drogue for sailboat

Return to Top     

Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

Surviving a Force 11 storm with a series drogue

• Katy Stickland
• September 1, 2021

Small cruising boats are not fast enough to sail away from bad weather. Tony Curphey shares how a series drogue was vital while sailing the Southern Ocean in a Nicholson 32

When the windvane steering can no longer cope with the seastate, it is time to deploy the drogue. Credit: Tony Curphey

There is no textbook procedure to follow when, in a small boat, you are faced with seas and winds which are a threat to the survival of you and your boat, writes Tony Curphey .

Every storm is different and so is every boat and circumstance.

I’m writing from my own experience of Southern Ocean sailing and about 16 deployments of my Jordan Series Drogue, four of which were on my last voyage as a participant in the Longue Route 2018 (which like the 2018 Golden Globe Race , was held to mark the 50th anniversary of the event).

My boats in the Southern Ocean have been 27ft, 32ft and 41ft overall length in the past 17 years.

It is good practice to heave-to by whatever means your boat will do that, even if just for a rest from gale conditions.

Tony’s Nicholson 32 has proven to be a tough seaboat, even in the Southern Ocean. Credit: Tony Curphey

It’s a huge relief to have the sudden calm.

If weather conditions worsen, some sailors advocate lying ahull which usually means letting the boat take its own position in the sea with no sail up, and having the helm lashed to the lee to try to keep the bow a little into the wind.

Both these tactics are fine in moderate or even severe gale conditions, but as wind and seas rise beyond gale force it is necessary to change tactics as the boat will be knocked down and that is a prelude to being rolled, in which case the mast will probably be lost.

I might mention that it is proven that the longer the vessel is, the less likely she is to be rolled. However most boats will be rolled, regardless of length, if caught sideways in the trough of a wave.

My present boat, Nicky , a beautiful Nicholson 32 Mk X, will run downwind under control with the Aries (or other windvane ) steering, with or without any sail up until Force 10 or even 11.

Tony Curphey has completed four solo circumnavigation in small boats and has deployed a drogue in true survival conditions 16 times. Credit: Tony Curphey

Under these conditions, if I have any sail up, I use a spitfire jib of 54sq ft (5m2).

You can’t go directly downwind because the sail will back and fill with tremendous force and will soon destroy itself.

It is better under these conditions to have no sail up. If the Aries can’t handle it any more the boat will broach and will be in danger of being rolled.

If the hull is fouled, as Nicky ’s was in the Southern Ocean on my last voyage, she will go out of control sooner.

Then it’s time to start thinking of survival .

Using the drogue

In my case I use the Jordan Series Drogue which I made myself about 17 years ago.

If the direction in which you want to go is upwind then you will probably be thinking of putting out a drogue, or something to slow you down, much sooner.

One man, or woman can only hand steer for so long under these violent conditions. And I mean violent!

But usually in the Southern Ocean the systems are moving from west to east so with a drogue out you will be making 2 knots or so in the right direction or more likely to the north east or south east.

It is a better idea to deploy the drogue from the inner end, that nearest the boat, into the water first.

Purpose-build chainplates are required to take the load of the drogue bridle on each quarter. Credit: Tony Curphey

It goes out under more control and is less likely to snag cones or anything else.

Make sure the drogue does not foul the windvane servo paddle if you still have one down.

Last of all drop in the 25lbs weight and make sure it is clear of the bridle.

On Nicky my drogue is led out under the lower guard rail on the port side.

If you deploy under the rail directly astern, drop the weighted end in first but be careful because it will be snaking out fast and a lot of weight will come on to it as the cones start their work.

Once deployed, the drogue will quickly pull the stern into the seas.

