Why does a drogue / sea anchor have a hole in the center?
 

What is it good for? Retrieval?

Why does a drogue / sea anchor have a hole in the center?
 

It helps to stabilize the sea anchor.....keeps it from swinging side to
side.
DAVe
wrote in message
oups.com...
What is it good for? Retrieval?

Why does a drogue / sea anchor have a hole in the center?
 

In my yoot, this hole was for the "storm oil" container..... a conical
shaped container containing some fish oil, etc, with a petcock that would
be opened to drain a small quantity of oil to calm the seas.



"Dave W" wrote in
:

It helps to stabilize the sea anchor.....keeps it from swinging side to
side.
DAVe
wrote in message
oups.com...
What is it good for? Retrieval?

Why does a drogue / sea anchor have a hole in the center?
 

Like a traditional parachute it spills water to keep the maximum drag. To
over simplify it, if the water builds up inside a dome of higher pressure
builds up across the leading edges and the flow becomes more like dragging a
ball than a cone. It will start wobbling and loose drag.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

wrote in message
oups.com...
What is it good for? Retrieval?

Why does a drogue / sea anchor have a hole in the center?
 

Thanks, that makes sense.
Do you know any rule of thumb how large the hole should be, and how
long the cone should be in relation to the front diameter?
I was thinking of using a drogue from the bow of the boat to keep it
pointed into the wind for raising/lowering sails. Is this practical?

Thanks again,

Chris



Glenn Ashmore wrote:
Like a traditional parachute it spills water to keep the maximum drag. To
over simplify it, if the water builds up inside a dome of higher pressure
builds up across the leading edges and the flow becomes more like dragging a
ball than a cone. It will start wobbling and loose drag.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

wrote in message
oups.com...
What is it good for? Retrieval?

Why does a drogue / sea anchor have a hole in the center?
 

Chris,

Could a drogue do this?
Yes, but they are always nasty to bring back aboard. It's worst than
a wet sail because it has to hold water. You can't put it anyplace
that water isn't running out of it.

Why would you do this? I kind of lost there.

How did you get the boat out of the harbor?
If it was towed, stay under tow until the main is set.
If you are under power, use the power to hold head to wind...
If you are sailing alone, if it is a real small boat learn to work fast.
If it is larger, buy and auto-pilot (the best thing ever for setting
and clearing sail short handed).

Matt Colie
Lifelong Waterman, Licensed Mariner and Pathological Sailor





wrote:

Thanks, that makes sense.
Do you know any rule of thumb how large the hole should be, and how
long the cone should be in relation to the front diameter?
I was thinking of using a drogue from the bow of the boat to keep it
pointed into the wind for raising/lowering sails. Is this practical?

Thanks again,

Chris



Glenn Ashmore wrote:

Like a traditional parachute it spills water to keep the maximum drag. To
over simplify it, if the water builds up inside a dome of higher pressure
builds up across the leading edges and the flow becomes more like dragging a
ball than a cone. It will start wobbling and loose drag.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

wrote in message
groups.com...

What is it good for? Retrieval?

Why does a drogue / sea anchor have a hole in the center?
 

....
I was thinking of using a drogue from the bow of the boat to keep it
pointed into the wind for raising/lowering sails. Is this practical?

No it isn't. I find that when I want to get underway offshore without
using the engine that raising or unfurling the jib and then putting the
boat as hard on the wind as she'll go and then raising the main works
well. I only drop the main either in a big squall or in a calm while
at sea, in either case I find I can get the main down on any point of
sail. However, if you have trouble you can reverse the hoisting
procedure. In any case, drogues are a pain and sea anchors are a major
pain.

-- Tom.

Why does a drogue / sea anchor have a hole in the center?
 

On 13 Nov 2006 17:55:21 -0600, Dave wrote:

You'll find that an autopilot is a lot more practical for this purpose.

There are a couple of big "ifs" in that assumption.

Do you still have electrical power?

Not necessarily in my experience.

Is your engine (or deeply reefed main) capable of holding the bow into
a storm force wind or breaking wave?

Not necessarily in my experience.

One of the worst storms I was ever caught in lasted only an hour or so
but it was very educational. The wind gusted to over 60 kts and waves
built to over 10 ft, some breaking, in no time at all. The bow of the
boat would absolutely refuse to come closer to the wind than about 90
to 100 degrees. Every time it would come higher, the bow would get
picked up by a wave a be blown side ways again. Fortunately we had
adequate sea room to run off a bit but it was very disconcerting,
especially in the days before LORAN and GPS where you didn't know
exactly where you were. The force and fury of a 60+ wind is almost
unbelievable.

Why does a drogue / sea anchor have a hole in the center?
 

On 13 Nov 2006 16:39:41 -0800, "
wrote:

In any case, drogues are a pain and sea anchors are a major
pain.

I agree to the extent that you still have control of the boat. If you
don't, anything that works.

Why does a drogue / sea anchor have a hole in the center?
 

wrote:

I was thinking of using a drogue from the bow of the boat to keep it
pointed into the wind for raising/lowering sails. Is this practical?
Thanks again,
Chris

NO.

Please buy and read "Heavy Weather Tactics Unsing Sea ANchors &
Drouges," by Hinz, Earl R.

A drogue is a boat slower deployed off the stern. A sea anchor is a
boat stopper deployed off the bow.