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I promised to send you any interesting incidents we encountered when using our new Spade 100 anchor on our Moody 46 in the Mediterranean. On the night of Wednesday May 21st., the night of the Algerian earthquake, we were securely anchored in the cove of Porto Petro on the south east coast of Mallorca in the Balearic Islands in hard sand and sea grass - our most difficult anchoring type of bottom.

At about 21.30 or so the eleven boats in our anchorage started wild gyrations as a bore of water came racing out of the nearby marina. Yachts started tearing past us as they dragged their anchors and then came racing back again as the surge of water came back into the cove (or Cala as they are named in the Balearics) from out at sea.

We found out over the VHF that this frightening happening was caused by the severe earthquake 150 miles away in Algeria. For two hours we were swirled violently in all directions, but, our new Spade 100 held firm and did not drag one iota. We know this as we were monitoring our anchoring position electronically as other yachts dragged all over the place. We could only start the engine and steer around the anchor in order to avoid the other boats most of which were totally out of control.

We came through this frightening night unscathed thanks to our trusty Spade which stood up to its severest test yet, unmoved. Other yachts were not so lucky as we understand since that there was quite a lot of damage in the coves and marinas in the Balearic Islands that night. Hope this information is of interest to you. As far as we could tell we were the only boat using a Spade anchor that night.

Barbara Potter- Boat " Ocean Phantasy " in Alcudia Marine, Northern Mallorca

I wrote to you about a year ago to tell you how happy I was with me Spade. I’ve travelled 14,000 miles since then, stopped in many many anchorages in all kinds of conditions, and love the product even more.

We have a new Outbound 44 which we cruised for three months last summer around Vancouver Is., BC. We have a Spade 140 (66lb), a **** 45. We used the **** several times and it worked well-quick set and hold. But once we put the Spade on the roller we never wanted to change. In about 80 sets it failed to set only 1 or 2 times on the first try, and held fine in up to 30 kn of wind. Most of the ground was mud.

Not only does the Spade set quickly, it holds like a bear — on several occasions we had to winch the chain (5/16" HT) vertical and let the boat ride to the chop for a few minutes to break it out.

Last May we had 14 days of force 8/9 winds and 8 of these were spent swinging at anchor. The SPADE never faltered and we felt very confident in it in such conditions.

Theresa & Mike

Our Spade holds us securely in Caleta Beaulieu, in 20m of water at 54.47S 069.37W. We sleep very well with it and it has served us all the way through the Chilean Canales. In the next month it will have the chance to taste the waters of Cape Horn !

A friend of mine, Peter Skillen, also has an Amel , Pure Magic, which he took to Antarctica last month and is now en route to S Georgia, with his Spade on my recommendation. Very pleased , not least with its performance on the rocky bottoms of Antarctica.

I wanted to drop you a quick note of thanks. On Friday the 13th of August our little piece of paradise here in Punta Gorda Florida had a visitor from the south. Hurricane Charley came to town as a Cat 4 with sustained winds of over 145 mph and gusts to 200 ! I had prepared our boat ( Lagoon 410 cruising catamaran) by putting out our Model 100 Spade anchor forward, one more line off the bow to a dock across the canal, one off starboard side to a neighboring dock, a 35# *** aft and 4 lines to my dock standing off about 30 feet. Just before the eye got to us, to my amazement my 4 pilings we gone ! ! ! My boat was swinging over and nudging a boat across the canal. When I could see through the rain and wind the other bow line was gone (later to be found cut by debris) The only thing that kept our boat from being a complete loss was your great anchor ! She drug about a hundred feet through the ooze on the bottom until she hit the solid beneath. To give you an idea of how strong the wind was, about 300 feet in front of us a Manta 40 cruising cat was lifted and did a 360 degree roll over the bow and landed on a 26 foot power boat on a lift. They both later sank when blown off by cradle with the wind shift. Oh yes the *** on the back end dragged and let my boat get damaged on the port side with the wind shift. I have about $3500 dollars of fiberglass work, but all else said we were very fortunate, thanks to your great product ! And yes I will be replacing that *** with another Spade in the near future.

Thank you for designing such a great product ! ! !

Paul

Lagoon 410 #78Punta Gorda, FLto dock -N 26° 53.471’W 082° 03.515’to Corona Locker -N 26° 53.472’W 082° 03.516’

I was impressed with the small galvanised SPADE, in particular the "spade" shape which is designed to penetrate and lock into the soil, compared with the "plow" shape of the *** and ***** anchors which are designed to move through the ground. I have nothing but praise for this 20 kg Spade anchor. It has almost invariably penetrated immediately (I motor back very slowly at first to give the point to go down into increasingly harder seabed) and with one exception over the past 3 years it has held our full reverse power of 140 hp through a 600 mm 3 bladed Gori prop. The single exception was in a marina in New Caledonia where I knew the bottom was of very soft mud, but there was still ample holding for engine revs equivalent to around 40 knots of wind.

Obviously one can hold almost any craft in almost any conditions. In our case we have been able to go from a 40 kg ***** to a 20 kg Spade, with a substantially better performance, and a weight saving of 20 kg.

Alain, I would just like to thank you for inventing such a great anchor.I have a 35 foot racing/cruising catamaran, a Tek 35, and a few years back, when equipping the new vessel, I ordered two 15 pound spade aluminum anchors, to keep the weight on the boat to a minimum. I put them on 20 feet of chain, and then 5/8" line. I always dig them in using the boats backwards momentum, as I cannot generate any appreciable pull using my motor. They always catch and hold, and this is a good thing, as I am singlehanding with my 5 and 8 year old sons for my only crew. As I often like to anchor in close quarters, either with other boats or rocks nearby, a missed set with an anchor would lead at best to a serious scramble to keep out of troubleand at worst to damamge ! Their holding power has also been useful when a 55 foot powerboat drifted down on us, or when we sat out Hurricane Isabel I write this sitting out 25 knot winds (for a week !) in the Bahamas, the second time this winter we have had such extended times of strong wind. We have gone to help other boats who have dragged, but are secure in knowing we are staying put.

I replaced a CQR with a Spade three years ago and am 100 per cent satisfied with the Spade. It holds exceptionally well, much better than the ***. Also, I have watched others drag whilst we remained firmly in place. The Spade has always remained firmly set in all conditions although the highest wind speed I have experienced has only been gusting 40 knots.

My wife and I have carried a 22kg Spade Anchor aboard our yacht for more than four years and 11,000 miles of international cruising, and we consider it to be the ULTIMATE anchor ! It launches more easily, sets faster, holds better, breaks out more quickly and stows more conveniently than any other anchor we own

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...

This is Chuck Hawley from West Marine. I’ve been testing anchors for over a decade in the same location off of Santa Cruz Harbor. The smallest alloy Spade is able to withstand almost full power from a 170HP Yanmar and a 16" propeller on Showtime, our Fortier 26 test boat. It has only failed to hold over 1,000 lb once, and in that case it held 800 lb. Our veering test was to set it at 1,000 lb, then slack the line and to run the boat at 6 knots perpendicular to the previous direction of pull. The anchor did not release, and slowed Showtime so violently that most testers were knocked off their feet. This is a superior anchor design, and it’s what Randy Repass, West Marine’s Chairman, selected for his new cat-ketch