3.Maybe construct a snubber bridle, with chafing gear, and keep it near your anchor locker. This may help reduce the shock load on the lines.
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I'm not familiar with the mooring setup at Catalina, but if the mooring lines used are nylon, a snubber's not going to accomplish anything since the mooring lines themselves will do the shock absorbing. Snubbers are used with chain rode, either all-chain or enough chain that in typical anchoring depths the chain is what's going through the windlass and over the bow roller.
1. Always secure the bow hawser to a cleat, not the windlass.
Cleats are usually more secure, though not bulletproof.
I don't think it's
ever a good idea to submit the windlass to the pull of the boat against the anchor under any conditions, not just on windy days or nights at Catalina. The issue is not so much the security of the windlass in terms of the fasteners holding it in place, although that's certainly something to consider, but the potential for damage to the interal components of the windlass--- gear teeth and whatnot.
For this reason we don't even set our anchor against the windlass despite the fact we have a pretty tough one (Lofrans Tigres). We made up a stout line about six feet long with a thimble spliced into one end to which we've shacked a chain hook. This is our "setting" line, and when the anchor is deployed with the amount of rode out that we want we clip the chain hook to the rode and run the bitter end of the line through a bow hawse to one of the two heavily backed foredeck cleats. We then back off on the windlass to put a bit of slack between it and the chain hook, and set the anchor against the cleated line.
We also secure our V-bridle snubber to the two bow cleats and then let a long loop of chain out to hang down underwater between the bow roller and the snubber's chain grab, which is also underwater. So the windlass never sees anything but the weight of the anchor going out or coming up.
If it appears that we're going to need to break out the anchor with the boat, we again use our heavy "setting" line to take the strain in the same manner we used it to set the anchor. Once the boat is directly over the anchor we attach the "setting" line in the manner described, back off on the windlass a bit, and then break the anchor out against the line with a shot of reverse with one or both props.