Here's my anchoring story:

A few years ago I was blown off my anchor at 3:00 a.m. during a Great
Lake's storm and was thrown up against a rocky shore.  It woke me up; woke
my wife up too. Had we not been sleeping in a steel trawler, it could have
and probably would have been dire.

I'll not mention the anchor's name or type for though I have replaced it
with a Manson Supreme of greater heft, I concluded that the incident was
more my doing than my anchor's undoing.  I had been anchoring for years and
had confidence in both my anchor and my anchoring technique.  I allowed
that confidence to do my thinking.

The Manson has restored 90% of my faith in myself and my anchoring process.
It sets quickly and has, without exception, held.  But a 10% uncertainty
factor remains and on occasion that factor will speak to me.  When it does,
I listen.

Doug and LeaEllen Pugh
36' steel trawler, "Periploi"
Drummond Island Yacht Haven
Drummond Island, Mi.

A few personal experiences and subsequent findings:

Boat = 34ft heavy displacement sailboat
Location = Chesapeake Bay (mud with varying top layers depending on locale):

• CQR 35# held a raft of four 34 ft sailboats during a 15 minute 40 kt
  squall. Anchor well set prior.
• Anchored alone, CQR 35# dragged during a squall, but the bottom as fouled
  with oyster shells from a nearby processing plant. Anchor well set prior and
  never reset during the squall.
• Swapped up to a CQR 45# which never dragged, but was never really tested
  either.
• New Rocna 35# sets like glue every time and held in winds up to 45kts, but
  had trouble resetting when a squall veered us 180 degrees.

My research found that in a 180 degree wind shift, most all anchors
somersault loose and will need to reset. The Rocna/Supreme type anchors get
impacted with bottom substrate against the hoop and need time to self-clean
before resetting. In a recent Practical Sailor test, the Supreme
self-cleaned faster because it does not have turned-up flukes under the hoop
like the Rocna.

We recently transitioned to a trawler, and will give the Sarca Excel a try.

Mike