"Finally, I have arrived in Gibraltar. Up to now, 90% of the places I have stopped, I have had the anchor in. Everywhere and every seabed, the anchor holds tight on the first attempt. I never had to try a second time. I reversed the engine and pulled repeatedly; the more I pulled, the more difficult it became to bring the anchor back, indicating that it had dug itself deeper. Now I rarely dive to check the anchor, and it always stays as shown in the textbooks." I think you are manufacturing one of the best anchors in the world. Let's see how it is going to perform at the stormy bays of the south."

Hakan Öge - www.hakanoge.com 

From: Hakan ÖGE Sent: Monday, November 07, 2005

Hello, it has been a while. I especially did not write you, but I hope you have been following. I went very South for now. One storm passes, and the other comes. The anchor worked great till now. It held safely under the weather, while all other anchors dragged.

From: Hakan ÖGE Sent: December 08, 2004

Hello, the anchor I use now is the Ultra, which is made in Turkey. The reason I chose a naval architect-designed one is that it is the developed and perfected shape of the S... anchor, which is also a very good anchor. S…. owners have commented about it in numerous foreign boat magazines. Anyhow, I think it is the most expensive anchor in the market today. To develop the anchor that I use, they did small models of all the other anchors and worked on them. I was persuaded when they showed me, and I fitted it as the main anchor. The best feature of the anchor is the lead inside the tip. Because of that, half the weight of the anchor is at the tip. S…. uses the same technique, too.

Consequently, the tip of the anchor wants to touch the seabed first. Additionally, side wing plates make the anchor come to the digging position even if it is positioned on one side of the seabed. On the other hand, they do breaking tests of all anchors. Those are theoretical. In practice, I anchored at nearly all places in the Mediterranean Sea. I used the anchor on all kinds of sea beds. Due to the ultra being a newly designed anchor, I looked each time I dove. I had not seen the anchor unburied on the sea even once. My previous anchor, C... (it is now my stern anchor), does not perform like this, except on mud; mostly, it was lying on one side. I had positioned it by diving so many times. Those are my experiences. However, there is not only one right at seamanship. 

Hakan Oge 

Translation: Erkutay YUCEL (P.S.: You can find Hakan OGE’s original Turkish message in the Turkish part.)