Anchor use

[NBFisho]

Hello Raiders,

As you know I've only had a Kayak for 3 weeks. I'm loving it but would like to ask who uses an anchor and what type, or on the other hand why don't you.

Been looking into it so any input would be awesome.

Cheers Mark.

[rickmarlin62]

I hav a yak but havnt used an anchor..but..we saved a guy a few months ago who was sideways in a 5 knot current in Swansea channel..he had it tied to his handle midships..the water was pushing that hard that he couldn't paddle to save himself from being sideways and near being flipped...be careful  s@#t happens...I would suggest using a bridle off the bow then you can paddle upcurrent and retrieve said anchor..i have mine setup now but havnt used it..rick

[JonD]

I've only used the little grapple fold out type. I only anchor over sand or mud in rivers and must admit don't feel overly safe to do it in any wind or chop. 

I saw someone anchor in strong current in the river at Narooma last week. Not sure what went wrong but he ended flipping his yak that somehow managed to get his anchor around a cardinal marker. In the strong current he couldn't get back to his yak and ended up swimming to the oyster covered rocks to wait to be rescued. I reported it into marine rescue but he got rescued by another boat before they got there, I dare say he lost all his fishing gear.

Jon

Edited January 24, 2017 by JonD

[PaddyT]

The only time i felt safe anchoring in a yak was in areas with very little current- its too easy to end up side onto the current and end up going in, 

[NBFisho]

Thanks guys, pretty much settles it for me. I tie off a lot on the yellow boat moorings in Sydney harbour so I might just keep doing that.

 

Mark

[Green Hornet]

In areas of low current I use one of these,  https://cooperanchors.com.au/anchors/?noredirect=1 the red one in particular and like others have said, always anchor off a bridle or an anchor trolley (google that) so your rope is coming off either the bow or stern. Plus I should add I only ever anchor over sand.

Instead of an anchor, some guys just use a weight of some kind. A 1 or 1.5kg dumbbell is popular.

 

[NBFisho]

Yes I actually have a 2kg weight plate only a thinish nylon rope just in case.. never used it though

Mark.

[Lungfai76]

If you are going to anchor in a yak you really need an anchor trolley. It allows you to move the anchor point up and down the Yak so it is not smack bang in the middle putting downward pressure which drops your water line which in turn increases your chances of capsizing.

I use my anchor when I want to camp a drop off on a run out tide. Using the anchor trolley I run the anchor point to the front which allows me to face the drop or I run it to the rear if I want to sit above the drop. Either way the trolley allows you to move the anchor point away from midship which makes it less likely to flip you.

[HenryR]

great question I reckon. anchoring is less easy that you want it to be. I actually have 4 anchors ...  which, kinda works

1. a stake out pole - I use an extendable boat hook with the end cut to a point. it's mostly useless but in shallow fast running water with a silt, mud or light sand bottom it can be great. There 's a few Hawkesbury  upper reaches creeks I chase flathead in and, when the tide's running, it's the only way in some of these.

2. a drift anchor. So often wind is your enemy, sometimes a drift anchor is your friend. if you want to drift sandflats, edges of mangroves, river banks, across open water, whatever it's often the answer to a happy pace. And, as well as slowing your drift , it'll let you keep the yak pointed in a useful direction.

3. this is a bit weird but after some trial and error it seems to be what works for me. I do regular anchoring with two anchors tied together. A little Cooper (the red one) - Coopers are light, easy to carry and good in sandy bottoms. The Cooper, I tie to the bottom of a miniature grapnel - the fold out type (I think that's a grapnel). The grapnel works as a weight to get the Cooper down and help it set (a conventional Cooper set-up is use chain for this) but, big bonus, unlike a chain, if there's weed on the bottom and the Cooper has real trouble setting (which they do, in weed), the grapnel doesn't. Similarly on rocky bottoms the grapnel sets more easily The pair works well in deep water on most bottoms. The one time my set up doesn't work is when there's little current and changeable wind - when that happens I tend to drift back over the anchors, unset them , etc...... A bigger anchor or bag of bricks would fix that ..

Importantly - look this up online to be sure you've got it right - don't tie your anchor line to the top of your anchors (unless you use a bendy grapnel). Tie to the bottom of the anchor and the use a cable tie to hitch your anchor line to the top of the anchor. When the anchor gets snagged, if you pull hard enough and the cable tie snaps, then you're pulling the anchor from the bottom and most times it'll come free. Super important: remember, kayak - you can't pull very hard without overturning a kayak - don't use a heavy duty cable tie, use a light one

[HenryR]

to be clear: there's a metre and bit of cord between the Copper and the grapnel - they are not tied directly together