Whether trying to find space in the crowded "Lagoon" in St. Martin, or, playing in the Las Aves reef 60 miles off the north shore of Venezuela, both require the boat be anchored safely and securely. In our cruising life "anchoring" was one of the most difficult thing cruisers had to do. There is nothing worse than being exhausted from a long passage and having to fight to get your anchor to hold, or, worrying about the boat while you leave it at anchor.

Quite simply the answer to this problem is brute force in the form of heavy chain and lots of it. No expense was spared when building JOSS' ground tackle. She has 400' feet of 3/8" chain; 250 feet on a 35LB CQR plow and 150' on a 45LB CQR plow. To use heavy chain and lots of it you must have a powerful windlass (ie you are not going to pull this chain up by hand).

MAX TO THE RESCUE!

MAX is a truly amazing piece of equipment which has never let us down. He is typically operated using the foot switches evident just behind his body in the photograph to the left. He has "up" and "down" capability which until you have had it you wonder why you want it. After using MAX I would never ever consider a windlass that did not have bidirectional capability.

Anchoring and weighing anchor often requires flexibility. MAX can be operated by the footswitches shown above but also has full remote control from the cockpit using the remote control device to the left. If single handing or in very extreme weather, MAX's remote control makes exiting a crowded or dangerous anchorage as simple as possible.