Hi Wil, Welcome back (though I guess you would rather still be out cruising <g>). I've been searching the archives for any of your terrific anchoring posts that I've missed. I found three, but still need to spend more time on the hunt. The archives are great as a repository - too bad they aren't searchable. Anyway, in two of the posts I found today you remarked: >Going through all of that is to get to the point that the maximum load >comes on the boat when the vessel is aligned with the wind. ... >The more the vessel moves at anchor, the less shock load, and >the safer the vessel. That puzzles me. When I apply my rusty physics to the dynamics problem I conclude that the maximum rode (and therefore anchor) loads occur when the vessel is maximally yawed. Specifically, at the instant of maximum deceleration. The attitude of the vessel at this point varies - from observation it appears most sail yachts are not far from their maximum yaw angle when finally arrested. So when estimating static wind load I would recommend using the combined projected frontal and lateral areas - at your vessel's observed max yaw angle. I would then add to this an estimate of the impulse load at max deceleration. I've yet to find any solid information on the magnitude of the impulse - beyond applying a "factor of ignorance" of <<pick your number, say 2 to 3>>. What we know fur sure is that a highly elastic rode will reduce the impulse load. I thought we also knew that reducing yaw to zero was a Good Thing, as it eliminates the excursion impulses, reducing the dynamic loads to waves and puffs. Now if we could just Tom Sawyer Capt'n Wil into installing a strain gauge on his rode...<g> Cheers, Steve ------------------------------------------------ Stephen C. Darden Email: darden@xtra.co.nz Adagio Marine Ltd. Fax: 649/4037-213 P.O. Box 161 Voice: 649/4037-801 Russell NEW ZEALAND