anchors etc

So, let's start with the most contentious issue of all. If anything gets sailing folk exercised it's everything to do with anchoring. I have ploughed (geddit) through so many posts and opinions on this subject and have often wasted hours without learning much. In the end I had to make my own decisions, based upon some insight and a little guesswork. 

We've gone for a 20kg Rocna with 60m of 8mm chain with a further 30m of 14mm anchorplait to back it up. We went for a Rocna because the alternative Manson wouldn't fit on the anchor roller without modification and that made the decision easy. Without that help, its pretty much impossible to make an informed decision between the two. 10,000 sailors will instantly disagree with this analysis and another 5,000 will demand to know what's wrong with a CQR? The truth is if you are buying a new anchor, a new generation deep-burying one makes the most sense. There, my first opinion expressed with only a mixture of competing facts to back it up.

We've connected the anchor to the chain with a Kong 10-12mm swivel and three links of 10mm chain between the two to allow for maximum articulation of pull (thanks to Vyv Cox for that tip). I would have preferred 9mm chain but that required re-engineering the windlass as Hanse recommend 8mm and build around that. 60m was a judgement call balancing weight and deep eastern Med anchorages. We shall see how that all works and report back. As a kedge/spare we have a Fortress FX23 weighing in at 8kg, 5m of chain and the rest rope. We have an ankoralina 56m tape that we may use as part of this kedge set-up too. We've also fitted a wireless remote control for the windlass as we will mostly be sailing two-up and it's an extra hand when Med mooring. You can buy these on ebay for buttons but if you don't want to break the warranty on your new windlass you get ripped off for the manufacturer's version (in my case Quick). You can tell I'm not over that yet. Anyway that's the set-up and we shall see how it works in the real world.