All river vessels, from inflatable boats to large ships, must have the technical ability to stay on the current. In practice, this could be a forced stop caused by a breakdown, organizing towing, or stopping for fishing. Here the need arises for an action called anchoring.
It is advisable to note that river vessels have a broad classification. Therefore, within the framework of the article, only small vessels are considered, such as inflatable boats, boats made of PVC and duralumin, pleasure boats and sports vessels.
Successful anchoring of a watercraft largely depends on factors such as current current parameters, depth, type of anchor, and also on human experience. Preparation for it begins with the correct choice of anchor. What types of anchors are there?
Anchor selection
The most famous in the world is the Hall anchor. However, while effective on large ships, it is redundant on small ships. Therefore, they resort to other types of anchors.
Lightweight anchors, or so-called clip anchors, are successfully used for anchoring sports vessels and pleasure boats, as well as ship dinghies.
Many anchors have been developed for small vessels, among which the most popular are cat anchors and mushroom anchors. The advantage of cat anchors over mushroom anchors is their folding design, which makes these anchors convenient for use. However, their use in inflatable boats is unsafe, so they use mushroom-shaped anchors.
Mushroom anchors and plow anchors are primarily used on sandy and silty underwater soils. Cat anchors, although considered universal in use, are not suitable for anchoring in rocky and soft bottoms.
According to safety requirements, the anchor must weigh at least 10% of the total weight of the vessel, including objects in it.
Choosing Anchor Rope
An equally important element is the rope to which the anchor is attached. For anchoring in the current, it is necessary to provide at least a 2-fold reserve of rope length relative to the depth of the planned anchorage site. If the current is strong, then the length of the rope can be increased to 4-6 times relative to the depth.
Rope materials for small boats are usually synthetic. According to the characteristics, the breaking force should be at least 70 times the mass of the anchor. The calculations take into account the weight of the boat when loaded.
Braided slings have received good reviews. They have a tensile strength of more than 1000 kg with a diameter of 7 mm.
Preparing to anchor
Then, based on this, the choice of anchor is made and the rope is selected. It is advisable to roughly calculate how long the rope will be needed to stop where required. After anchoring, especially in strong currents, it will no longer be possible to adjust the length of the rope. This applies to boats and boats that do not have anchor installations. To adjust the length of the anchor rope lowering into the water, you can provide a device on the vessel yourself that allows you to quickly fix it. Known anchor eye.
The rope is attached to the anchor and to the boat. It is recommended to tie the rope not only to the top, but also to the bottom of the anchor. This is necessary to avoid the case when the anchor is deeply buried in the ground and cannot be pulled out. At the same time, you still need to make sure that the point of attachment of the rope to the boat is closer to its waterline. This is done when anchoring from the bow, so that when tensioned the boat does not fall into the wave.
At the end of all preparations, a visual check of the reliability of all fastenings is carried out.
Correct anchoring is especially important when it is necessary to carry out this action among many boats.
To facilitate maneuvers, it is better to lower the boat into the river upstream from the intended parking area. The distance from the point of anchor release to the stop is determined visually depending on the current speed of the current. It is advisable to make sure that the bow of the boat is directed against the current before lowering the anchor. First, the anchor is released to 1.6-2 of the available rope length, then to the entire length.
If the current is strong, then a second anchor is placed at the stern of the boat. Here, professionals recommend following the rule that the anchors are attached to the boat on opposite sides. 
For anchorage in the current, it is advisable to have a spare anchor on the boat. This is for cases when one anchor is not enough due to changes in weather conditions, such as wind speed, or an unsuccessfully selected anchor. For example, it happens that the wind and current directions do not coincide. In this case, as they say, the boat shakes, and it becomes impossible to perform any actions while in it.
The location of the anchors relative to the boat is also of great importance. When there is only one anchor, the matter is clear. In the case when anchoring is carried out with two anchors, it is desirable that the boat and the places where the anchors are lowered form a triangle. To comply with this, you must perform the following steps.
