dougking wrote:
I dunno about that, most times it has seemed to me that heaving-to
provides the smoothest motion...

" wrote:
Some boats are going to roll and slew about when running off. That
should be controllable to some extent by over-trimming the storm jib
and heading up onto a broad reach, but YMMV. At some point, though,
heaving to will not be a viable option and running off is going to be
less stressful than anchoring. On boats that don't roll so much
running off will likely be more comfortable than heaving to right from
the git go as long as you keep enough sail up and trimmed.


And as the sea condition worsens, at some point, the boat will not
stand up to enough sail to make it heave-to; and then again at some
point the waves are going to be violent enough to toss the boat around
unless she's held in place by more than her weight & underbody. The
key is to recognize that conditions are going to ge worse beyond this
point and prepare accordingly...

Wiht regards to storm jibs, I've been taught that you set them trimmed
tight & flat amidships; not like you would a normal jib. That way, any
time the boat slews away from DDW the sail acts like a wind wave to
turn her nose back, and doesn't yank the rig off the deck when
luffing / slatting. Never tried it.... OTOH I have tried t set a
trysail in conditions where it was needed, and found it impossible to
do any work on deck, and we towed ropes as drogues to run DDW
instead.


... What do you think of the task of switching from one to other if the
sea state gets bad enough to warrant? ...

I do not think it is practical to switch in genuinely dangerous
weather.


Yep.
The best defense against really bad stuff is to be elsewhere.
IMHO most people don't start thinking about reefing soon enough; and
then persversely start wanting to switch to "storm tactics" like
trysails & drogues when they should be just sailing the boat.



And which would you deploy
first, which would be the "ultimate"?...

It depends. It is no big deal to set or retrieve the drogue and if
conditions were right and I was headed downwind anyway I wouldn't
hesitate to set it. The sea anchor is pretty much a "hail Mary" for
me for use when there is no other escape (eg. on the dangerous side of
a storm or lee shore when beating becomes impossible). I think the
sea anchor will keep you from capsizing in worse conditions than the
drogue but that may be cold comfort if the superstructure has been
swept away and you are sinking...


OK thanks.




Wayne.B wrote:
... A lot depends on the shape/steepness of the waves, type of boat,
racing vs cruising, etc. ...

" wrote:
Amen.


And current plays a big part in this- that's one reason why the Irish
Sea and the Tasman Strait have such bad reps.


... On a very fast, seaworthy 50
footer with high freeboard, we used to stuff the bow into the backside
of waves all the time, typically bringing green water back past the
mast. No big deal in normal, mildly gnarly conditions.

Sure, but you were out having fun and pressing the boat a bit, weren't
you? I suspect that If you'd dropped the main and gone to a chicken
kite, removed some of the junk from the bows, and trimmed things so
that the driver could steer around the bigger holes you would have
been a lot drier but maybe still have been overtaking those waves...


IMHO a good driver should be able to avoid "stuffing" the bow; it may
take a bit of help from additional eyes spotting the crests. A chicken
chute is a lot of fun but I've gotten fond of asymmetrics.

DSK