On Attitudes we currently carry three anchors.  A 45 pound CQR as the primary, a 35 pound CQR and a 40 pound Danforth. Update!!! We now have an 70 pound Delta, so I will look at getting rid of the 35 pound CQR.

There is much debate over which anchor is best.  It can be a very emotive subject for some people.  We have found our anchors to work very well for us, although I may well have been just as happy with other anchors available.  Setting the anchor is very important, and time and patience needs to be taken.  When we set our anchor, we drop it, back up on it gently, then slowly increase to full power.  Once we are happy that it appears to be set we allow the weight of the chain to pull us forward, then reverse fairly quickly to give a good tug to test the holding.  If we are in sloppy mud we may wait a while before we try tugging it.

I saw one particular trimaran on the east coast of the US, trying to anchor on three separate occasions. He would find a good spot to anchor, drop his anchor (I don't remember what type it was now, but I do remember at the time thinking it was adequate) and then launch his boat backward at full speed. After dropping and dragging the anchor around for half an hour, he would then go and take a mooring ball or a berth at the nearest marina. The problem was the nut behind the wheel, not the anchor. I would suspect there is a chance that a guy like that would then get on a forum like this and tell everyone how bad his particular anchor was.
As a contrast to that, I have seen a lot of people say that CQR's don't work. I used a 45 pound as my primary anchor on my Freedom 39 all the way up and down the east coast of the US (including the infamous soupy bottom in Back Creek in Annapolis) which is mostly muddy, the Bahamas in sand, and the Dominican Republic mud at Luperon. I used two anchors when I was at Redshanks in the Bahamas, and the wind would always swing when a front went through, and I would end up on my smaller 35 pound CQR with no problem. I do carry a 40 pound Danforth as well, which I have put out as a backup at times, but never needed.
I have spoken to many other cruisers who have been very happy with their Bruce, Buegel, Delta and others who have sworn by their anchor, which leads me to believe that most of the good quality anchors available will suffice in most conditions.

I would suspect that a lot of anchors would work just fine.
I think that it is quite likely that some of the new generation anchors may well work better than the old style, but they have to be set right in the first place.
After saying that I am happy with my CQR, I would still like a larger anchor for storm conditions, and would like to move up to something in the 65 to 80 pound range, because I believe size does count. Anyway, that is my two cents worth.

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Last modified: 01/02/09