SPADE ANCHORS AND OTHER GROUND TACKLE ISSUES

We purchased our 66 pound galvanised steel Spade anchor in San Diego and had a friend bring it to La Paz in his car.

The anchor construction is stout. The tip is very sharp and the anchor is designed so that about 30 pounds of the 66 pound weight is within about 6" of the tip. The entire tip assembly, which is formed by three welded plates, is filled with poured lead. No matter how the anchor lies on the bottom the tip will dig in.

The anchor is very impressive! We have used it in several situations where the wind and waves got fairly big and then reversed. The other night in Ensenada Grande, on Isla Partida, the wind was ENE at 20 knots when we set the anchor by running the engine in reverse at 3200 RPM. The anchor did not budge an inch when feeling the effect of the engine in reverse and the 20 knot gusts.

The normal, I guess, southerly wind came up at about 10 PM and by daybreak was blowing 20 from the SSW with a 2' chop. That meant the Spade had to hold a pull from the opposite direction it had been set. Our Maxwell windlass could not break the Spade loose from the bottom when it came time to leave. We had to twice run Mirador over the anchor with no scope to pull the Spade loose. I LOVE IT!

On another occasion we sat on the Spade in a west wind of 18 to 20 knots. The wind blew for about 10 hours across 30 miles of water and built up a 4' chop that caused Mirador to bury her bow sprit (4' above the water) on a regular basis. The anchor never let us move a bit.

We use all 5/16" chain and try for at least a 6:1 scope. We also use a pair of 50 foot 1/2" three strand nylon line as anchor snubbers. We tie the snubbers to the anchor chain with a rolling hitch and then let out enough nylon to give us sufficient stretch in the system to absorb the shock of the bow surging up and down. The night we had a 4' chop on the bow I dropped 60' of chain between the point where I tied the snubber to the chain and the bow roller. Forty feet (50 pounds) of the chain laid on the bottom and helped hold down the entire chain while allowing the 40' of nylon snubber line to act as a big rubber band.

We now keep the Bruce 44 backed by 110' of 5/16" chain and 200' of 5/8" nylon rode on one bow roller. The Spade is on the other roller and is backed by 150' of 5/16" chain and 200' of 5/8" nylon rode. The Fortress FX55 anchor is stowed in a disassembled state in the anchor locker (I can reassemble it in five minutes). We have 60' of 3/8" chain and 300' of 5/8" nylon rode for the FX 55. AND... we have 600' of 3/4" nylon double braid rode on a spool if we really need to put out some more scope. The Danforth 22 is still on the stern with 30' of 5/16" chain and 180' of hi-test 2" nylon webbing as a rode.

My whole perspective on anchoring as changed since getting to Mexico. Most of the anchorages are open to at least one of the common winds and the diurnal wind cycle ensures 180 degree wind shifts almost every day. There is only one anchorage north of La Paz and south of Isla San Jose (50 nautical miles) that is secure in the prevailing Coromeul wind that blows almost nightly

More and bigger anchors are now my theme.

I dove on the Spade anchor when I saw that the wind was switching from North 10 to South 15. I watched the anchor while Mirador swung completely around the anchor. No matter which direction the pull came from; the tip and one side or the other would just keep digging into the bottom. The anchor can't seem to upset in the normal fashion. It appears to be balanced so that the tip is always down and digging.

When we got back to La Paz on April 14 we encountered yet another anchoring fiasco due to the strong winds and currents.

We arrived at 6 PM in South 18 knots wind, North 3 knots current, and a 2' wind chop. The anchorage was crowded. Boats were going every which way. We later found out that two big boats had come loose during the afternoon and crashed around the anchorage. Errinmore, a Nicholoson 32, had to finally move because a big trimarran with no one on board and no anchor came to rest against them.

When we tried to anchor we had to drop the Spade four times before we could get it to grab and keep us away from the other boats. The first time it went down in 12' of water with 40' of chain and caught for a second. Then we started dragging bow first into the strong current.

The 2nd time we dropped anchor in 14' water and let out 60' chain. Before it could catch we dragged BACKWARDS 100' into the 18 knot wind and almost hit another boat. Arlene had to use full throttle to move us back into the current. We got to within 10' of the bow of our friends on Errinmore.

On the 3rd try the anchor caught but we ended up within 20' of a 45' ketch before the anchor finally dug in. I had dropped the anchor 100' downwind of the boat but the current pushed us back toward her.

On the 4th try the anchor caught in 22' of water. We were 120' from anyone but the anchor went down on the edge of the navigable channel. I let out 100' of chain and the anchor caught. We ended up with the bow pointed into the current and the stern pointing into the 18 knot south wind. The anchor chain was extended hard astern, it disappeared back under the keel.

After we got everything tied down the owner of the nearest boat came over and told me I was too close to him. I politely told him 150' separation was plenty since at that point I was as close as I could get to him and since he had only 100' of chain down we would not hit. He persisted and I finally said I wasn't going to move. Later our friends from Errinmore came over (the boat we almost hit earlier) to tell us that the guy had chased away every boat that tried to anchor within 200' of them in the last week. This anchorage is too small and too crowded to expect to have no boat within twice your chain length!

Enough complaining about the La Paz Waltz!