Anchoring Glossary

Anchor: A device designed to engage the bottom of a waterway, and through its resistance to movement, to maintain a vessel within a given radius.

Anchor chocks: Fittings on the deck of a vessel used to stow an anchor when it is not in use.

Anchor rode: Line or chain, or a combination of both, connecting an anchor to a vessel

Bow Chocks: Fittings on a vessel’s rail at or near the bow having jaws that serve as fairleads for an anchor rode or other lines.

Breaking Out The Anchor: Unsetting it by pulling up on the rode or other lines.

Ground Tackle: An overall term for anchors, anchor rode, fittings, etc., used for securing a vessel at anchor.

Hawsepipe: A cylindrical or elliptical pipe or casing in a vessel’s hull through which an anchor rode runs.

Horizontal Load: The horizontal force that is placed on an anchoring device by the vessel to which it is attached.

Mooring Bitt: A post through or attached to the deck of a vessel that is used to secure an anchor rode or other line to the vessel.

Scope: The ration of the length of the anchor rode currently in use to the vertical distance from the bow chocks to the bottom of the water (depth of water plus the height of the chocks above the water).

Tripping An Anchor: Using a line attached to the crown or head of an anchor fouled in the bottom to pull it out backward (to “trip” it).

Vertical Load: The downward force placed on the bow of the vessel by its anchor rode.

	Types of Seabeds		Qualifying Terms
	S Sand M Mud Cy, Cl Clay G Gravel Co Coral Cb Cobbles Sn Shingle	P Pebbles St Stones Rk, Rky Rock, Rocky Ch Chalk Sh Shells Wd Weed S/M Two layers (ex: sand over mud)	s small f fine m medium c coarse	h hard sm small bk broken v volcanic
			Note: lowercase letters used for qualifying terms.