Sailing Forum Argument About Best Anchor Type Enters Its Ninth Year

A discussion thread on the popular sailing forum SailNet titled 'Best All-Around Anchor?' has entered its ninth consecutive year of active debate, with no consensus in sight and participants now arguing with a fervor that marine psychologists have described as 'clinically significant.' The thread, started in 2017 by user FairWinds47 with the seemingly innocuous question 'What anchor do you recommend for mixed bottoms?', has accumulated 14,247 replies across 847 pages and spawned at least four real-world confrontations at boat shows. 'I posted the question expecting maybe twenty responses,' said FairWinds47, whose real name is Dan. 'I did not expect to ignite a conflict that would outlast several of my personal relationships.' The thread's major factions include the Rocna partisans, who describe their preferred anchor as 'the only anchor that actually works'; the Mantus advocates, who counter that the Rocna 'sets too slowly in grass'; the CQR traditionalists, who argue that 'if it was good enough for the Royal Navy, it's good enough for your Beneteau'; and a lone user named AnchorWizard99 who insists that a properly deployed lunch hook will hold in any conditions, a position no one else supports. 'I've been arguing about anchors on this thread for six years,' said user DeltaDave. 'In that time, I have actually anchored my boat maybe thirty times. I have posted about anchoring approximately four hundred times. The ratio is not ideal, but the principle matters.' Forum moderators have attempted to close the thread on three separate occasions. Each time, it was reopened after users migrated the argument to unrelated threads about sail trim, diesel maintenance, and, in one notable instance, a thread about recommended sunscreen. FairWinds47 has since sold his boat and taken up golf. 'I check the thread once a week,' he admitted. 'It's like watching a fire I accidentally started. I can't look away.'