Continues below…

‘What I learned deploying my series drogue in a gale’

Steve Brown found his series drogue a big asset when riding out foul weather in one of the world's most…

Heavy weather sailing: preparing for extreme conditions

Alastair Buchan and other expert ocean cruisers explain how best to prepare when you’ve been ‘caught out’ and end up…

Storm tactics from the Golden Globe Race: Jean-Luc Van Den Heede

Golden Globe Race skippers share their experiences of ocean storms, providing lessons for all of us about how to cope…

Adventure: guide to sailing in storms

Award-winning sailor and expedition leader Bob Shepton regularly sails some of the most storm-swept latitudes in the world. Not bad…

In a confused sea , a breaking wave strike may come on the quarter but the drogue will pull the stern to the seas within two seconds.

I have experienced that many times.

There is tremendous force on the fittings where the drogue is attached so it is essential that these fittings are built accordingly strong.

Yet, there are no shock loads on the boat or fittings because of the elasticity of the drogue.

It’s like being on a huge bungee, contrary to a single element cone or parachute drogue whether on the bow or stern.

The series drogue is always deployed from the stern on a monohull .

Remove the windvane servo paddle if possible.

Thicker, stronger rope as you get closer to the boat where the loads are greatest. CreditL Tony Curphey

Fold down and lash the sprayhood and anything else which could be damaged or swept away.

Solar panel gantries are vulnerable. I do have one and have sustained damage there.

Lash the tiller or wheel amidships and scoot below with the servo paddle, securing the companionway hatch on the way.

A good shot from the whiskey bottle is now a plan; your series drogue will look after you.

On Nicky I have a fast closing hatch which can be opened or closed from inside or from outside, with one hand if necessary and it can be dogged down like a submarine door.

It is made from 18mm polycarbonate, is see-through, very strong and totally watertight.

Tony Curphey was 74 when he completed the Longue Route. leaving and returning to Emsworth, UK. Credit: Tony Curphey

A standard companionway hatch with washboards may be strong enough but it will not be watertight.

When you have a striking wave hit from astern, water will squirt all over the cabin.

It is awesome in the old-fashioned sense of the word to watch the weather from behind the see-through hatch.

Those moving mountains which sometimes pile up on top of each other and seemingly drop from the sky as the top breaks and topples over and buries the boat from astern.

The most unnerving part is the noise; the screaming and howling of the wind.

During the Longue Route, Tony Curphey had to deal with all sorts of gear failure including a damaged boom, which he lashed, following an accidental gybe . Credit: Tony Curphey

That gives you the first indication that the storm is easing as you suddenly realise it is not so noisy. But not yet.

The barometer is rising, the wind could be at its strongest now and there will be a windshift and the seas become confused.

The series drogue is doing its work through all this but it could be some hours before the confusion of the opposing seas allows the movement to ease enough to work safely on deck and bring in the drogue.

Retrieving a drogue

There are many stories about the difficulty of recovering a series drogue.

It’s very physical but you have to be patient and just take in the slack as it occurs and keep a turn on the cockpit winch.

Getting it started is the hardest part.

Some have suggested using a trip line but don’t be tempted.

It will end up in a huge mess and seriously jeopardise the efficiency of the drogue.

However, I do use a trip line to the end of the bridle.

Tony Curphey get the drogue ready to deploy. Credit: Tony Curphey

It is looped just aft of the shackles which join the bridle to the main drogue.

If you use a bowline for this purpose, make sure it is tight and has a couple of half hitches around the standing part, for even a bowline will shake itself loose without weight on it for many hours.

The other end of this trip line is made fast to the railing on the port side.

This is a great help and there is no chance of it tangling with the drogue.

It normally takes me 30 to 60 minutes to recover the drogue and then it is carefully flaked down behind the small bulkhead with the weight at the bottom to go out last, all ready for its next use.

How to make your own Jordan Series Drogue

A lot of yachtsmen have heard of a series drogue but very few have used one in anger.

They are time consuming to make and expensive to buy.

My drogue is made in three lengths all shackled seriously together.

The final length, the one furthest from the boat, is of a smaller diameter rope because there is less strain there.

