Names for Thing Anchoring

ToddS

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Sep 11, 2017
248
Beneteau 373 Cape Cod
Weight on rode: Kellet or Sentinel (but no, I've never actually used one)
Kedge: I use it as a verb, but ALSO use it as an anchor being used for the purpose of kedging. I use a fortress, because it is lightweight, easy to deploy by dinghy, stows away flat, and has tremendous holding power without needing to "reset" itself with changing current/wind in a kedging scenario. (Yes, I have kedged)
Rode: Everything between the boat and the anchor... chain, nylon, mixed... it's all part of the rode IMHO. I sometimes specify what rode I'm using (for example, "I've got 80 feet of chain out", or "Let out another 30 feet of nylon"... but it is all rode to me... otherwise there's no generic word for that concept, when you're referring to it without caring about its type.
 
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Mar 26, 2011
3,400
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
Clever. I assume this works OK as long as there is not too much current or wind?
Exactly. The problem with a kellet is that it is only equivalent to another 15-30 feet of chain, and as soon as the wind gets up over 20 knots, it starts lifting and you start yawing again. By storm conditions, it's not going to make any difference at all, so it is important to know this.

My boat does not yaw due to wind (bridle) and I don't have a keel to foul (center board and lifting rudder), so the only thing I use a kellet for is when I am anchored among boats that are using chain; we then swing in unison. I supose I could use it in place of the bridle in light winds; less to rig. I'll have to try that.
 
Mar 26, 2011
3,400
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
As a rule, the information and opinions found on SA are about 5x more reliable than a post here. Partially because incorrect info is quickly squashed.
There is some truth to that... if your skin is thick enough!! Sometimes it just gets rude.

Of course, the image he pasted from SA was wrong! They are much smarter on some topics than others, and anchoring is a pretty weak there. Sail trim, construction, and rigging are strong.
 
Aug 22, 2017
1,609
Hunter 26.5 West Palm Beach
...sentinel, like angel, has another meaning.
-----
Anyone on this thread actually use one? ...
I use them in a heavy chop. I use them in a tight anchorage. I use them when I am setting up a pin boat on a race start line. That way, the guys starting on starboard tack at the pin end, don't need to worry about tripping up their keels on my anchor line.

I own 3. I normally use 1. I sometimes use 2. If I ever find myself feeling the need to use 3, it will be a day about which stories will later be told.
 
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Nov 8, 2010
11,386
Beneteau First 36.7 & 260 Minneapolis MN & Bayfield WI
There is some truth to that... if your skin is thick enough!! Sometimes it just gets rude.

Of course, the image he pasted from SA was wrong! They are much smarter on some topics than others, and anchoring is a pretty weak there. Sail trim, construction, and rigging are strong.
In SA proper yes. In the Cruising Anarchy some of the world's most renowned cruisers post.

And yes you sometimes need very thick skin. In particular when you are wrong.
 
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DArcy

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Feb 11, 2017
1,690
Islander Freeport 36 Ottawa
How about rope vs line. A rope is any unassigned cordage, while a line has a job to do. The bell rope is an exception. But a boat has an undetermined number of ropes and lines.
There are only a few "ropes" on a boat, another is the bucket rope. Generically it is rope (although some prefer "cordage" or just "strings") and it is rope before put to a specific use. Sailors are a weird bunch when it comes to terminology. Sheets, guys, halyards, vangs, lifts, cunningham, buntlin', braces, ratlins ...
And then there are the martingale, t'gal'nt, stunsl's, moon raker, and one of my favourites - baggy wrinkles.
It's always fun to try to explain how to do something on a boat to a newbie. Haul on the starboard jib halyard and make sure the jam cleat is set - no, just pull on the green one and push down the lever.
I thought rode was a verb - buddy rode ashore for some jiggers. ;)
I've rarely used a kellet but that's what I've always called it.
 
Mar 26, 2011
3,400
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
^^ I'm sorry, but this one always cracks me up. If a rope has a true, job-specific name (jib sheet, barber hauler, halyard, outhaul, or bobstay) you should use that. It adds clarity. But the jib sheet is made of rope, not cordage or line. There is no purpose served by being high falutin. The rope vs. line distinction is a classic example. In my mind it is either rope or something specific, never line, unless I am generically referring to control lines.

My boat has a head but it also has a bathroom. It has a galley and it also has a kitchen. I would never ask a visitor to pull on the blue line, it would be the blue rope, until it is time for me to explain that is properly called the reacher halyard.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
With a couple of noted exceptions, if they have a job, they are collectively classified as lines. They may be made of rope. One can have a coil of rope, until it is a dock line, for example, then it is a coiled line. The halyard is a line. The sheet is a line. The anchor rode? I'm unsure. It may depend on whether or not it is made of rope.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Mar 26, 2011
3,400
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
... The anchor rode? I'm unsure. It may depend on whether or not it is made of rope....
Call it the anchor line and people will snicker.

Sorry, I find the distinction silly. It either has has a name, it is one of a collection of lines, or it is rope. I can't imagine discussing whether the jib sheet is a line or a rope, because it is the jib sheet, it is one of the control lines, and it is made of rope. It's more about proper grammar than important usage, like calling a boat she or omitting "the" before the name.
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Call it the anchor line and people will snicker.

Sorry, I find the distinction silly. It either has has a name, it is one of a collection of lines, or it is rope. I can't imagine discussing whether the jib sheet is a line or a rope, because it is the jib sheet, it is one of the control lines, and it is made of rope. It's more about proper grammar than important usage, like calling a boat she or omitting "the" before the name.
.... and then..... there is ground tackle and smokin' rope. :poke::pimp:
 
Jan 1, 2006
7,039
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
We use a small Danforth anchor tied about six feet down on our racing set mark's rode to make the rode hang straight down and reduce chances of close rounding boats hitting the set mark's rode. As RC it's a bad day when a competitor sails away with one of the marks. It's even worse if it's the pin end of the starting line.
 
Mar 26, 2011
3,400
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
.... and then..... there is ground tackle and smokin' rope. :poke::pimp:
The first one is easy, since Websters tells us:

Definition of ground tackle
: the anchors, cables, and other tackle used to secure a ship at anchor
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
The first one is easy, since Websters tells us:

Definition of ground tackle
: the anchors, cables, and other tackle used to secure a ship at anchor
Right! I was making an obtuse poke at people arguing over rode, vs. line vs. rope....

Smoking rope comes from the days when rope was made of hemp and still had a small amount of THC.... Again it was an obtuse poke... you know like as in "Dude, chill!"

And it does not escape me that my explanation is also obtuse...;)
 
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Mar 26, 2011
3,400
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
I had to explain hemp extract (in a cream they like) to my >90 year old parents a few nights ago. That was fun! They didn't even recognize the leaf in the logo.