What is the Best Anchor? After reading scores of opinions and reviews and tests done by manufacturers, magazines and government organizations the subject remains a very confusing, not only for the average consumer, but for many experienced cruisers as well.
We believe setting ability is the most important aspect to consider when choosing and anchor. Most often the reason boats drag is due simply to the fact that the anchor was never set properly in the first place. A boat should never drag on an appropriately sized and well set anchor of any design or efficiency when the winds are 25 knots. Yet in many situations this is precisely what happens; boats drag when they shouldn’t. Thus optimizing setting ability was our primary design objective.
The relative holding of different anchors has been well tested and written in multitude of publications, but the results are confusing and often not reproducible. The reason for this is BOTTOM. It turns out anchors behave differently in different bottoms. For example in soft silt we found a Danforth or a Fortress offer the best holding (due to their relatively large surface area) and the discussion of setting is irrelevant because all anchors will set in such soft conditions. In thicker (more viscous) bottoms a Danforth will fail to set, it’s blades skipping across the surface, but Spade might have an excellent performance, diving deeper than all others. Put the same Spade in thick clay and it does not set period. Mantus Anchor Reviews
