The Boomer Journey – By Duncan Webster

I started the Boomer All Terrain Anchor journey in 2005 when we lost two anchors in quick succession. We got snagged on the same reef twice and had to cut the rope and leave our anchors, chains and about 40 metres of rope behind each time. One anchor was a grapnel style bent prong version and the other was using the zip tie design. It was a dangerous, expensive exercise plus it ruined two fishing trips.

I have a farming background and I am a Fitter and Turner. I always made my anchors in the shed to save money but losing anchors isn’t cheap. I started toying with the idea of using a shear pin to make my anchor collapse and did my first test in about 2006.

My Dad was the skipper of the boat, so if he didn’t like the anchor it would have had a very short career. Fortunately, he liked how it performed and we used that anchor with no more dramas for about 10 years. We still have the original Boomer Anchor. Because of the no-stress release, I realised that I could design an anchor that was extremely aggressive to hold in some of the rubble country where anchors had dragged in the past. The difference was very obvious. We started holding in extremely heavy currents around the islands of the southern Whitsundays which had always been difficult.

The developmental stages.

The Boomer Anchor was primarily designed as a reef anchor but I was starting to get pressure from friends to make anchors for them. I spoke to a marketing expert who said it needed more features or it will be too expensive to become a commercial reality to compete with cheap reef anchors that fishermen and women are prepared to lose every now and then.  He said “If you can make it an ‘All Purpose Anchor’, you’re on a winner!”  About 6 generations of Boomer tests over 4 years and a 200 litre drum nearly full of test prongs, I came up with the current design. What is so enlightening is how excited our customers are with the holding capabilities not just in reef, which is easy, but also in sand and mud.

Developing a new product is not for the faint hearted. You must totally believe that your product will be very beneficial to customers and then you have to find a way to make it affordable and value for money. Patenting, manufacturing and marketing are all obstacles to success, but we knew we had a good product and there is definitely a demand for a high performance, safer, more environmentally friendly ‘All Purpose’  boat anchors.

Boomer Anchors – holding you tight, but always come back.

We sold out of our first manufacturing run in 3 months. We expected that order to last approximately 18 months! The best part of the whole journey is talking to other boaties from all over the country and now America and New Zealand about their fishing experiences. We are looking forward to more distributors to come on board.

For enquiries Duncan Webster 0427585653 or visit www.boomeranchors.com.au