Credit: Maxine Heath

The overall length of the drogue is 107m (350ft) and is attached to the boat by a bridle, in Nicky ’s case, of about 4.5m (15ft) long.

Each arm of the bridle is shackled to a dedicated chainplate on each quarter of the hull.

This is by far the best way to attach the drogue to the boat.

Mine is permanently shackled to the boat and is flaked down at the after end of the cockpit behind a small bulkhead to stop it sliding forward, and is held with two quick-release lashings so it is always ready for quick deployment.

Tony Curphey completed the 2018 Longue Route in his Nicholson 32, Nicola Deux ( Nicky ), sailing around the world in 308 days. Credit: Tony Curphey

The bridle is joined to the main length of the drogue by more shackles which are tightened and carefully moused with seizing wire.

At the far end of the drogue is a weight of 11kg (25lbs), in my case a length of chain in a canvas bag.

Along the length of the drogue are small cones or parachutes.

The number of cones required depends on the displacement of the boat. In the case of a Nicholson 32 it is 110 cones.

It is important to have the correct type of rope , double braided nylon which gives the elasticity and strength, and the bungee effect.

Full details can be found at www.jordanseriesdrogue.com

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

Skip Novak’s Storm Sailing Techniques Part 8: drogues and sea anchors

• September 16, 2014

Skip Novak has sailed in some ferocious weather, but is no fan of drogues and sea anchors. Others would not sail without them. We take up the debate

Beware using primary winches to deploy a drogue – a bad lead can lay waste to gear

Ask about a controversial subject within the cruising community and, if not immediately, surely soon after you will get a heated debate about the pros and cons of drogues and sea anchors.

If you Google the subject, prepare to get comfortable for a few hours as you follow the debate online. The most amazing thing, you soon realise, is that so many people have an opinion about a piece of heavy weather gear that they have never actually used in anger.

This is all about storm survival when tactics such as lying ahull, heaving to and sailing on cannot be considered. The approach is either to deploy a sea anchor to try to keep the bow into the sea and hold position, or to run with the wind trailing tackle astern to slow the boat down.

The variables in the discussion are complex: which type of sea anchor and drogue (both homemade and proprietary), when to deploy it, the type of boat itself and how it would react, the sea conditions and attachment points on board, and deployment and retrieval methods.

But before I get carried away with this lecture, I have to admit to something: I have never tried a sea anchor nor a drogue. If I have to stop the boat for any reason in heavy weather (and I often have), I would heave to or even lie ahull, or simply run before the storm and hang in there given enough sea room.

I have been in some pretty ferocious seas running downwind, but mainly while racing at speed with a crew, and on bigger rather than smaller craft. My expedition vessels Pelagic and Pelagic Australis are heavy boats and in all these years I have never felt threatened enough to resort to methods that involve deploying gear over the side.

One storm I remember particularly well (there have been so many) occured while en route back from South Georgia on Pelagic in 2002. Only 100 miles out of Port Stanley in the Falklands we got hit by a violent Force 10 westerly that lasted for 20 hours.

We simply hove to and rode it out. Sure, we were rolled onto our beam ends now and then, but we were fairly comfortable. If we had been going downwind, I would have turned the boat around and done the same. The thought of deploying tackle over the side while running at speed in those conditions makes my hair stand on end.

For smaller boats and those sailing single- or short-handed, however, using a sea anchor or drogue might be an interesting, possibly lifesaving procedure. But it is one that must be practised, so that when you do it for real everything is spot on. In my case, on medium to larger craft (say, above the 50ft range), I consider the idea not worth the risk – and the risk can be high.

If you were sailing short-handed in heavy weather, setting out a drogue could be very dangerous

Sea anchors or drogues require you to deploy a substantial amount of tackle overboard at the height of a gale or storm. Anyone who has lost a sheet or piece of running rigging overboard knows the alarming rate at which it is sucked over the side. The force on a single line immediately becomes enormous and usually requires a winch to retrieve it. Now imagine the forces involved in a more complex tackle with harness, cones and weights – it becomes a potentially lethal piece of equipment.

