Drogue Deployment Question

[Roniszoro]

I've been thinking of how one would deploy one's drogue. What I am unclear about is the shock that must take place once the drogue "catches". Under that assumption that one wants to slow down a boat that is moving at 5+ knots, once the drogue has been fed off the stern of the vessel, at some point it must catch and the line now goes taut. I'd think that the result would be a shock at the point it "catches" of much great load than the load of the drogue once settled in and working according to plan.

Thoughts/comments?

[SausalitoDave]

Unlike a sea anchor, my understanding is that a drogue is designed more to keep the bow into the weather and seas. Mine is less than a foot across and deployed on as much as 100 feet of line so there is little shock loading. My monohull is 50' and light at 30K pounds.

[Roniszoro]

Originally Posted by SausalitoDave

Unlike a sea anchor, my understanding is that a drogue is designed more to keep the bow into the weather and seas. Mine is less than a foot across and deployed on as much as 100 feet of line so there is little shock loading. My monohull is 50' and light at 30K pounds.

I think you've got it backwards. A sea anchor is off the bow to "anchor" the boat at sea and a drogue is off the stern when running off the wind/sea to not let the vessel broach. Galerider, Para-tech's Delta and Jordan are the main drogue makers that most sailors carry...and hope they will never use.

[estarzinger]

Originally Posted by Roniszoro

I've been thinking of how one would deploy one's drogue. What I am unclear about is the shock that must take place once the drogue "catches". Under that assumption that one wants to slow down a boat that is moving at 5+ knots, once the drogue has been fed off the stern of the vessel, at some point it must catch and the line now goes taut. I'd think that the result would be a shock at the point it "catches" of much great load than the load of the drogue once settled in and working according to plan.

Thoughts/comments?

No, there is no huge shock.

most single element drogues are deployed on nylon rode, which will soak up the deployment load. And while the series drogue is often deployed on dyneema rode - the cones dont all catch at once.

We have used both multiple times - there is no vast shock.

[a64pilot]

I'm sorry for being obvious, but you ever watch Deadliest Catch?
You know that line that is attached to the crab trap, well for obvious reasons treat that line attached to the Sea Anchor or Drogue the same way.


Here is hoping I never have to deploy my Sea Anchor (knocks on wood)

[Snowpetrel]

With a dingle element drogue I havent noticed a big shock loading on deployment. I ease it off the stern with a lot of wraps around a primary winch and continue to ease it all the way out. I used a very stretchy dynamic 11mm climbing rope once on one. Big disaster. The stretch (and too short a length, 50m or so) enabled the boat to surge against the drogue, which popped it out of the water and launched it forwards (chain and all) out of the water about 15 meters. Then we would start surfing and the snatch as the drogue bit again was brutal. The snatch would cause the drogue to pop out again... repeat until we added 100m of warp to the mix in parallel.

Now I dont like stretchy drogue lines. The give should be in the drogue as it slips through the water, not the line. Id be happy enough with a dyneema drogue line.