First, one anchor is thrown, for example, to the right, then the boat goes down a little and to the left with the current. Here the second anchor on the left is released. The length of both ropes must be adjusted so that the bow of the vessel is held against the current. It is important to have a large supply of rope here.
As practice shows, one anchor is enough, provided that its parameters are selected correctly, based on the depth and type of soil. For example, in mountain rivers a two-seater inflatable boat can be held by an anchor weighing 7-8 kg. However, this is true if the boat has a small sail, that is, there are few people in it.
In general, for successful anchoring in currents, you need to correctly select an anchor, calculate a sufficient length of the rope taking into account the depth of the anchorage, keep a spare anchor on the boat, and also follow the above recommendations.
How to attach an anchor to an inflatable boat
Happy sailing.
Some solutions are obvious. There is little money, but vacation is approaching, and I want to rush with my family to where it is sunny and warm. Will you accept your father-in-law's offer to live for free in their house by the sea? Certainly! You have an excellent relationship with your superiors, you are about to be promoted. Would you be willing to cover for your boss while he undergoes a three-week training course? Undoubtedly!
Such cases are rather exceptions to the rule. Most life situations plunge us into painful thoughts. In addition, when making decisions, there are psychological traps that our own brain sets.
One of the most common and dangerous is the anchor trap. What it is and how to avoid it is in this material.
Anchoring trap
How would you answer the following questions?
Is Turkey's population more than 35 million?
What do you think the population of Turkey is?
In most cases, the number 35 million in the first question (a number chosen completely at random) will influence your answer to the second question. If you ask these questions, naming the figure 35 million in half the cases, and 100 million in the rest, the answer to the second question increases by many millions when a larger figure is mentioned in the first.
This example illustrates a very common and dangerous psychological phenomenon known as anchoring.
When choosing an answer, consciousness pays disproportionate attention to the data that was received at the beginning.
Some of the most powerful anchors are past events or trends.
When trying to guess how many patients will seek care at the hospital next January, you start by looking at last year's data. The number you have will be your anchor for the assessment. And although in most cases this approach allows for a fairly clear forecast, it still relies too heavily on past experience and pays too little attention to other factors.
If the situation involves rapid changes in conditions, anchoring can lead to incorrect predictions and poor choices.
Let's say you're looking for a painting to hang in your living room, and you visit a gallery where you see a worthy example - a canvas by an unknown artist. This painting has neither a market price nor a store price tag. You estimate that it could cost around $1200, but the seller tells you the price of $2800. This trick is specifically designed to give you an idea of the price of the product and raise the bar.
And even if you start haggling, the final price is already largely determined by the initial price - the anchor.
Ways to bypass the anchor trap
It is impossible to get rid of anchoring, but you can weaken its influence using the following techniques:
- Always try to consider the main objective of your choice from different points of view. Try to look at it from different angles, instead of agreeing with the first solution that comes to mind. After a thorough study, compare the different approaches and find the differences.
- First, think carefully about the task at hand, and only then seek advice from others. Their ideas can become anchors for your thinking.
- Listen to advice and opinions from a variety of people to push the boundaries of your thinking. Look for fresh solutions. Be open to new things.
- Be careful not to create anchors for those you turn to for advice. Don't talk too much about what you're thinking about, otherwise your prejudices can easily come back to you, becoming anchors for your advisers.
- Prepare for negotiations. This will allow you to reduce your predisposition to anchoring tactics.
Based on materials from the book
(NLP Techniques)
The term “anchor” is already so widely popular that even people who are only familiar with NLP by hearsay connect these two words in their minds according to the principle: “We say anchor, we mean NLP, we say NLP, we mean anchor.”
This quote, reformulated by me, is, by the way, one of the clearest examples of typical “anchoring”: when we say one thing (that which is an anchor in NLP), and a completely different (useful or, on the contrary, harmful) resource comes to mind state.
