Seabed Composition: Matching Anchor to Ground

Selecting the right anchor for the right seabed is not merely academic — it is the difference between a peaceful night and a crisis. Before dropping the hook, consult your chart: the seabed character is marked using standardised abbreviations (S for sand, M for mud, R for rock, Wd for weed, Co for coral).

No anchor is universally perfect. Experienced offshore cruisers typically carry two anchor types — a primary workhorse for the most common conditions encountered on their cruising ground, and a secondary hook suited to the more challenging seabeds they may encounter.