Staying anchored in Playa Francesa for a week after a couple of days we had winds from SW. That meant being exposed to the whole Atlantic and with winds of 16-18kts gusting 22 it only took some hours before waves built up to a meter or more putting a lot of strain on anchor,chain and releiving ropes. After some more hours our Wichard chain clip gave up but fortunately wind and waves decreased and we found a schackel with a bigger clip that did the job of releiving the windlass from all strain.

There are strong forces acting on anchor and surrounding equipment in these kind of circumstances and more than one cruiser has lost a finger dealing with it.