So. I remind everyone what exactly is meant by the term “NLP anchor”. In one of its general meanings, an NLP anchor is a very strong conditioned reflex connection established consciously or unconsciously.
Anchors in NLP are natural and working, for example, those that are “made” artificially by the NLP therapist during the process of NLP therapy. Artificial NLP anchors represent (usually) touching some part of the partner’s body.
Now we will talk about the process of artificial, working anchoring.
You can “anchor” certain resource states yourself, without the help of a second partner, and even without the help of an NLP therapist. True, there are some peculiarities here, but we will talk about them a little later.
So. We move on to describe the algorithm for establishing a tactile artificial NLP anchor - with the goal of replacing a persistent negative experience with a positive one.
We establish an NLP anchor in pairs, working with a volunteer partner.
First anchoring step
Find some memorable place in the room. Make yourself comfortable there. Ask your partner to remember some unpleasant situation from his past. Ask your partner to refresh her memory as clearly as possible - to relive the situation again. This will require some stretch of the imagination.
To make it easier for your partner to gain access to past experiences, you need to ask him the following guiding questions:
- When was this (when was it the first time)?
- How did it start and how did it end? (draw a time frame - frame),
- How do you feel about this? Try to formulate them in one word, expression.
- What was the most unpleasant thing about this situation for you?
Second anchoring step
As soon as you see that your partner has “entered” the experience, make an “NLP anchor” by touching any part of his body. This can be quite a sensitive squeeze on your partner's wrist. “Hold the anchor” while the experience lasts. Then release your partner's hand. The first anchoring is over.
Third anchoring step
Find a new place in the room, different from where you were previously. (For example, the first place was light, standing by the window, the second place was away from the window, dark, sitting on the sofa, in the corner).
Ask your partner to remember one of the most pleasant emotional events and experiences of the past. In order for your partner to gain access to the experience faster and more fully, ask him the same questions as in the case of a negative experience.
Important comment from a psychologist about anchoring
Attention: in this exercise it is important to remember not just an arbitrary “pleasant experience,” but precisely such a pleasant experience that can enter into a duel with the negative experience tormenting the client and win this duel. This experience must contain such a powerful resource that with its help you can “exhaust all the negativity” of said negative memory.
It happens that a person himself is not able to find such a powerful positive resource. THEN FANTASY COME TO HELP.
Ask your partner the following questions:
- What resource do you need so that we can cope with this particular negative situation?
- Invent it, model it, dream it up.
- Do you know a person (hero) who has this necessary resource?
It is at this stage that “1000 lives” cards can come to the rescue. Let your partner look at several cards in turn and choose the behavior that suits him and the image of the character who “knows how to do it.”
For example, one of my clients pulled the “Antipode” card from the deck at random.
The card said:
“Enter the image of a person who is your complete opposite, in origin, upbringing, manners, attitudes... How would he act in your place?”
Starting from this powerful hint from the cards, my client began to joyfully fantasize about this intriguing topic: “Who could really be my antipode?”, and we quickly found the required resource state.
Fourth anchoring step
As soon as a person begins to replay the experience of a positive situation in his head (and he feels good), create a “positive anchor.” That is, do everything the same as in the first NLP anchor, only on the other half of the body. If you were squeezing your right wrist before, now squeeze your left until the experience exhausts itself. Then release your partner's hand.
SECOND PART OF ANCHORING - CASTLING
We move on to the most important, final part of anchoring - it is important not to get confused here.
Fifth anchoring step
After a short break, return with your partner to the place where his “positive anchor” was born.
Ask him to relive the negative memory again. As soon as the person has “entered” his negative experience, reproduce the negative anchor you placed first (for example, squeeze his right wrist).
Sixth anchoring step
As soon as you notice the emergence of negative experiences in your partner, reproduce a positive anchor (for example, squeeze his left wrist).
