Quote:
Originally Posted by thinwater
It is not that the drogues themselves are unstable. Some fabric drogues are stable up to 15 knots or more. It is that when there are waves steep enough to need a drogue, above 5 knots, and the rode is pulled bar tight, as it will be at higher speeds, the frequency of the drogue pulling out of the wave face goes up. This is independent of design and is simply a matter of the geometry of waves. Longer scope helps, but only to a point when the waves are steep. it is the angle of the face that matters. Drogues are stable at higher speeds in even swell.
There are numerous stories of folks using a drogue at high speeds, going like a bomb, and as the storm grows, suddenly the drogue fails and they are screwed.
Like everything expereinces vary, but the point is that as the speed increases above 5-7 knots and loads increase, the chance of sudden failure increases. Just something folks should know. The JSD is designed to avoid this, at the cost of low speed. |
Interesting, so this begs the question, if the length of the
rode won't prevent pulling out of an upwind wave, is the only potential remedy to add more weight? Say a big lump of lead on a snatch block allowed to ride down the rode? And by the way I think we are speaking of wave steepness (and/or breaking...probably is though) not necessarily
wind speed or wave height, no? IME wave steepness can change fairly quick when
interference of currents and/or the addition of other waves from another direction, as can happen off headlands, even when the storm or winds don't grow.
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