Happy Hooking

Happy Hooking – The Art of Anchoring is a very readable book on boat anchoring. It is loaded with valuable information on anchoring tackle, anchoring technique, tying up and rafting, anchoring etiquette, as well as the occasional anecdote – simply stated a must-have for any boater or sailor!

The second expanded edition of Happy Hooking – The Art of Anchoring features:

• More gear
• More photos
• More illustrations
• More independent reviews
• Experience from both sides of the Atlantic
• Personal anecdotes based on many thousands of miles of sailing and countless times anchoring

Unless you are far offshore, at some point or another you are going to need to 'park' your boat. Just like knowing how to stop your car before you start is perhaps the most important part of driving, we feel that anchoring is perhaps the most important skill you can and should acquire in boating. Anchoring a boat can be a lovely dance in a harbour, or a painful and often embarrassing display of Homo sapiens’ inability to plan or communicate.

We will endeavour to help you find a combination of tackle and technique best suited for your circumstances when anchoring your vessel. By outlining how different anchors work, the pluses and minuses of different adjunctive pieces of equipment, the current thinking about how to deploy this equipment, and how to select an anchorage, we hope you will be armed with enough information to make some informed decisions about what might work best for you.

If you could take only one piece of advice from these pages with you on your travels, perhaps you will remember what Tommy Moran, an old salt in the West of Ireland, advised time and again:

“Anchor as though you plan to stay for weeks, even if you intend to leave in an hour.”

Happy Hooking!

Praise for Happy Hooking

"The definitive textbook on the subject."

— Ocean Cruising Club

"Happy Hooking is well organized, well illustrated, and easy to read. It should be mandatory reading for novice sailors and charter operators would do well to place copies throughout their fleet. This would be an excellent gift to up-and-coming boaters."

— Cruising Club of America

"The single most important guide to anchoring for the modern sailor of the 21st century. Easy to read and filled with super clear illustrations and drawings. Add Happy Hooking – The Art of Anchoring to your onboard list of must-have guides for safe anchoring – wherever in the world you choose to cruise!"

— Captain John Jamieson, Author of Skipper Tips and Seamanship Secrets

"Might be compulsory reading for the new sailor. Even the most experienced will find much new material here."

— SailWorld.com

"This is the bible for all things anchoring."

— Latitudes & Attitudes Seafaring

"It is hard to imagine a more comprehensive study of the topic. This is a remarkably easy book to read."

— Irish Cruising Club

About the Authors

Alex Blackwell is a sailing journalist, author, and editor. He frequently writes about sailing technology and sailing adventures, contributing to several magazines, websites and e-zines, including his own, Coastalboating.net. Alex is an independent marketing and communications consultant and mentor to small companies. He is licensed as a commercial Master Mariner by the US Coast Guard.

Daria Blackwell is the co-author of Happy Hooking - The Art of Anchoring, Cruising the Wild Atlantic Way and Onyx The Cruising Kitty. She has written numerous articles for sailing magazines and websites on both sides of the Atlantic. She is a long-time sailor and USCG-licensed captain with three Atlantic crossings and a year’s sabbatical sailing in the Caribbean to her credit.