Anchor Sail

[Andre Emmenegger]

I just tried out an anchor sail this weekend. The boat swung around as much as before. Anyone else tried an anchor sail, and what were the results?

[Divecoz]

IIRC Sumner has had good results with these and he played with It until it worked SUMNER!!!!!! We Got A Question for you!!!

[kitcat]

I've not tried an anchor sail, but have tried lots of other things to try and keep my M from walking all over the place whilst on the hook. The problem, as I see it, is that it rather depends if the tide is stronger than the wind or not. Where I moor my boat is in a fast tidal river, and the tide will always win, so I need stuff in the water, and the best I've found yet is to keep the rudders down with a small amount of dagger down, maybe one third to a half seems to work pretty well. It still moves a bit, but not constantly and no more than a 25' cat moored next up in line.

Paul.

[NiceAft]

I have an anchor sail. The key to its success is having it as far astern as possible, and all boards down. The farther forward the sail, the less effective.

How did you rig yours? Can you post a photo?

Ray

[fouz]

On the subject of boards down. This weekend I anchor up. Wind from the east, current going south. Nothing down but the motor (maybe a inch of centerboard). So the wind blows me west and the current points the boat north. Anchor going out to the starboard at a 90* angle. I lift up the outboard and boat starts to line up with the wind but not all the way. But was much better than 100% beam on with the waves.

So is boards down really the answer? Or is it more situational depending on the current vs wind? Is current always going to win?
I'm not trying to answer the question i guess, trying to learn. I learned how much anchoring can make or break a stop this weekend.

[NiceAft]

fouz,

With an anchor sail you may have pointed more into the wind.

Because the wind was constantly coming at a right angle to the current, boards down would not be the choice in that situation.

Ray

[Andre Emmenegger]

I was in about 2 1/2 feet of water so all boards were up. I fastened the sail onto the topping lift and boom, so it was fairly aft. I got the sail from Sailrite. Search "anchor sail". Next time, I will try with the board down, although the reason I got the sail was to eliminate the noise of the centerboard hitting the side to the trunk, and making noise inside the boat.

Andre

[Sumner]

We've had pretty good luck with a Sailrite anchor sail that Ruth sewed up....



....We ended up having better luck when we got it as low and as far back as possible, which for us is right above the solar panels on the backstay. Also it is important that the forward bottom (tack?) is tied off the center-line as per Sailrite's instructions (bottom right arrow).

We always have the CB up and the rudder up and tied so that it is centered (this is on a S). I'm trying to picture how you have yours tied also. Ours is hanked on to the backstay and we use a separate uphaul for it since the topping lift is holding the boom up. There is a lot more info on it here...

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... vas-5.html

...and here are two videos...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkLbyBld1lY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKjU842c9Zo

As you can see it doesn't stop all sailing on anchor, but for us it slowed it way down and also narrowed the arc we were swinging over. For it to work it actually sails the boat off to one side, but as the wind changes strength and direction it will fill from the other side and sail the other way.

We use it on most anchorages as I'm always looking for something to mess with and the way we have it rigged it goes up or down in just a couple minutes, but to tell you the truth we got so use to swinging that we stopped noticing it 90% of the time.

Sum

============================

Our Endeavour 37

Our MacGregor 26-S Pages

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

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[Andre Emmenegger]

Thanks. That helps a lot. I tried to center it on the boom, but will try lower, further back and to one side like you did.

Andre

[bartmac]

Made an anchor sail but not used yet....BUT a word of warning....centreboard down when anchored overnight can cause a heap of problems ie anchor warp around the board as happened to us recently with wind/tide change....had to spend a fair amount of time and fiddle to get loose!!!!

[NiceAft]

I have an M. I use the topping lift to hold up the sail, and I run a line from the two aft cleats, too which I attach the sail with a large snap hook. This keeps the sail low. The higher the sail when rigged this way, the farther forward, and that you don't want to happen.

What I do different is that I don't offset the tack from center. I now need to go find my original paperwork to do some research.

Ray

[Sumner]

Made an anchor sail but not used yet....BUT a word of warning....centreboard down when anchored overnight can cause a heap of problems ie anchor warp around the board as happened to us recently with wind/tide change....had to spend a fair amount of time and fiddle to get loose!!!!

Yep, we always have....



... everything up. Another thing that I worry about is that you can swing 360 degrees around the anchor on the rode with wind and tide changes. If either the CB or rudder is down and there is any obstacle in that swing area and the CB or rudder hits it or grounds on it there could possibly be a problem or damage. I think it is remote, but we pull everything up on anchor.

As you can also see from the picture above we put out a lot of rode if no one is nearby and it won't cause us to swing into something. If we have the possibility of swinging into something like shore or shallow water we put 2 anchors down in a Bahamian Moor. That also stops almost all sailing on anchor as you just can't go very far before one rode or the other stops you,

Sum

Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[Divecoz]

Thanks Sumner... I knew you'd have some advice for " How to make these work" .. Being out for weeks and months can cut the learning curve as you keep trying till you get it right versus trying again, "Maybe" the next time, you do an over night..

[Sumner]

Thanks Sumner... I knew you'd have some advice for " How to make these work" .. Being out for weeks and months can cut the learning curve as you keep trying till you get it right versus trying again, "Maybe" the next time, you do an over night..

Thanks, but don't forget we have an S and a X or M might not respond the same way. I was surprise that lowering it a couple feet on the backstay made as much of a noticeable difference as it did,

Sum

Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[mastreb]

A question for someone who knows more about this than me (and apologies if this sounds stupid) but...

What about anchoring off the stern, and using a patch of the roller furling jib as an anchor sail? Is there any particular advantage to anchoring from the bow other than that's where the chain locker is located?