Drogues and sea anchors

[Rick D]

Another forum question. Henk: weigh in on this too. I have a dockmate who is taking a three-year Pacific and Atlantic cruise. Some of it will be single-handed. He will be sailing a center cockpit 40 foot Dickerson Ketch of about 30,000 pounds. It has a full-keel with cut-away forefoot. It is well found. He is considering purchase of a sea (storm) anchor. He is of the opinion it may provide some rest time in adverse weather when alone. He read the inconclusive article in Practical Sailor. I am of the opinion that its probably inconclusive since they are so rarely used. I would also have concerns about launching one in adverse weather single handed. Besides, his boat should heave to easily; I think a better solution. Comment? Especially from offshore-experience. Second: any advise on a good drougue? Something soft sided and storeable. Rick D.

 

[Dave]

Series Drogue

The series drogue is soft, only made of rip stop cloth and rope with some nylon webbing. It can be stored in a bag or a plastic box. Dave

 

[Jack Tyler]

Rick, your first rec to your friend should be...

...to encourage him to read Victor Shane's Drag Device Data Base. He's the one who will be living with his choice (even if it's not to carry one) and should understand the pros/cons of the choices. Shane's book is helpful because it eschews absolutes and offers many carefully documented incidents on a variety of boats (rigs, underbodies, conditions, etc.) from which one can quickly see that there are few absolutes when summarizing these devices.I would caution against carrying a series drogue for reasons we've already discussed.Especially because you mentioned a drogue being useful for rest periods when singlehanding, I'd encourage your friend to research the Galerider (see link), which Skip Raymond can elaborate on at length if you give him a call. I mention this drogue because deployment is simple (terribly important when you're tired beyond belief), retrieval is also relatively easy, and retrieval from/stowing in a small bag is straightforward.Jack

 

[henkmeuzelaar]

Agree with all that's been said here ))

Even though some of it appears to be contradictory at first sight.Rick, IMHO you are absolutely right that a parachute-type sea anchor should only be deployed "in anger" (with most of the anger coming from the realization you may not be able to get your $$ back aboard). Certainly not for taking a well-deserved rest in conditions that could be managed better by heaving to.Dave, if one can only carry one type of drag device on board, from all accounts the Jordan series drogue is hard to beat with regard to ease of deployment and retrieval. Morover, it is unique in that it can be deployed incrementally. We don't have one on board though because it is costly; weighs a lot and takes up a lot of space. I am attaching the link for a supplier who actually lists the price, length, weight (dry!) and size for various displacements.Jack, Victor Shane's DDDB is indeed priceless. Even an extremely experienced couple like the Pardey's have probably only have had to deploy a few of the various drag devices a few times throughout their career. Also, "playing" with one at Force 6 or 7 conditions - though highly recommended for getting the hang of it -- does not say everything about the behavior of device and vessel at Force 9, 10 or (heaven forbid) higher. And, yes, I do like the Galerider (in fact we do have one on board). Besides taking up little space it has apparently been used successfully to hoist a MOB back on board as well!So, why do we also carry a Paratech sea anchor? Simple. If we find ourselves on a lee shore (whether near the coast or a large reef area) and are unable to claw off (for whatever reason) the sea anchor is the ONLY device that can save our butts, or at least buy us some precious time; e.g. for trying to repair the engine or one of the sails.Over the past dozen years we have been fortunate enough to never having had to deploy either our drogue or our sea anchor, although we spent over 100 hours hove-to in heavy weather. The one or two times we came close to deploying our sea anchor, though, were caused by imminent "lee shore threats" (in combination with some malfunction hampering our ability to claw off) rather than by extreme weather.Flying Dutchman

 

[Jim Willis]

Drogues & Sea Anchors- not the same - experiences?

