Nordhavn 55
| Manufacturer or yard: | Nordhavn (Pacific Asian Enterprises) |
| Model / series: | NA or not provided |
| Number: | 55 |
| Designer(s): | Not provided |
| Approx LOA: | 16.8 m / 55' |
| Approx displacement: | 61.2 metric tonnes / 135,000 lb |
Rocna bow compatibility
We've been living on the hook on our way to Alaska and love our new anchor. My confidence in dealing with tough conditions and unexpected winds is way higher than it was when I had my CQR-like thing tied up there, especially on the short scopes that I'm often having to use given the size of the coves I'm in. In fact, that's my primary reason for buying the Rocna... its short-scope (2:1 to 3:1) performance. Of course, I have 1/2" HT all-chain rode, so that helps. I know that's a difficult feature to promote (given all the anchoring rules-of-thumb and how-to's out there that say to use longer scope), but I see people with less than 3:1 all the time in the PNW, often 2:1 when its crowded, and most of them are going to be in real trouble in 30 to 40 knots of wind. But not the Rocna owners who have full chain rodes.
Also, most people don't design their ground tackle for 50 knots, but that's the only sensible way to equip a boat as far as I'm concerned. The average 1/2" shackle is going to be challenged at that load, but people just assume they'll be fine. On my boat, I had a naval engineer figure out the wind load (I've got a lot of windage) and it was 5500 pounds at 50 knots, and that's a steady load with no jerking. Reality is that winds would be gusting and you'd have some wave action that could generate higher loads that could pull out an anchor. So my chain to anchor attachment is a swivel that has been test loaded by the mfg (I saw the data) to over 20,000 pounds. Chain is also good to nearly that level. All that's left is for the anchor to stay together and stay dug in.
I don't want to talk like one of your ads, but so many of the people I talk to who say their ordinary anchor is fine have never endured a big blow on relatively short scope where dragging was going to cause disaster. They don't even set them right. Even with the Rocna, I do at least 3 pulls with increasing power, with a short relaxation in between each pull, to work that baby down deep before I put on the snubber. The only place I wasn't excited about the anchor was on a rocky bottom. I don't fault the anchor for that, the bottom was nearly flat and rocky with apparently nothing big enough to grab, but it reminded me that no anchor is going to work all the time. Of course, it didn't blow that night on the rocky bottom, but I don't consider anchoring a success unless I can give it a fair bit of reverse and have the chain turn into a steel bar and just stay there, stopping 65 tons of boat like it was fastened to a piling.
— John Marshall, owner MV Serendipity, WA USA
Photos
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