Running off is much easier on the boat and the crew than riding to a
sea anchor or even heaving to. The faster you go the easier the
ride.

I dunno about that, most times it has seemed to me that heaving-to
provides the smoothest motion... the problem is that the vessel is not
under command and cannot avoid being tossed in the largest crests.



.... However, you must not broach and you must not pitch-pole. A
relatively small drogue and a bit of sail forward will keep most boats
from broaching even in pretty horrid conditions. I know of a very
fast catamaran that sailed under drogue and spinnaker during a stormy
bit of a Noumea to Auckland race with very good results. I set a
drogue and storm jib and ran off quite comfortably in force 8ish
conditions while a low passed north of me on my way from New Zealand
to Tonga one year. On the other hand, if you meet up with a wave that
can pitch pole your boat you want it to pass you as quickly as
possible and you want your drag device to provide enough drag to keep
you from flipping. So, the ideal drogue would provide just enough
drag to keep you under control most of the time but would dramatically
increase its drag very quickly during a breaking wave encounter.

AFAIK that's one of the points of the series drogue.

.... I think the series drogue is popularizing the idea of using
a much draggier drogue and going slower

Maybe, but the series drogue is mostly hanging down. As the boat picks
up speed, more of them stream and drag increases. Boat speed
increases, but not as sharply.


suspect for cruisers going with more drag and at a slower pace is a
good idea since the pitfall of trailing drogues is that it makes
everything seem quite comfortable even when there might be a
significant danger of capsize.

Also with single-point devices there's a likelihood that a big crest
will pick the thing up and throw it at you.
This isn't hyperbole, seen it happen once.

.... But, the slower you go the more sense
it makes to have the strong end of the boat pointed at the weather and
at some point a sea anchor states to look like a less bad choice... I
carry both on my boat.


What do you think of the task of switching from one to other if the
sea state gets bad enough to warrant? And which would you deploy
first, which would be the "ultimate"?


"Capt. JG" wrote:
My understanding is that the point of the drouge is to slow down enough so
that you don't run into the back of the wave in front of you. Perhaps you
said that.... Just thinking out loud.


Also to keep the boat from broaching. As waves get larger & more
violent, the breaking crests get disproportionatley large & have a
tremendous wallop. The boat doesn't so much surf forward as get picked
up and thrown like a toy at the beach. This is one reason why bigger
boats are more seaworthy.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King