Kayak anchor buying advice

[dinkygreg]

I recently purchased a running kayak from one of my friends. When I used it first time, I discovered that when the tides and winds are strong, an anchor is must. I searched online and found anchors come in a number of weights. This is my first kayak, so I don't know much about it. Can anyone tell me what weight anchor should I get and how long the rope should be? BTW, it's a WS Pungo 120 recreational kayak.

Thanks.

[Alaskan Rover]

I'm not at all sure what you mean by a "running" kayak, so I can only speak from my sea-kayaking experience on Cook Inlet and Resurrection Bay, so here goes:

As you mention tides and winds, I presume your talking about sea-kayaking in open water. I've kayaked in all sorts of open water in a range of conditions, a few times in 4 foot seas (scary as hell). I carry three different types of "anchors"...two of which are very small and lightweight and made out of nylon and canvas and don't sink (I'll explain).

1) In sheltered water when I am in mid-trip and want to catch a nap but don't want to beach it, I use a small, galvanized 8 lb Danforth fluke type anchor. It holds well in most bottoms, and the more pull on it, the more the flukes dig in. Eight pounds is plenty for the small weight of a kayak as Danforths hold well for their light weight (I only use a 22 lb Danforth on my sailboat and she's 15,000 lbs). I keep mine on my hull with a trip-line ready to deploy. In terms of how long the anchor line (anchor rode)....that of course depends on water depth. How long the anchor rode is is called "scope". Generally you want a scope of at least 5:1 Which means for whatever the depth is, you want five times that amount in length of rode. So if you're anchored in 10 ft of water, you'll want at least 50 feet of rope rode. Since a kayak is really light, you don't need really heavy line either. I use 5/16" nylon...it coils small.

2)If your sea-kayaking these two additions will really help:
Get a Drogue. A drogue looks like a nylon and canvas parachute, and is set from your stern. They have about a 15 inch diameter for a kayak. A drogue is deployed when you're in heavy following seas and are concerned about submarining your bow in the swells. You use it when you want to slow your boat speed down but still have steerage. They work great for this purpose and can literally be a life-saver in heavy open seas! A kayak CAN pitch-pole in heavy seas just like an oiffshore sailboat can, so use of a drogue is smart in those conditions.

Another good addition is something similar-looking called a Sea Anchor. It is also nylon and canvas and it too looks like a small parachute. These you set from the bow...and they act just like they sound, they anchor you...but because they don't sink, they don't hold you 100% stationary, you sort of drift VERY slowly with one. They are used in storm conditions when you can't make it to shore. They keep your bow facing towards the wind so you don't get broached by a beam-on wave. They are basically only used when the shit-hits-the-fan and you are in danger of dying, but as they pack really small, they are good to take on extended open-water coastal trips. I keep the drogue and the sea-anchor as ready to deploy as the Danforth anchor.
For both the drogue AND the sea anchor, you'd want about a 100 ft of line.

You might think all this is overkill...but you are not a fish...in open water coastal, your kayak is the only thing keeping you alive...you need all proper tools to make sure your kayak remains upright in heavy weather, that's why I highly recommend the addition of both a drogue and a sea-anchor. Coastal storms can brew up quicker than you'd think and ruin your day.

NOTE: nylon sea anchors also come in handy for kayak fishing, as they allow you to be quite stationary but still be able to slowly paddle as needed.

NOTE2: I paddle a 17 foot sea kayak, but your kayak should easily be able to take all the equipment I describe, and the requisite rode, as they all pack small and are easily deployable.

[Sinecure]

Is drogue vs. sea anchor just a question of semantics and which end of the boat they are attached to? Are they fundamentally different in terms of construction - it sounds like they serve the same function?

[Alaskan Rover]

Is drogue vs. sea anchor just a question of semantics and which end of the boat they are attached to? Are they fundamentally different in terms of construction - it sounds like they serve the same function?

Well, I do offshore sailing, so on larger drogues and sea-anchors that a sailboat uses, there ARE big differences in construction, although the material of both is the same...nylon webbing and canvas.

Drogues are used to drag from the stern (hence the name) to slow your boat speed in an angry following sea, therefore they have openings in the canvas for some of the water to pass through, but stop enough to slow the boat. The dragging is what keeps the drogue open. Drogues are sometimes open-webbing in the shape of a parachute, only with water passages. You can actually use anything towing behind you as a "drogue", as long as it slows your boat-speed.

Sea-anchors, on the other hand, are designed to to NOT let water pass through...they are to be set from the bow to hold your bow into the wind and the head-seas. When kayaking coastal in remote areas where the shore is large nasty rocks with no good put-ins for another 5 miles and a storm front comes up quickly, the seas will build quickly enough to have the possibility of beam-on seas capsizing you. These seas are often wind-driven (but not always, of course...sometimes current derived)...thus keeping your bow into the wind also keeps your bow facing the wind-driven waves..which is what you want. Sea anchors are usually more closed than a drogue, as you don't really drag with them. They look more like a true parachute.

Thus both have different uses and different construction...the similarity between the two is that either one can save your ass, just in different ways.

I HAVE noticed that kayakers and kayaking companies tend to erroneously use the terms interchangibly...they are different.

If paddling offshore, make sure you have BOTH easy to deploy from the cockpit. Not that it replaces keeping a good weather eye, it's just additional insurance...and since for a kayak both are small and easily foldable nylon, they are easy to stow and way next to nothing. Or, as I said below...you MAY be able to use a sea anchor as a drogue anyway, as kayak sea anchors would be small enough to drag. I keep both my bow painter AND my stern painter readily accessible from the cockpit...so I can easily attach either one to the main rode.

Here is about a Drogue:
http://www.paraanchors.com.au/page8.htm


and here is about a Sea Anchor:
http://sailmagazine.com/DroguesSeaAnchors/


Now, a kayak is small and light enough and has a small enough wind area that you may be able to get by with using either one to do double duty as a drogue OR a sea anchor, depending on your needs...since you'll never need both at the same time.

They are very easy to make if your good at sewing webbing and canvas...just google for some sample pix.

NOTE: I didn't know YOU were a hardbooter when I made my comment on the surfing forum SUP thread. It just stems from my time spent on another site, and being ridiculed by SOME hardbooters for being a softbooter that happened to be interested in carving. Those few put a bad taste in my mouth. I have a couple friends that have switched to hardbooting and we always good-naturedly rib each other. I think ANY way to enjoy gravity on a board or boards is all good to me!

[Tye 1on]

you guys want the OP spam nuked, or having too much fun with the topic?

[carvedog]

you guys want the OP spam nuked, or having too much fun with the topic?

It's kind of a one sided conversation at this point, but he seems to be having a good time.