Thus, you will combine two reactions by combining NLP anchors.
What should win is a positive reaction, a positive anchor.
If this did not happen, although you did everything correctly, then most likely the positive resource you found was weak and insufficient.
The key to the success of this exercise lies precisely in finding that very thing - a true, positive experience that can cover up the negative.
Well, when a person himself is not able to find such a powerful positive resource, THEN A deck of cards “1000 Roads” and Synchrony of Spontaneous Choice with your hand blindly – any card – comes to your aid!
By the way, a person is NEVER able to find such a “powerful resource of goodness” by rummaging through his biography...
Do you know why? He does everything right, our man.
He subconsciously protects his holy, valuable, pleasant moments from being mixed with the most negative experiences.
In general, NLP, understood with a bang (nonsense, an everyday matter!) is not environmentally friendly and dangerous. And a smart, careful person understands everything and will not give up his good moments to you. What if you only spoil his memory, what if you fail to cover up the negative with the positive, what then?
This reminds me, honestly, of the help of the cheerful Carlson, who is not responsible for anything:
“Hey, Baby, your shelf here is on fire, grab your expensive jacket, now we’ll use it to put out the fire!”
“Yes, right now...”
What kind of jacket would you mind?
Which one? Fictional! Does it work if you put out a fire on a shelf with a fictitious jacket? And how!
“Fictional Jacket” is (you guessed it) one spontaneous card from the “1000 Roads” deck, and not your valuable moments from the biography.
Inexhaustible maps of "1000 Roads"!
Let's say more. Resource memories tend to be exhausted...
It’s like a witty joke or a video with “Ural dumplings”, which at first amuses and invigorates us, but for the hundredth time causes boredom and no longer works...
Do you need it - to wear out your truly precious holy moments? Do you have so many of them?
But we have a lot of “1000 Roads” cards. And you (with your imagination) have even more options for a fun interpretation of EVEN ONE CARD than there are cards in the deck!
All in all...
We are now offering you an ECOLOGICAL replacement for a “positive memory from a biography” with a card from the “1000 Roads” deck!
With it (the card) you will “block” the negative memory!
If this map, this story, gets boring for you (exhausts itself), you will repeat everything all over again with a new map “1000 Roads” (or “1000 Lives” - according to your taste)!
Ask the card you spontaneously pulled out the following questions:
What resource do I need to help me cope with this particular negative situation, memory, trauma?
Come up with or remember a fairy tale, parable or anecdote, starting from the map.
Do you know a person (hero, character) who already has this resource I need?
As we have already noted, you can choose one of two decks: “1000 Roads” or “1000 Lives”.
The only thing we strongly advise you not to do is to slam down your negative traumas with your own positive images from your real life. Take care of the treasures of your soul and your memory. Better slam our cards on the table. This is exactly what cards are made for...
Second option: “Which shelf actually caught fire?”
We already understand that putting out a burning shelf with an expensive, unimaginative jacket is absurd. You can't get enough expensive jackets...
In real work with clients, we also have to cover up imaginary shelves with imaginary jackets.
What, that's ridiculous? You say that these are some kind of spillikins? Where is the benefit here?
Try it - and practice WILL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING to you.
This is the only way psychotherapists work - carefully: with a fairy tale, an analogy, “suppose that...”, “let this person be an empty chair, tell all this to the chair”...
You know, not every client is ready to pull out even this: their own negative memories and life traumas - at a click.
– What trauma do I want to work through? Hm...
– I don’t have any injuries, why are you bothering me?
- Yeah, now I’ll tell you, keep your pocket wider.
- Yes, I don’t even know what’s bothering me - my brain turns off. (typical psychological defense)..
So let’s add “an imaginary shelf that started smoking” to the “imaginary fire-extinguisher jacket.”
So, theatrically and make-believe, we will work through more than one of your traumas - and we will work through them efficiently...
