the ATN was you need both hands to use it. So you don’t have anything to steady yourself against the wakes/rigging. So I found out the hard way that you need a really flat sea condition and no wakes to work aloft with an ATN Topclimber. I have bruises from being slammed into the rigging by wakes. It’s also a slow climb, but fairly easy. Coming down is harder than going up.

Furler. It’s works fine, but is not an “easy” pull to furl under the ~1200# tension. But it is sweet being so small. I need to sail and furl a few times in different conditions for a final analysis. It does furl nicely though. The “torque rope” for the luff worked very well and is the key to making the system work. Thanks Erik!

Jib traveler. I cranked up the halyard as tight as possible giving me a calculated 1200# tension on the luff of the sail. The ring did not distort! yaaaa!

I hoisted the sail while on the mooring, so I was dead into the wind ( about 8 kts ). I had to guide the sail a bit to keep the upper unit from banging the mast. It was easy though.

More to come. It looks good so far.

Gary

Ahhhh….feels good to be back out in the breeze with my hatches scooping up air! Between the rain and the heat I didn’t get as much done as I wanted to. But I did get the main purpose of the dock time finished, which was the modification of the bowsprit for my new furler system.

Shanti at the dock, Yacht Haven Grand

I have taken off the bow rollers and reshaped the sprit all the way back to the gammon iron. I had to remove the cranes iron to fit on the bowsprit traveler. I also installed some brass half round on the bottom of the sprit for the traveler to ride on under tension. Completely re varnished and painted the sprit using Honey Teak, and white Easypoxy.

"new" bowsprit

Bowsprit traveler

Brass half round installed.

While I was at it I decided to also refinish the sampson posts, as they were checking pretty badly. Used the Honey teak on them also. It will be interesting how the Honey Teak holds up with abrasion from lines. Being a 2 part epoxy type system I think it will do well. Couldn’t get the ash to clean up well without a LOT of sanding. So I used a mahogany stain under the Hoeny teak.

Samson posts ... BEFORE

Sampson posts ... AFTER

While I was on the dock I did some other maintenence. I stripped the main hatch and varnished it with the Honey teak. I left the planking natural and oiled it. I have never used oil before so we will see how much up keep it requires. I don’t like varnishinh over deck caulking as the varnish ALWAYS cracks then the whole job goes to hell real fast. So we will see. Also, the companion way trim,  eyebrow and tiller were striped. I still need to varnish those, but thats next weekend.

Main hatch stripped and ready for sanding/varnish

Done!

Sanding and stripping (without a pole!)

I mentioned in an earlier post that my staineless was nearing the end of it’s life. The rig is 20 years old. I was seeing a lot of rusting no matter how much I cleaned and polished. Here is a shackle for my stays’l halyard. I would guess that is the orginal from when Shanti was built. While de-rigging the sprit, this shackle literaly fell apart. You can see it right at the pivot pin. A big reason to start re-rigging and closely watching my chain plates now … god I hate stainless. Give me bronze ANY day. Also another reason for the new synthetic rigging.

Disintigrated stainless steel shackle

Heres Shanti patiently waiting for the rest of the hardware for her new furler and synthetic rigging. Charlotte Amalie Harbor, St. Thomas.

Back on the mooring.

Now I have to take my jib, lapper and drifter to the sailmaker here for modification. This will included an anti-torsion, low strecth luff line. my next post will cover this and the installation of the furler.

Now to go have some fun today at Honeymoon Beach. Maybe even drink to excess … hic!

Now for some of the details. This will cover some of the minor obstacles that I will need to deal with. It all has to do with fitting the new hardware required to make use of the synthetic rigging. What is being used is very old technology. Deadeyes and lanyards (I think this is very cool) as standard termination like Sta-loks and Swaging doesn’t work. They are a little bigger in dimension than turnbuckles, particularly the width.

1) I have external chain plates. This is a GOOD thing. This obstacle involves fitting 2 deadeyes on one chain plate that was designed to take 2 turnbuckles. I will probably have to have a plate fabricated that is wide enough to accommodate the 2 deadeyes side by side. Then bolt them onto the chainplate where the 2 turnbuckles attached before. If anyone has a simpler solution, please speak up. Here is what I’m talking about.

2) I hope I can fit the upper terminators that are about twice as wide as the toggles for the wire into the mast tangs. There seems to be extra space, but it will be a tight fit. The obstacle I have is again where 2 have to go (fore and aft lowers). There width is the problem. So far I have 3 solutions. Have a wider custom mast tang built (expensive). Purchase 2 single mast tangs to fit over the one bolt. Then angle them apart. This may give me enough room for the 2 separate terminators. or finally use one continuous line for the 2 lowers with a terminator spliced in the middle. If I go this route I will probably up size to compensate for the load of 2 stays being applied to the one splice (brummel). below is a chart of thimbles from Precourt in Canada of the thimbles for the upper ends. I will probably use the TE16 and 18 thimbles below. This will give me a 5/1 ratio the Dux needs. The thickness is going to be a probalem, but I am working with Erik Precourt on this.

Courtesy of Precourt Rigging

Here is a photo of the double tang that has to be modified/replaced for the lowers.

Even to be able to use the thimbles for the wire, there was an adaption made.

Ok, everything else should be fairly straight forward. Then next post will start to deal with how I’m going to rig my new roller furling system. For now I’m going to fix some lunch.

Cheers,

Gary