Drogues and Sea Anchors - Which and When?

[Beausoleil]

So, I've heard in the past that a boat like mine, a "clipper-bowed", full-keeled Formosa 51, will sit on a sea anchor nicely, but doesn't do as well running downwind trailing a drogue. So far, we haven't been in large enough seas to try either.

My gut feel is that there's a time for either, and they usually don't overlap.

I saw at the Annapolis boat show a smaller parachute drogue (48" diameter, I believe, and it was +-shaped, not a full chute) which had a nice feature - two attachment points rather than a single, so to retrieve it you just slacked one of the lines and the thing collapses, making it easier to retrieve than having to use a trip line first. I guess one drawback was that the whole thing could pop out of the water, while a series drogue will almost never do that. But there's less of this chute to drag back on board.

Thoughts?

[barnakiel]

Drogue to trail behind and slow down.

Parachutes to 'moor' the bow into the seas.

The Pardeys have written a nice book on the Para. They used a mixt technique - the para plus the tri, that I do not quite understand but they claim it works on a heavy hull.

I have a double-ender and I trail warps (now the drogue) but I am not 100 cent sure if a huge breaker gets me - probably my cockpit well is to voluminous and my washboards are not as tank-bullet proof as they look.

I think if I come across a trusty para I will get one and try it out one day. Why not.

b.

[GordMay]

We’ve had several stimulating and informative discussions on this subject, which may also be of interest:

➥ Series Drogue or parachute Anchor

➥ Jordan Series Drogue vs Para-Anchor?

➥ Series Drogue

➥ Any opinions on sea anchors?

➥ Lying To a sea anchor, Lying A-hull; and, Heaving To under reduced sail

➥ Heavy Weather and Multihulls

➥ Storm Tactics

➥ Storm Management for Cruisers

and more ...

[sneuman]

I used a Delta-type drogue (cone shaped with apex and corners cut out), which did help with directionality.

After reading the Pardeys' Storm Tactics, however, I am convinced that lying to a sea anchor would be much better 90% of the time (and coincidentally in my particular situation, if only I'd had one aboard).

I also saw the "two line" (x-shaped) drogue at the show. Drogues have a tendency to spin a lot in the water and two lines might be a problem. The Pardeys note that they gave up on even a small tripline for the para-anchor for just this reason.

For me, I'll have a para sea anchor and a Galerider next time.

[chala]

More on sea anchor if you can read French.

[Beausoleil]

Originally Posted by GordMay

We’ve had several stimulating and informative discussions on this subject, which may also be of interest:

➥ Series Drogue or parachute Anchor

➥ Jordan Series Drogue vs Para-Anchor?

➥ Series Drogue

➥ Any opinions on sea anchors?

➥ Lying To a sea anchor, Lying A-hull; and, Heaving To under reduced sail

➥ Heavy Weather and Multihulls

➥ Storm Tactics

➥ Storm Management for Cruisers

and more ...

Figures, Gord - I only searched the Anchoring & Mooring sub-forum!

[rebel heart]

When it gets bad and you've got the sea room, heave to. If it starts getting worse, put out a sea anchor to keep the bow in position.

[rustypirate]

I agree with rebel_heart, heaving to is by far the most comfortable method for dealing with extreme weather, at least in a monohull.