Is a Cat better for Long Distance sailing or a traditional sail boat?

[Intentional Drifter]

While researching Jordan series drogues, I came across this set of videos. Although some of them are actual conditions, most are lab simulations, but they include both monohulls and multihulls, with drogues and without, in breaking wave conditions.

http://www.jordanseriesdrogue.com/D_11.htm

Seeing those, and reading the Coast Guard report, has made me a believer. Mono or multi, I don't care which, I'm going to have a series drogue on board, or I ain't a going.

ID

[Jeannius]

WARNING: The Jordan Series drogue should never be deployed from the bow. It will not pull the bow into the wind and will not protect the boat in a storm.

Er... The above text appears on the bottom of the Multihull pricing and order page but not on the monohull page.

So, just exactly what is the point of having one?

I'm speaking here as someone who until 5 minutes ago was completely sold on the idea of series drogue.

[Intentional Drifter]

From my reading about them, they do not "stop" the boat like a sea anchor, but rather slow the boat, thus lowering shock and maintaining maneuverability. They are intended to be deployed from the stern. Since they are so long and have multiple small cones, the shock on the boat is much less, thus reducing the likelihood of breakage at the attachment points while keeping the drogue low in the water and farther back in the wave train. With multihulls, having the bridle attach to each hull is supposed to signficantly reduce yaw.

At least, that is what I am understanding. As they describe it -- http://seriesdrogue.com/vs/ since the stern has more bouyancy than the bow and the drogue allows the boat to speed up as the wave comes, this allows the boat to ride the top of the wave much easier and with less stress to the structure than if the boat were stopped, as with a sea anchor.

I'd love to hear from people who have actually been in this sort of weather and their experiences with the different methods.

ID

[Talbot]

If you deploy a series drogue from the bow, the movement of the boat through the water will be very dependent of rudder position right up to the moment that the rudder is snapped off!

However deployed from the stern , the rudder operates in sympathy with the drogue and the slow movement through the water means that the forces acting on the baot are much smaller than that experienced by use of the parachute.

Just one slight problem!, the boat is likely to be pooped, and thus the stern /cockpit/door needs to be strong enough to withstand the forces.

[Jeannius]

It's the danger of getting pooped and the saloon doors getting destoyed that worried me. If you read Richard Woods recent account of trying to ride out a storm http://www.multihullcentre.co.uk/mhcnews.htm , it was when he went stern to that the trouble really started. I had presumed that a series drogue off the bow would pretty much keep us head to wind while actually travelling slowly astern.

btw Could anyone else see the video on the jordan site properly? I couldn't see any of them properly so was just wondering if it is my pc that's at fault?

[Intentional Drifter]

The videos on the site are not very good quality, but they do work for me. They are standard MPG's, so almost any player should work. If you have Windows Media Player or Quicktime, try opening the player and then copy and paste the URL.

In terms of pooping and other concerns about being stern to, here are some stories of actual users in the weather. http://www.jordanseriesdrogue.com/D_2.htm

Both monos and multis -- they don't seem to be reporting such problems. I would think that at least some of this risk involves the design and structure of the doors.

According to Richard's account, he didn't use a series drogue. He first used a para-anchor off the bow and shredded it. He then tried trailing anchors and the remains of the para-anchor off the stern, but this wasn't enough. I don't mean this as a criticism of Woods, just a statement of fact: he was in a notoriously nasty place, but apparently made the decision to go for it, even knowing that a storm was brewing. He thought he could beat it out. The other fact that I think is also worth keeping in mind: although the linked account doesn't say so, Eclipse was later found. Although it had been stripped, it was floating and looked like the hulls were sound.

ID

[Michaele]

I would be very concerned about deploying any kind of sea anchor off the stern of a Cat... The risk of pooping - big waves filling the cockpit and by implication the cabin once the door breaks are frigtening. I got pooped once in a 40ft steel monohull running out of the straights of Gibraltar and the amount of water that came on board with one huge wave was ' frightening' That was into a small cockpit which empties itself real fast...

I carried (and did not sell with my last monohull) a parachute sea anchor - got as far a preparing to deploy it several times but in the end things moderated. I did however meet two seperate american couples who had the same item and had used it in atlantic storms and both said holding the bows to the waves and wind worked brilliantly and turned a turmoltus event into a reasonably calm one... Like a windy anchorage..

Michael