BLUE'S FINAL FLING

Jack Haines delivers his verdict on the Ultra anchor and prepares to bid a fond farewell to Blues Away

- Jack Haines

When we kept our Swift Trawler 34 in the UK we didn’t rely on the anchor very much at all. We’d drop the hook for lunch stops, lazy afternoons and when taking a dip but would always head to the security of a pontoon or mooring buoy for overnight stops. The anchor is called into service far more regularly in Portimao, where our best-loved cruising destinations are all anchorages, which though generally have decent holding in sand, tend to be relatively shallow, tide-ravaged and often buffeted by a niggling afternoon breeze that is keen to get in on the action. Our favourite anchorage, the fishing village of Alvor, is very shallow and the tide rips through a mogul run of sand dunes, which if the anchor drags you will be perched upon in a matter of minutes.

The Bruce anchor supplied with Beneteau was pretty reliable but had its moments when the elements got the better of it. There have been a couple instances where we have been sitting at the local beach bar overlooking the anchorage opposite the marina and have had to make a dash to the tender as it became quite clear the boat was not going to be in the spot where we left her had we not intervened.