In general, pull out from the “1000 Roads” deck (now only from it - we strongly recommend this!) one spontaneous card that HINTS:
what negative experience are you now ready to discuss, remember and cover with a resourceful positive story - from the second card.
Remember this exercise as “Jacket and Shelf” to always remind yourself:
Playing with fire is dangerous. And a psychotherapist who looks like Carlson is most often a bad psychotherapist... (May Astrid Lindgren not be offended by us). Play better with our cards. Let one card be the “burning shelf”, and the second – the “expensive jacket” that puts it out. It's fun, useful, endless and it works!
You can learn about all the possibilities of psychological maps in .
If you think that the title of the article has a maritime theme, then you are mistaken. Anchoring is an established term that is used in psychology as an element of neurolinguistic programming. The anchor itself acts as a stimulus that causes a strong associative connection at the emotional level.
So, let's gradually understand anchors, NLP and related issues.
Neurolinguistic programming is not a science, but a set of applied techniques used in practical psychology. The most commonly used NLP techniques are:
- psychologists and time managers;
- lecturers, tutors and lawyers;
- actors, writers and journalists.
Of course, traders and top managers claim that they are all fluent in NLP methods. Essentially, neurolinguistic programming is communication skills, knowing and applying which you can influence the opinion of the person making the decision.
Practicing psychologists actively use NLP techniques to treat severe emotional states, get rid of phobias, and rehabilitate patients after suffering psychological trauma.
The basis for the development of neuro-linguistic programming was cognitive psychology, which studies the cognitive processes of the human psyche. Cognitive psychology studies issues related to memory, attention, feelings, thinking, perception and imagination. Accordingly, all kinds of incentives become its main tools. In our case, this stimulus is the anchor.
A brief excursion into history
Anchoring is the key to managing emotions. What does it have to do with conscious management. Many people mistakenly confuse anchors with reflexes. There is a significant difference between an anchor and a reflex. To set an anchor, one strong experience, an emotional state, is enough, while an associative connection in the case of developing a reflex appears as a result of repeated reproduction of a chain of certain actions. Scientifically speaking, a reflex is a physiological reaction, and an anchor is an emotional one.
At school we were told about academician Pavlov, who experimented on dogs. So Ivan Petrovich did nothing bad to the dogs. By the way, the scientist built enclosures at his own expense and purchased provisions for the dogs, which lived in excellent conditions. As a result of the experiments, a division of reflexes into conditioned and unconditioned appeared. And Ivan Petrovich himself became the founder of the science of higher nervous activity.
The impetus for the research was that Pavlov noticed that salivation in dogs began even before the animals received food. Being a physiologist, Ivan Petrovich understood that salivation directly depends on the production of gastric juice.
The first unique anchor in Pavlov's research was the bell that accompanied the issuance of rations. Later, the scientist achieved that only the sound of a bell provoked the production of gastric juice in dogs.
Anchoring as an NLP technology
When a specific emotion associated with an experience becomes a stimulus to perform a specific action, this emotion is called an anchor. In practice, such a process occurs unconsciously and most often goes unnoticed.
An anchor acts as a certain external or internal representation that starts the process of reproducing another. The life of each of us is filled with memories, significant moments, names, events, things, even tastes and smells. These are the anchors that skilled psychologists use to program personality.
Remember when you turned around at an unfamiliar voice in the middle of the street when you heard your name. And it happens that people respond to someone else’s name, which is dear to them. Names in this case are the same anchors.
The anchor can be a specific date, a musical composition, a movie, a postcard, an image, anything.
How does this work in practice? Imagine that a person suffering from arachnophobia comes to see a psychologist. Accordingly, we have a negative anchor - spiders and all arachnid reptiles. In order to help a patient get rid of a phobia, a specialist needs to get to the root of the problem. But how can you talk to a person about spiders if he panics at the mere thought of these cute creatures? By programming a positive anchor, for example a phoenix bird, which is not afraid of even the deadliest spider, the psychologist will be able to stop a panic attack with just the word “phoenix”. This is what manipulation looks like, when in skillful hands consciousness becomes soft and pliable plasticine.
