Ok, so Seth says (and I don't doubt him) that you have to make sure your anchor has hooked into the sea floor, as you can easily drift if the anchor is simply resting on the bottom. This presumably means that the anchor has to be sufficiently hooked into something as to prevent the boat (with all its mass) from pulling it out and drifting away.

If anchoring requires that much resistance, how do you get it out when you want to leave? No human can pull with more force than a catamaran, and (I would think) the same would go for a boat big enough to have some kind of winch onboard.

Let the one-sentence explanations and mockery ensue.

-The Landlubber

No worries, there are no dumb questions. I really suck at anchoring and have avoided it as much as possible in my cruising career, but this I have learned: anchors don't work when they hang straight down from the boat. They only work when they lie flat on the bottom and there is at least 4x more anchor line as the depth of the water. So if you're anchored in 20', then you had better let out at least 80' of chain and rope, more if it's rough or windy or the current is strong. So what happens is the chain, which is attached to the anchor, is heavy and lays on the bottom. This keeps the anchor line more less horizontal so the blades of the anchor dig into the bottom. To release the anchor you motor forward until the anchor line is vertical at which point it should let go. Although as Seth noted it's terribly amusing when that doesn't happen and the husband & wife come unglued in public. That shit just doesn't get old.

hahahaha gotcha. Thanks

Thats why raising anchor on a large, old sailing vessel was such a massive job. The ship had to first be pulled back above the anchor by means of the anchor chain. Thats the tough part. Its not nearly so much work to bring the anchor up off the sea floor.

If you set the anchor too loosely, you drift off. But setting it too securely is almost as bad, because you'll burn out the windlass motor and then you're stuck.

Raising the anchor on a charter boat usually requires a little motor in the bow called a "windlass." Arguably the windlass motor is the most tempremental, easy to break, expensive to fix piece of equipment on a boat.

If you charter a boat, there's a decent chance that the windlass motor is on its last legs, having been abused but not entirely kiiled by the previous captains. If you look at it sideways it smokes. Windlass motors are the little pig in the straw house. Another reason to avoid anchoring and use mooring balls whenever possible.

Wow, interesting stuff. Thanks guys.

One of the most interesting things I've learned all week! Thank you.

I cruised for ten years on a heavy boat with no electric windlass and anchored all the time. Raising and anchor does not require a windlass. I have never seen an anchor set too securely. that seems oxymoronic. It is possible to snag something unintentionally with the anchor (like a buried cable) but this is rare.

Never trust a mooring ball unless you have set it yourself and you know how old the chain is and what kind of anchor it is attached to. Read Liz Clark's tale of using one in the South Pacific almost losing her boat due to the boat drifting off with the concrete block mooring attached.