The best jet ski anchor is going to depend on a few factors such as the depth of the water you plan on anchoring in, the material covering the bottom of your anchor location and how large your personal watercraft is. The rule of thumb when it comes to anchor chain length is 7x the depth of the water you’re anchoring in. As long as you take the depth of water into account, the size of your jet ski and the type of the bottom that you’re anchoring on, you’ll be able to find an anchor that will serve you well. The best jet ski anchors are:
- Traditional anchors
- Sand based anchors
- Mushroom anchors
- Screw anchors
We will go into more detail with examples below:
Traditional Anchor
A traditional anchor works by using its angle and surface area to dig into the sea bottom. When a traditional anchor penetrates the sea bottom, it creates suction, which in-turn creates resistance. As the watercraft pulls on a traditional anchor, it digs further into the seabed, creating more suction, and creating a more solid hold to keep your jet ski in the place that you intend to keep it.
Traditional anchors work less well on a rocky bottom as they cannot penetrate a seabed, but instead catch on the edge of rocks and protrusions. Traditional anchors are much more precarious to use on rocky bottoms, and are best checked up on throughout the entire time you’re anchored. If possible, it is best practice to enter the water and check how your traditional anchor has set upon whatever it is using to hold your jet ski.
Our pick for our favorite traditional, fluke-style anchor is the WindRider Galvanized Anchor. This anchor comes with a three quarter inch chain and 75 feet of rode, good for anchoring your jet ski in up to about 10-11 feet of water. It’s fluke style makes it great for creating the suction needed by traditional anchors to create the resistance needed for your jet ski. In most situations where the bottom you’re anchoring into is relatively rock-free, the WindRider anchor is going to hold your jet ski right in place.
Traditional anchor for shallow water with sandy or muddy sea bed environments
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Grapnel Anchor
Alternatively, another of our overall top picks is a grapnel anchor system. It is affordable and perfect for small personal watercraft like jet skis, rafts, and john boats. It is similar to a traditional anchor and can latch onto sand, mud, gravel, or rocks.
Best for small boats and jet skis. Highly rated and affordable (About $30).
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Sand Based Anchor System
Another popular solution for anchoring your personal watercraft is a sand-based anchoring system. The benefit to using a sand based anchor system is that the anchor itself is a polyester bag, which is much less likely to bounce around and damage the inside of your jet ski while you’re riding.
Sand based systems can be filled with whatever is around you when anchoring. If the bottom is sand, you can use that to fill the anchor and keep your jet ski in place. If the bottom is rock, you can find smaller rocks to fill the bag up with, as this will work just as well as using sand.
Using a sand-based jet ski anchor is going to work best when you’re in relatively calm water. Unlike a more traditional styled anchor, this system does not dig into the seabed very much and does not create the same amount of suction or resistance that a traditional anchor does. This type of anchor uses the weight of the substance that you fill the bag with to anchor your personal watercraft or small boat.
Our choice for our favorite sand-based jet ski anchor is the Sea Doo Sand Anchor. This anchor features a 16’ nylon strap which attaches to either your jet ski’s bow cleat or its rear hook. It is made from polyester fabric, and is rated to hold up to 45 pounds of wet sand.
Anchor that can be filled with sand or rock. Easily storable without adding weight.
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Mushroom Anchors
Mushroom anchors work much in the same way as traditional fluke style anchors. They are well suited to calm, day trips and less so to rough ocean use and rocky bottoms. Another benefit to using a mushroom anchor on your jet ski is that it does not have any sharp edges, which means you’re going to have much less of a chance of scratching or cutting your jet ski.
Our choice for our favorite mushroom-style anchor is the Greenfield Products Marine Coated Mushroom. This anchor is made out of cast iron, weighs 15 pounds is perfectly portable and will fit in most modern jet skis. Buying this anchor will mean that you will have to acquire your own anchor chain or rope, but those are typically inexpensive purchases.
Screw Anchors
Screw anchors are best suited for when you are anchoring your jet ski to shore. Being on shore allows you to spend the time and have the visual ability to securely crank the anchor down into the sand/surface that you’re anchoring to.
Our favorite screw-based jet ski anchor is the SandShark 18″ Sand Anchor. This sand anchor is perfect for securing your jet ski to the sandy shore, or even a shallow sandbar. This anchor measures 18″ from tip to tip, allowing you to bury the anchor deep enough to have a large amount of weight on top of the anchor blade. The blade of this auger style sand anchor measures 3.5″ across, enough to get a good hold once anchored into the sand.
This anchor is best used for a situation where you’re in relatively calm water, this could be either inshore or a flat ocean day. I would personally avoid using this anchor in rougher water, as I wouldn’t want the rough seas to dislodge the anchor, which is a potentially dangerous situation.
Anchor for tethering your PWC to the shore of a lake or beach.
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