Use and installation of anchors, their destruction
Anchors, even the most powerful ones, have a certain life cycle. Anchors can be short-term or long-term. Short-term anchors lose their significance without periodic reinforcement, but long-term anchors can remain for life. It is almost impossible to consciously set an anchor without the proper skills and abilities. The anchoring process is considered to have been successful if playing the anchor three times produced a clean response, identical in all cases.
Setting the anchor should occur at the moment when the person’s emotional state has reached its peak. There are three main types of anchors:
- visual;
- auditory;
- kinesthetic.
The most powerful effect is provided by complex anchors that can be seen, heard and felt at the same time.
Also, in psychology the concept of “collapse of anchors” is used. This technology is used when a person has a negative anchor. Collapse consists of anchoring on a completely opposite emotion, and then simultaneously reproducing them. As a result, both anchors collapse and a neutral attitude towards the situation as a whole arises.
How do we anchor ourselves?
It won’t be difficult to find and give an example of self-anchoring. Remember the last time you bought a phone. Moreover, the initial situation does not assume that you yourself are well versed in gadgets, but went to the store for advice. The manager offered you not the most expensive, but the “best” model available. When you enter each subsequent salon, you will no longer look for something better, you will ask for exactly the first model that you liked and most likely you will buy it.
The next example of self-anchoring is finding a job. You went to a site where they post vacancies, looked at the approximate salary level, got hooked on the amount that warms your pocket the most, and let’s send out your resume. Have you forgotten to check the salary in your city, look at the requirements for the candidate, experience and find out what you need to do to earn several times more than others? The anchor in this situation was a specific figure.
People unknowingly use anchors when raising their children. What caused positive emotions in childhood is given and allowed to children by default. And vice versa, what we have been afraid of since childhood, dreaded, or what made us cry a lot in childhood is taboo for our children.
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Practical psychology offers many ways to influence the human condition. The anchoring technique in NLP, anchors in NLP and their installation is one of the most common and effective techniques that influences the emergence of associative series in a person’s mind and his resource state.
Hope is like an anchor: it saves, but keeps you tied.
Jason Evangelou
Features of the anchoring mechanism
This technique is based on the “stimulus-response” concept, developed by I. Pavlov while studying conditioned reflexes in dogs.
Anchor- this is a certain image or action, evoking associations with an event in the subconscious or memory and changing the emotional state person.
The anchoring technique is used to develop and consolidate attitudes in the human psyche. The use of a specific anchor activates this setting at the right moment, causing the necessary physiological state.
In everyday life, such incentives are found everywhere:
- Natural anchors that evoke positive emotions: smells, melody, photographs, voice.
- External incentives: road signs, alarm clock ringing, commercial and advertising anchors that reinforce the intention to purchase a particular product.
- Artificial, workers, anchors established by an NLP therapist to achieve a particular goal.
You can consolidate them either independently or under the supervision of a psychologist. The subject himself can create certain anchors for himself to improve his mood and increase his productivity.
Anchoring in NLP involves a methodical approach with repetition of the stimuli used. Practice shows that 25–30 days are enough for the anchor to start “working.” But you shouldn’t write off those stimuli that instantly create a connection with an emotion for a long time. The condition is the presence of a strong and intense psychological state at the moment.
It is believed that anchoring- This way of manipulating a person. This is partly true. But in practical psychology this method is used only to achieve a positive result for a person, to eliminate shortcomings and develop advantages.
NLP anchors: varieties
Depending on the type of person’s perception of the surrounding world, there are several types of anchors, which are used both separately and together. Moreover, stimuli aimed at different organs of cognition of the world are perceived more effectively and give a positive result.
