Hold still: A guide to anchors on superyachts

If there’s one symbol of the marine world that anyone—from any walk of life—recognises, it’s of course: the anchor.

When we imagine a superyacht and all of its inherent luxury, we often forget that this giant vessel – despite the contrasting lifestyle it exudes – still needs a massive hunk of metal attached to a chain if it hopes to stay even remotely still in a nice spot on the Med.

Anchors have come a long way since the big, wrought-iron anchors of the 19th century. We take a look at a quick overview of anchors and their application and engineering in the yachting industry.

How does an anchor work?

Anchors effectively dig in and grip the seabed, and depending on the type of anchor and several other variables, are able to securely hold a boat up to 200 times its weight—fairly vital on superyachts due to their sheer size and tonnage.

Many different types of anchor exist and are used for different purposes; superyachts will often carry several types of anchor to suit the variety of seabeds they may anchor above.

Often controlled by windlass and secured within the hull on superyachts when not in use, the anchor effectively tethers the vessel to the seabed via chain, rope, and often a combination of the two.

Anchoring a yacht in five steps:

Bringing a superyacht, or indeed any boat, to as much of a complete halt as you can at sea isn’t simply a case of slowing down where you fancy, hitting the ‘down’ button on the windlass, and forgetting about it.

Anchoring a boat is like parallel-parking a car, except you can almost never do it alone (at least, not on a superyacht). Simple in premise, but easy to mess up and becoming confident and efficient at anchoring can take years of experience. In its simplest explanation, the anchoring process looks like this:

1. Drive into the wind or current, approaching your chosen anchoring spot. Ensure you have determined the scope you will be using (ratio of rode length to distance above seabed). 5:1 or 7:1 is common for chain or rope rodes respectively.
2. Slowly drop the anchor until it hits the seabed, and keep the slack out of the rode as you lay more out whilst the boat moves backwards (either from the wind or current, or by engaging the engines in reverse)
3. After 1/3 of the rode has been let out, cinch it off and let the yacht straighten. This will start setting the anchor into place. If you’re not straightening, your anchor is likely dragging and you will need to try again, perhaps in a slightly different spot.
4. Continue to lay out another third, allow for straightening, then again one final time. At this point, all the rode length you determined was necessary should be let out.
5. Locate two objects at shore to use as reference points (such as a tree in front of a lighthouse). Signal the helmsman to gently start the engine in reverse until the rode completely straightens, then signal him or her to return to neutral. The boat should drift back to a stationary position where the two objects you noted appear in exactly the same position relative to each other. If this is not the case, you’re dragging and will need to start again.

Obviously, there’s a bit more to anchoring than that and it’s much easier said than done. Examples of considerations that need to be made whilst anchoring include your environmental protection duties as a vessel operator; Paul Allen was accused of causing significant damage to 14,000sqft of coral back in March 2016, from the yacht’s anchor and rode.

Windlasses and high-end accessories for superyacht anchorage

Very rarely will a superyacht house an anchor that needs to be manually lifted and lowered over the bow. A system of sophisticated windlasses and pocket anchors designed to retract inside a cubbyhole in the hull when not in use is extremely common on large boats.

The Manson Hiding anchor is a popular choice for superyachts, because it’s designed in such a way to completely retract and sit flush within the hull, completely hiding the anchor and pocket through a ‘base plate’ you wouldn’t normally find on an anchor. It’s also available from 50kg to 4,500kg in weight, making them suitable for yachts of all sizes.

High-end windlasses are often wired to have several control points throughout the vessel. They are often directly controllable via a hand-remote on the bow itself with the unit, and also remotely controllable from the helm via a control panel. This allows for a multitude of different anchoring scenarios to be controlled efficiently and in the best possible manner.

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