Equipment & Gear used on our CR Yacht 400DS sailboat
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Bruce Anchor

Mad Dog Voyager is outfitted with a Manson Supreme Anchor as the main anchor and we use the Genuine Bruce anchor as spare anchor because for our current cruising area the Manson Supreme anchor was a better choice.

The Bruce anchor geometry has been proven since the early 1970s. It has held offshore oil drilling rigs, commercial vessels, and thousands of pleasure boats.

This claw shaped anchor was designed by Peter Bruce from the Isle of Man in the 1970s. Bruce claims the invention to be based on a design used for anchoring floating oil derricks in the North Sea. The Bruce and its copies, known generically as "claws" anchors, have become a popular option for smaller boaters. It was intended to address some of the problems of the only general-purpose option then available, the plough. Claw-type anchor set quickly in most sea beds and although not an articulated design, they have the reputation of not breaking out with tide or wind changes, instead slowly turning in the bottom to align with the force.

Genuine Bruce anchors or Claw type anchors have difficulty penetrating weedy bottoms and grass. They offer a fairly low holding power to weight ratio and generally have to be over-sized to compete with other types. On the other hand they perform relatively well with low rode scopes and set fairly reliably.

The Bruce Anchor Group no longer produces the genuine Bruce anchor although other companies still produce reproductions of this famous design.

1973: The official introduction of the original Bruce cast steel anchor.

2007: As per Bruce Anchor Group: Bruce Anchor Limited has withdrawn from the leisure yacht and boat market and has discontinued its range of cast steel Bruce anchors for that market
 
Here are some handy links:

The official Bruce Anchor website

More information about anchors (3rd party website)