Most yachts are ill-equipped to make this gear fast and less so to retrieve it, even when the weather softens to the point where you can sail on. Cleats are usually inadequate in strength and size, so it would be better to go straight to cockpit winches.

But beware a bad lead because the line can easily lay waste to stanchions, pushpits and more. A tangle is always possible and any human limb or appendage in the mix could spell disaster. Have a knife to hand!

The US Coast Guard has made an exhaustive study of the merits of two popular systems, the parachute anchor and the series drogue. It is published online and is worth reading: see here . The striking thing about its recommendations is the amount of tackle required to make it effective. I rest my case about why I don’t use them.

Instead, I will leave the first-hand reports to those sailors who have used drogues or planned to use them ( see our stories by Jeanne Socrates and Roger Taylor on using a Jordan Series Drogue ).

Using drogues – do they work?

Skip Novak’s view is clear: although drogues could be a lifesaver on small boats of, say, less than 50ft, he would feel nervous about deploying the gear on bigger, heavier vessels. For smaller yachts, however, there is anecdotal evidence that series drogues, in particular, are valuable. Drogues might also have value on light-displacement boats that won’t heave to or are running downwind under bare poles near wave-speed.

The detailed independent report by the US Coast Guard that Skip mentions above sought to address the pros and cons, and concluded that the best possible option may be the series drogue, in which a series of small drogues are streamed astern through several wavetrains.

The report notes ‘that most storms, even severe storms, do not create dangerous breaking waves. Sailors who survive such storms may conclude that the tactics they employ, such as heaving to, lying ahull or running off, are adequate to prevent capsize.

‘This is a serious mistake. There is very compelling evidence to show that while a well-found boat will survive a storm in non-breaking waves, none of the above tactics will prevent capsize in a breaking wave strike.’

Types of drogues

by Elaine Bunting

Parachute anchors help a yacht hold station, but produce hazards of their own

Parachute anchors

The US Coast Guard report raises some serious issues about these types of drogues streamed from the bow. It ‘questions the veracity’ of claims that they offer bulletproof protection in storm survival conditions.

They may help a boat hold station in moderate weather, it says, but when a wave hits the bow the boat can be shunted astern, potentially causing damage to the rudder, breaking the line, rolling the boat or forcing water through the exhaust system and into the engine.

The report also notes that ‘in the trough of a wave/swell [when] the para anchor rode goes slack, the yacht will commence to yaw, wanting to lie ahull, thereby leaving it partially or totally beam to the sea with the possibility of being knocked flat or rolled.’

Series drogues

This is the type of drogue that the report found the most effective. Though not named specifically in the report, the best known of these types is the Jordan Series Drogue.

It comprises a series of small drogues connected into a long series and deployed astern. The number of these will depend on the displacement of the yacht – typically, as many as 90 or 100 cones may be needed in series – and ideally the drogue needs to be made up and coiled ready to deploy from points at the stern that are strong enough for the very considerable loads. Additional chainplates may be needed.

The report concludes that ‘a series-type drogue provides significant advantages over a cone or parachute type drogue/sea anchor… Since some of the cones are near the boat where towline stretch is low, [the drogue] will build up load faster than a conventional cone or chute at the end of the towline/bowline.

The series drogue got the nod in a US Coast Guard report

‘A computer study shows that two seconds after wave strike, the series drogue will develop 40 per cent more load than an equivalent cone or chute.’

It notes that another advantage is that if one or even several cones are damaged, the whole drogue is not rendered totally ineffective.

If and when a drogue is working effectively, no action is required of the crew, who can simply go below, put the companionway boards in, make all items secure and try to get some rest.

However, it should be pointed out that even proponents of the series drogue, such as small-boat solo sailor Roger Taylor, who has used a Jordan Series Drogue on several occasions while voyaging in his 21-footer Mingming , say sufficiently strong attachment points are necessary and that the drogue must be conveniently stowed and arranged for immediate deployment.

