New England has pretty good holding ground and shallow anchorages, but can still test your
anchor system. I was in Atlantic Highlands this week when a nasty frontal thunderstorm hit. The wind reversed direction and the first blasts were probably 35 to 40 knots. The boat next to us was on a rope-chain
rode with a
danforth type
anchor, and was unattended. It immediately started dragging, fortunately away from us and out of the harbor. Amazingly the anchor reset, even though the boat was doing about 4 knots, and when the rain let up, it was sitting about 200 yards further away, and about a boatlength in front of a power boat. The owner came back in his
dinghy about an hour later, and you could see him looking at his boat, then the other boats, and then at his boat...
The holding was good, and the water was only 15 feet deep, so we and the other anchored boats had no problems, but that reversing gust is why you don't leave your boat unattended unless you have some serious
ground tackle. If you have
danforth or
fortress type anchors where the chain can foul on the bar when the current or wind reverses, it eventually will and the anchor will never reset (Note--this comes from sad personal experience).