Series Drogues & Heaving To

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Bash

It's fairly basic. Start with a reefed main alone, with the sail

Fin-keeled boats will actually forereach quite high. This is one area where a fin-keeled boat with in-mast furling excels. Control the size of the main so that the boat just begins to develop weather helm after a stall. You don't need much sail out to do this in high winds. It's really quit comfortable.

Interesting, Neals book says Fore-Reaching is easier to manage in full keel boats than fin keel. The truth here is that there is no uniform answeer and every boat has its personality in this. Neals say (on a boat that can self-tend) that you run the main/trisail close hauled; no jib. fiddle with the locked position of the helm and you may not need to touch anything for hours. Boat points up, stalls, fall off, repeat. If it works for you - great!

Neils also say to learn your storm tactics in 30 - 40 knot winds so you are not experimenting in the face of a real storm. On an asside, most successful blue water cruisers also tell you they rarely have to do any of this because they look for weather windows and stay away from trouble, don't leave the shelter in the face of impending trouble. The best way to make sure you will need this is if you follow a schedule. Try to keep it a boat ride on your own terms.

[bobsadler]

i own a series drogue but have never deployed it. reading of the effort required to get it in i've wondered if anyone has ever streamed a pick-up buoy - on say 500ft of light line - from the end of the chain/weight.

i've tried to visualise what problems this might cause but am interested in what others think. is this do-able or would it somehow reduce the effectiveness of the drogue ?

i was thinking of something like a lightweight spar bouy (think "danbuoy") with it's own v small single cone drogue (same size as one of the series drogue's cones) to stop it overshooting the series drogue. this single cone would be rigged just ahead of the pick-up buoy on the light line connecting it to the main drogue.

what i read is the series drogue allows the boat to make 1 1/2 knots or thereabouts so the whole arrangement should, hopefully , stream in a line

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by bobsadler

i own a series drogue but have never deployed it. reading of the effort required to get it in i've wondered if anyone has ever streamed a pick-up buoy - on say 500ft of light line - from the end of the chain/weight.

i've tried to visualise what problems this might cause but am interested in what others think. is this do-able or would it somehow reduce the effectiveness of the drogue ?

i was thinking of something like a lightweight spar bouy (think "danbuoy") with it's own v small single cone drogue (same size as one of the series drogue's cones) to stop it overshooting the series drogue. this single cone would be rigged just ahead of the pick-up buoy on the light line connecting it to the main drogue.

what i read is the series drogue allows the boat to make 1 1/2 knots or thereabouts so the whole arrangement should, hopefully , stream in a line

Do you mean that you go back to get the pickup buoy. What's the point of the buoy behind you. Remember when recovering a drogue the seas are still very high , you don't want to be turning into it to recover the buoy.

[bobsadler]

gbn: yes, that's what i meant. i guess practicality depends on how long you're willing to wait for seas to subside.

[Nicholson58]

There are a lot of sites you can find using Google to see how people use and retreive the series drogue. Its easier to retreive than most devices but one or two people alone will still have a time of it getting the thing back. I even found a few videos on Youtube. Check out the info on the Sailrite site. You can buy a kit there as well. You will find information on the sailnet on this too.

[Lou452]

what was the name of that english man that was going to the south pole stayed trapped for about year and a half and made it back in open boat? what did they drag and was it from the bow or stern?

[roverhi]

Sir Ernest Shackleton. Sailed from Antartica to South Georgia after his ship was crushed by ice. There was little hope of the crew members surviving another winter so he had a small open boat built and sailed for South Georgia Island. Endured storm after storm in the voyage including one of hurricane force winds as they sighted the Island. Despite nearly two years marooned in the Antartic, he managed to bring his entire crew through the ordeal without losing a man.

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by Lou452

what was the name of that english man that was going to the south pole stayed trapped for about year and a half and made it back in open boat? what did they drag and was it from the bow or stern?

It was a sea anchor, presumably from the bow.


Chronology - The Voyage of the James Caird
1916

April 24 James Caird is launched from Elephant Island May 2 Gale gaining strength for 8 hours, heavy cross sea, snow squalls.
April 25 "Fine WSW breeze running all day, sky overcast." May 3 444 miles from Elephant Island. After 48 hours bitter gale at last subsided. Worsley takes sighting (first in 6 days)
April 26 "WSW gale, squally & cloudy, run 105 mile" May 5 96 miles covered. Best of journey in lumpy swell that raked the boat.
April 27 "Northerly gale, overcast & heavy squalls hove too" May 6 Return of heavy seas and NW gale
April 28 "Light NW-W winds misty, high NW swell" May 7 Kelp spotted, keg of water discovered to have become brackish from seawater, thirst mounts
April 29 "Fresh W-SW breeze, squally running high seas" May 8 Pigeons and cormorants spotted, heavy fog persists, lumpy cross swells
April 30 "Hove too at 8a.m. & put out sea anchor at 3p.m., heavy sprays breaking over the boat & freezing solid" May 8 Noon - "We've done it" - land spotted at last
May 1 1st SSW gale laying to sea anchor & mizzen May 10 After 17 days in stormy seas, the James Caird miraculously arrives on the west coast of South Georgia

[cwyckham]

"laying to sea anchor and mizzen" had to be from the bow if using the mizzen

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

Interesting, Neals book says Fore-Reaching is easier to manage in full keel boats than fin keel.

That's a completely different claim than the one I made. I stipulated that fin keelers forereach "quite high." I'm talking here more about pointing ability when forereaching than ease of management.

[Lou452]

Thank you for naming Sir Shackleton. I am enjoying and learning from everyones post.

[Dpoissant]

http://www.jordanseriesdrogue.com/pd...uardreport.pdf
The above link is of a US Coast Guard report the show the line load on a series drogue is considerably lower then the sea anchor with the same stopping power.