Anchors are right at the heart of cruising. They allow remote and wonderful places to be visited and enjoyed, without the need of a solid dock or even a mooring buoy.
The anchor and anchor chain are the basic parts of the ground tackle system which is used to immobilize a vessel safely on the water. With the proper ground tackle, anchoring provides shelter in adverse weather and offers a way to moor the vessel in case of motor or equipment failure

Firmly digged in the sea ground, the anchor provides a fixed point to which the vessel can be moored. The anchor chain is the mechanical link between anchor and vessel. Sometimes a combination of chain and anchor rope is used, which is easier to handle but may be less secure in heavy weather or rocky seabeds.

When moored on a lee shore with the risk of grounding, the security of vessel and crew will solely depend on the holding power of the anchor system. With so much value literally riding on the ground tackle system of a yacht, there is absolutely no reason to compromise on reliability and quality of this system.

Keep in mind that the anchor system is a safety device upon which the survival of crew and vessel may ultimately depend. The basic considerations for safe anchoring can be summarized as follows:

• Technique: it requires the appropriate anchoring technique to "set" the anchor correctly in the seabed
• Weight: a heavy anchor will give better hold but is more difficult to handle on deck
• Scope: the more chain between anchor and ship the better
• Elasticity: in order to keep the anchor fixed at the seabed with the ship moving on the water, the ground tackle system must include a way to absorb the kinetic energy of the ship