Old timers please accept my apologies for stating the obvious!To slow a boat down when sailing downwind and surfing you use a drogue. This can range from use of "warps" just towing a looped rope to a small sea anchor looking thing with a hole in the end to let excess water out.The idea is to slow the boat down so that it will not get ahead of the wave and "broach".Never had to use this when sailing SH to HI, but a guy from Iceland sailed over in the winter of 94/95 from San Diego and he used old rubber tires.I thought that this was a neat idea as the amount of drag is controllabe by how many tires you deploy - then you can either throw them or save as fenders!Slocum actually towed an anchor as a drogue and claimed (and he should know!) that it also made the waves break well behind so losing its energy.I have a parasail sea anchor and had it ready to deploy fastened on the anchor rode, using the anchor itself as the "catenary" (did I spell that correctly 0t the sort of pendul weight that keeps the parasail down in the water) and a fender as the float.Never had to use it but did heave to (to sleep) at twice under a storm trysail only. The boat behaved just like it should in the books.According to the books I read, heaving to with a sea anchor is even better under severe conditions but there seems to be debate about streaming from the bow (as I intended to do) and from the front quarter so that the boat is at a slight angle to the waves, leaving a calming "slick" - however the extra pulle, ropes etc would seem to make this more "accident prone".I have never actually tried out my sea anchor (or EPIRB) unlike everything else, including emergency rudder, but intend to one roughg day sail just to see if it really works as advertized.ThanksJim W

 

[R.W.Landau]

swivels

Don't forget the swivels in the rode on any drogue. In the water the drogues spin and will curl up a rode in no time.r.w.landau

 

[Dave]

Series Drogue Cost

Henk I read the web page link you provided and rest assured I built my own for a fraction of the cost depicted. It was several years ago but I'd guess my cost was half the price of a para sail or equivalent. I built it because a sea anchor/drogue is required equipment in the Marion to Bermuda race, It was a fun winter project and easy to build plus hones skills making eyesplices in braided line. n I used Sailrite as the source of the cones...basically they are cut on a laser and you sew them and sew on webbing that is then spliced to the braided line. I used 5/8 line for the total length and I bought remanants at Defender so got good deals on the line. I used a mushroom anchor for a dead weight on the end. I got that at Spags before they went out of business and it was cheap. Scuba weights would also work well for the end of the line. With the bridle I have about 250 feet of line in the drogue.I still have to enter the race but I need an SSB which I am too cheap to buy and a liferaft which can be rented at BOAT/U.S.dave

 

[Jim Willis]

Swivel for sea anchors

Not necessary for the towing tire method.However for streaming sea anchor (from Bow), it is important. I met an old timer a few years ago who worked at Ala Wai Marine. He said that without and with regular braided nylon rope it could actually unravel!Isn't arch chair sailing fun! I have a sea anchor that I have not yet used and should go out and see what happens and report it here. Better to always try something before you have to use it in an emergency!Jim W

 

[Eric Swift]

Caution

Just finished a great book. Heavy Weather Sailing (4th edition) by K. Adlard Coles. A must for sailors wanting to know more about all of this. It is a very thorough read on what to do under severe weather conditions. It has actual accounts of ships caught out in heavy conditions (mostly ocean races)and what they did to survive.There is much said on the pros and cons of drogues and sea anchors. The consensus I got was that it depends on the characteristics of the boat. Some boats lie well a hull or heaved to in heavy weather and others don't. Some will handle force 6 or 7 heaved to but be in serious trouble in more wind. This book implies that for many boats running before the wind and keeping up some speed so as to not loose stearage is important, especially in light displacement boats. Dragging too large a drogue or putting out a sea anchor can be a disaster in heavy conditions for some boats. The parachute type sea anchor seams especially problematic, except for multihulled boats. My sense of it (and what the book recommends)is that one needs to experiment with one's boat and figure out what works best as well as read books like this to find out what the experts say.

 

[Rick D]

Thanks, Guys

I appreciate your responses. I have sent my friend the link. He's read all the stuff, but it isn't definitive at all as you acknowledge. I think this gear mostley gets dragged in the locker from place to place, which is fine. Except, I do have a real concern about a single-hander with a 32,000 pound vessel launching a para-anchor alone. I sent him the link on Galerider too. I seem to recall it had excellent reviews.. from a couple of people who actually deployed it. Rick D.