As supplement to
K1W1's comments:
Today, "properly-built" superyachts have well-designed and probably
over-engineered anchor-handling systems. These tend to be very sturdy
windlasses, often derived from those installed on merchant ships (but with a suitable "yacht finish"), combined with very heavy-duty "chain stopper" systems. On many earlier superyachts, the chain literally came out of the hawse-pipe directly onto the windlass with negligible angle-change or distance, which subjected the windlass to the full forces when the yacht was at anchor in sometimes extreme sea-conditions. Any "chain-stopper" was an after-thought. In the early '90s, I was called aboard an 80ft Dutch motor-sailer after they had problems, having been on an understandably short-scope in the crowded bay of Cannes one summer's day when there was a heavy swell running. The windlass casing had shattered, separating at the 4 feet through which solid bolts secured the windlass through the deckhead. All that had kept the windlass from going overboard were the (extremely-solid Dutch-built) foredeck railings...the windlass was an Italian-built Lofrans btw.
The "whole point" about putting a "snubbing line" on the anchor chain was (and still is IMHO) is
not subjecting the windlass itself to the full stresses of a vessel whilst it's at anchor. Generally speaking, they're
not designed for this. They're
engineered to pick up a certain weight of anchor and chain. That's why, in all except the most benign conditions, a skipper would "motor upto the hook" whilst raising the anchor. In the very olden days, snubbing would have involved taking the chain
off the windlass and securing it around a suitably strong bollard. These days, a properly-designed "chain-stopper" system avoids this. Otherwise, you're left with the only suitable alternative: using a synthetic mooring line made secure around a strong bollard or mooring bitts and attached to the chain with the proper hook.
My 2 cents worth...
