Anchoring a Kayak

Hope this is of some use just thought I would share my method for anchoring in my view it is a very safe way to anchor a Kayak either to a conventional anchor setup,drogue,pot buoy or even another anchored Kayak angler
First of all I have a pad eye fixed bow and stern


with the anchor trolley line running between the two on small pulley blocks attached with a short length of shock cord I also use a small S/S p clip to stop the line from straying into my foot wells and I have a small clamcleat riveted onto the bond strip so I can lock the trolley off bow or stern and a small S/S carabiner

Then onto the anchor system I use a 2 part method firstly the anchor dive reel Buoy and loop of floating rope

Probably worth mentioning I use a bridle type setup on my anchor so if snagged a paddle uptide will usually get the anchor to trip/pull out inverted and saves messing with weak links I have not found I needed any chain at all to hold position but do understand that some of you do need a length of chain to get a good bite from the anchor

So once I'm over the position I want to drop anchor I drop the anchor over the uptide side of the yak and let the dive reel spin until it hits bottom then manually pull out a further 2 times the water depth being careful as to not get any warp wrapped around the (in my case STEALTH's Fixed) rudder! Then lock the dive reel off and dump the lot over board with the Buoy attached to the dive reel and a large loop of floating rope
So now you have your equivalent of a pot bouy exactly where you want to fish onto the second part I have a winder with a length of floating rope on it with a rope float and S/S carabiner on one end

This threads through the carabiner on the anchor trolley and the trolley is then locked off at the stern with the tag end of the rope tied off to my side handle of the yak using a 'Highwayman's Hitch' knot


Once I'm in this stage I can paddle back up to my buoy and clip onto the length of floating rope behind the buoy with the caribiner on the end of the floating rope thus anchored from the stern securely but in the reassuring knowledge that one pull on the tag end of the highway mans hitch will see the rope slide through the anchor trolley carabiner jettisoning the full set up to retrieve at my leisure useful for quickly paddling over to photograph a mates fish or dash to shore for a pee break




Obviously once you get the hang of this and depending on speed of tide you can do this as a one part method and it is very fast and safe to deploy but I've demonstrated the 2 part aimed at anyone new to anchoring their Kayak its also the method taught at the BCU run course at Runswick and it was the one method that Ken Oliver and Kim Bull helped me Iron out as I used to just have a quick release clip instead of the Highwayman's hitch but small changes can make all the difference when things start to go wrong.
Now onto hauling the anchor I use two different methods depending on conditions the first not much tide or swell and the anchor not snagged simply paddle back to the anchor buoy get it on board and put the warp around the sole of my foot and haul and reel I can help maintain my direction with the rudder pedals as I do this and if things go wrong I can throw the lot over the side as the Kayak isn't connected to it at all

The second method I use if its vital to stay bow on to tide wind or swell or if the anchor is snagged solid is to put the warp through the carabiner on the anchor trolley and lock it off at the bow and haul until over the top of the anchor or paddle up to it or beyond it to break it out only small problem is that if the worst happens you are connected via the warp to the kayak but a simple cut through will see you safely free again


Just my way of doing things wont work for everyone as with all things but has served me well 
 
 
All fittings and great advice from here: http://wet-and-wild.co.uk/water/anchoring

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