On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 17:40:42 -0500, "Roger Long"
wrote:

wrote
I would like to open up a discussion on the use of Sea Anchors and Drogues.
Should an ocean going sailboat carry a Sea anchor or a Drogue or both?
When should I use a Sea Anchor or a Drogue.
From what I see at the stores a Drogue is cheaper to buy than a Sea
Anchor.

There was a long exchange here very recently about this. A search would be
more productive than trying to do it all over again.

Usenet is a dynamic environment. Posters come and go.
There's always the possibility for a new experience to be
elicited by opening a topic. Otherwise, it will die quickly enough.
You're right about searching first though.

--Vic

Hey Vic;

I saw this post with your name. I had used drogues when I got caught in an
extra tropical hurricane "Grace" back in 1991. Wild ride, seas 35-40 feet,
a few rolled over the deck. You may not remember, but on Gamgee I had
organized a lot of things using plastic milk crates. When we started
surfing, I unscrewed the milk crates and attached to a stern anchor line.
It slowed us down and things were controllable again. The plastic would
break apart after 5 or 8 hrs. I ended up using all the milk crates. The
storm was still bad, so I ended using my stern Danford 22 S anchor. It
worked but not as well as the crates, the danford would pull down at about
30 degree angle. Where as the milk crates pulled at the surface. Awesome
sight seeing the milk crates explode and tumble down a wave face.

Yea I need to buy a real drogue for the new boat. I hope if I purchase
well made drogue, maybe I will never again see such waves again.
I am not keen on sea anchors, especially off the bow. A sea anchor slows
the boat's speed. When off the bow, you end up going backwards, different
type of stress put on a boat, think of that rudder getting hammered.

Stu

"Vic Smith" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 2 Jan 2008 17:40:42 -0500, "Roger Long"
wrote:

wrote
I would like to open up a discussion on the use of Sea Anchors and
Drogues.
Should an ocean going sailboat carry a Sea anchor or a Drogue or both?
When should I use a Sea Anchor or a Drogue.
From what I see at the stores a Drogue is cheaper to buy than a Sea
Anchor.

There was a long exchange here very recently about this. A search would
be
more productive than trying to do it all over again.

Usenet is a dynamic environment. Posters come and go.
There's always the possibility for a new experience to be
elicited by opening a topic. Otherwise, it will die quickly enough.
You're right about searching first though.

--Vic

"Stu" wrote in message
.. .
Yea I need to buy a real drogue for the new boat. I hope if I purchase
well made drogue, maybe I will never again see such waves again.
I am not keen on sea anchors, especially off the bow. A sea anchor slows
the boat's speed. When off the bow, you end up going backwards, different
type of stress put on a boat, think of that rudder getting hammered.

Stu


A drouge off the stern slows the boat as well, but I see your point and
agree with it. It seems that the rudder would also be under similar, but
perhaps not quite as much, stress with a drouge. Another thing to consider
is the safety of being able to deal with the drouge from the cockpit area
vs. the bow area.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

On Jan 3, 11:26 am, "Capt. JG" wrote:
... A drouge off the stern slows the boat as well, but I see your point and
agree with it. It seems that the rudder would also be under similar, but
perhaps not quite as much, stress with a drouge. ...

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. 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.
There have been attempts to make dynamically variable drag drogues (I
recall the seabrake (?) and a ladder foil device who's name escapes
men now). I think the series drogue is popularizing the idea of using
a much draggier drogue and going slower and thus being hit harder by
the seas but also gaining more protection from pitch poling. I
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. 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.

-- Tom.

wrote in message
...
On Jan 3, 11:26 am, "Capt. JG" wrote:
... A drouge off the stern slows the boat as well, but I see your point
and
agree with it. It seems that the rudder would also be under similar, but
perhaps not quite as much, stress with a drouge. ...

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. 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.
There have been attempts to make dynamically variable drag drogues (I
recall the seabrake (?) and a ladder foil device who's name escapes
men now). I think the series drogue is popularizing the idea of using
a much draggier drogue and going slower and thus being hit harder by
the seas but also gaining more protection from pitch poling. I
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. 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.

-- Tom.


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.


--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

On Jan 3, 8:29 pm, "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. ...

There's no harm in catching up with the wave in front of you per se
(though it gets harder to do as the waves get bigger and faster). The
problem is that when the boat is in a trough, independently of how it
got there, the back of the boat may want to catch up with the front of
the boat and that can cause a broach. Adding a bit of drag to the
back and keeping the pull forward helps prevent this.

-- Tom.

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

On Thu,2 Jan 2008 14:32:38 -0600, "Stu" wrote:

Wild ride, seas 35-40 feet,
a few rolled over the deck. You may not remember, but on Gamgee I had

The 30 to 40 foot seas the Queen Mary was running in , during a winter
Atlantic crossing, were no big deal for a ship that big. Then one
flooded the wheelhouse, over ninty feet above sea level.Took out the
glass. She rolled to within a degree or two of the capsize. I wonder
just how many small boats disappear due to a much bigger than average
rogue wave.
I understand ships, not just boats, still occasionally go missing
without a trace. Hard to believe what with COMSATS and so on.

Casady

I understand ships, not just boats, still occasionally go missing
without a trace. Hard to believe what with COMSATS and so on.

Casady

I was reading a weather and safety related site (can't recall the name
at the moment) a few months ago which had the figure of major ships gone
missing without a trace each year around the globe as averaging around
200. Since there was no way to determine what happened to them they
provided no breakdown as the reason why they were wissing. I assume at
least a few of them may be from hijacking/piracy as has been found in
Somolia and elswhere.
Red

On Thu, 3 Jan 2008 14:32:38 -0600, "Stu" wrote:

Hey Vic;

I saw this post with your name. I had used drogues when I got caught in an
extra tropical hurricane "Grace" back in 1991. Wild ride, seas 35-40 feet,
a few rolled over the deck. You may not remember, but on Gamgee I had
organized a lot of things using plastic milk crates.

Can't say I remember those. I recall everything ship shape and, and
never worried about anything hitting me in the head when we got tossed
around crossing Lake Michigan. You probably got those crates later,
when you started cruising the Atlantic and needed to store more
"stuff."

When we started
surfing, I unscrewed the milk crates and attached to a stern anchor line.
It slowed us down and things were controllable again. The plastic would
break apart after 5 or 8 hrs. I ended up using all the milk crates. The
storm was still bad, so I ended using my stern Danford 22 S anchor. It
worked but not as well as the crates, the danford would pull down at about
30 degree angle. Where as the milk crates pulled at the surface. Awesome
sight seeing the milk crates explode and tumble down a wave face.

I *sorta* wish I had seen that, but your description will suffice.
Good thinking, and that might be useful for somebody caught in a
similar situation. Whether you're carrying a drogue, or sea anchor or
milk crates, I've got a feeling that when caught in those conditions
as you were, much depends on improvisation in the end.

Yea I need to buy a real drogue for the new boat. I hope if I purchase
well made drogue, maybe I will never again see such waves again.
I am not keen on sea anchors, especially off the bow. A sea anchor slows
the boat's speed. When off the bow, you end up going backwards, different
type of stress put on a boat, think of that rudder getting hammered.

It all sounds tricky, and merits a lot of thought and consideration to
the particular boat.

--Vic