Thunderbird Anchoring

Most Thunderbirds are not well setup for anchoring. They don't usually have a chain locker or a hause pipe and there isn't much room to keep your anchor on the bow. For people used to cruising larger boats the best way to deal with this isn't clear. I started by hauling a 5 gallon bucket full of rode onto the fordeck, then going back for the anchor, and finally shakling the anchor to the rode. This proved time consuming and I knew that eventually I was going to drop something overboard in the process. The other problem was I finished up with a half empty 5 gallon bucket of rode on the fordeck that I would have to lash down.  One method to get around this used many T-birders is anchoring from the stern. Using this method you launch your anchor from the starboard side cockpit while heading downwind. Please see the image below for the details of the process. Using this technique you can keep you anchor stowed in a lazarette, you don't have to carry your anchor forward and you finish with being able to put the bucket containing the rode back into the aft lazarette.

Download the PDF of the figure below