The Idea of Making Our Own Anchor: A Personal Journey in Pursuit of Excellence

The Mediterranean Sea is a beautiful and challenging place to sail. Its rough waters can be both exhilarating and dangerous, and every sailor knows that a good anchor is essential for safety and peace of mind. For my wife Tali and me, who have been sailing in the Mediterranean since 2015, finding a reliable anchor has been a top priority.

We started with a Danforth anchor that came with our 2006 Jeanneau 43DS when we bought her. However, after it failed us twice, leaving us in a precarious situation off the coast of Rafina, Greece, we knew we needed a better solution.

We searched online for a reliable galvanized steel anchor, but we found that most of the options on the market were expensive and came from uncertain origins, mainly from China. As experienced sailors, we knew that a good anchor is a godsend, while an unreliable one can be the cause of a near disaster. We refused to accept “second-best” and decided to make our own anchor.

Our initial focus was on meeting our own needs, but we soon realized that our needs were shared by many other sailors. We teamed up with an engineer from Slovenia who had developed his anchor and enlisted the help of friends from the metal fabrication and marine industries. We invested in a cross-section of new-generation anchors and questioned the makers of steel about the characteristics of their products.

Our testbed was a deserted beach in northern Israel, where we made several mock-ups from MDF before cutting, bending, and welding steel to create a tangible prototype. One big breakthrough was finding a manufacturer of high tensile steels in a thin sheet, allowing us to reduce weight without compromising strength. We also enlisted the help of a friend who runs a successful metal fabrication facility in Ukraine.

Our designs initially leaned heavily on products available in the marketplace, but we soon made innovative changes ourselves. We tested our prototypes aggressively on various seabeds using commercial vessels, 4x4 vehicles, and tractors to ensure they were reliable and effective.

The result is a game-changing anchor that has the best weight/hold ratio of any steel anchor on the market. It sets reliably and quickly, moves to accept changes in wind direction, and if somersaulted due to rapid wind shifts, will reset by itself. The perforated fluke reduces clogging, and we managed to achieve many more advantages along the way.

Our production is up and running, and we are confident that we are offering the next step in anchor design. We believe that our anchor is as good as anything on the market, but at a reduced weight, making it easier for anyone to handle. Its reliability and effectiveness are proven, and we are proud to offer it to other sailors who, like us, refuse to settle for “second-best.”

In conclusion, our journey to create the perfect anchor was not an easy one. It required a lot of hard work, dedication, and investment. However, we were determined to make something that met our own high standards, and we knew that others would benefit from our efforts. The result is a product that we are proud of, and that we believe is a game-changer in the world of anchor design. We hope that our story inspires others to pursue excellence in their own endeavors, no matter how challenging they may seem.

We wish you fair winds and safe anchoring

The Viking Team

 

You can see some of our tests and trials here on YouTube

Should you need more information? please contact us.