She carried as many as five anchors, being that 99% of our time aboard was spent at anchor, we had to be prepared for almost any set of weather conditions. Keeping our vessel secured in a blow was OUR primary resonsibility. May I suggest that you do NOT rely on your insuarance policy to cover your negligence. YOU should be aware that, if by chance, YOUR boat should drag down on another in a storm, you could not only be jeopordizing your future sailing plans, but the vessel's astern as well. Many times we've sat securely at an achorage only to have a disrespectful sailor anchor upwind of us, and to see him literally THROW his 8 lb. danforth with 2 feet of chain, and 25' of 1/4" nylon, turning into a tangled mess, probably only catching on some old Coca-cola can or something on the bottom. Then turns his motor off, gets in his dinghy, and roams off to God know's where, leaving YOU to watch his boat, which is now, of course, DIRECTLY upwind, and you know there's a front due any time now!! (And he'll say "That's why I have insurance, so I don't have to worry about it!") Just great, except, that nice couple on that pretty sailboat he just anchored in front of, has spent years saving and preparing for this trip, and might not ever get the chance again, and that dragging boat could spoil a whole group of other people's plans as well as jeopordize their safety.

So this is why I like to be as secure as I possibly can when anchoring around other vessels. Later I will give some of the tricks that I've learned, mainly by watching other sailors' techniques, to make anchoring easier and more secure.