But one of the main points of this report, which Skip Novak also makes, is that you need the right equipment, attachments and anti-chafe gear all set up and ready to go reasonably quickly and easily, and ideally you need to have practised using the drogue well in advance.

Part 9: sounding an uncharted bay

Going off soundings to uncharted areas is a desirable part of cruising and enables you to gain shelter on a hostile coastline, possibly saving vessel and crew. Skip explains the techniques

12-part series in association with Pantaenius

Currency: GBP

• Worldwide Delivery

Mooring Warps and Mooring Lines

• LIROS 3 Strand Polyester Mooring Warps
• LIROS Green Wave 3 Strand Mooring Warps
• LIROS Braided Dockline Mooring Warps
• LIROS Handy Elastic Mooring Warps
• Marlow Blue Ocean Dockline
• LIROS Super Yacht Mooring Polyester Docklines
• 50 metre / 100 metre Rates - Mooring

Mooring Accessories

• Mooring Compensators

Mooring Strops and Bridles

• V shape Mooring Bridles
• Y shape Mooring Bridles
• Small Boat and RIB Mooring Strops
• Mooring Strops
• Mooring Strops with Chain Centre Section

Mooring Assistance

• Coastline Bow Thruster Accessories
• Max Power Bow Thrusters
• Bonomi Mooring Cleats
• Majoni Fenders
• Polyform Norway Fenders
• Ocean Inflatable Fenders
• Dock Fenders
• Fender Ropes and Accessories

Mooring Components

• Mooring Swivels
• Mooring Shackles
• Mooring Cleats and Fairleads
• Mooring Buoys

Mooring Information

• Mooring Warps Size Guide
• Mooring Lines - LIROS Recommended Diameters
• Mooring Rope Selection Guide
• Mooring Warp Length and Configuration Guide
• How to estimate the length of a single line Mooring Strop
• Mooring Ropes - Break Load Chart
• Mooring Compensator Advisory
• Rope Cockling Information
• Fender Size Guide
• Majoni Fender Guide
• Polyform Norway Fender Inflation Guide
• More Article and Guides >

Anchor Warps Spliced to Chain

• LIROS 3 Strand Nylon Spliced to Chain
• LIROS Anchorplait Nylon Spliced to Chain

Anchor Warps

• LIROS Anchorplait Nylon Anchor Warps
• LIROS 3 Strand Nylon Anchor Warps
• Leaded Anchor Warp
• Drogue Warps and Bridles
• 50 / 100 metre Rates - Anchoring
• Aluminium Anchors
• Galvanised Anchors
• Stainless Steel Anchors

Calibrated Anchor Chain

• Cromox G6 Stainless Steel Chain
• G4 Calibrated Stainless Steel Anchor Chain
• Lofrans Grade 40
• MF DAMS Grade 70
• MF Grade 40
• Titan Grade 43
• Lewmar Windlasses
• Lofrans Windlasses
• Maxwell Windlasses
• Quick Windlasses
• Windlass Accessories and Spares

Chain Snubbers

• Chain Hooks, Grabs and Grippers
• Chain Snubbing Bridles
• Chain Snubbing Strops

Anchoring Accessories

• Anchor Connectors
• Anchor Trip Hooks and Rings
• Anchoring Shackles
• Bow Rollers and Fittings
• Chain and Anchor Stoppers
• Chain Links and Markers

Anchoring Information

• How To Choose A Main Anchor
• Anchoring System Assessment
• Anchor Chain and Rope Size Guide
• The Jimmy Green Guide to the Best Anchor Ropes
• What Size Anchor Do I Need?
• Anchor to Chain Connection Guide
• How to Choose Your Anchor Chain
• How to Establish the Correct Anchor Chain Calibration?
• Calibrated Anchor Chain - General Information
• Calibrated Anchor Chain Quality Control
• Calibrated Chain - Break Load and Weight Guide
• Galvanising - Managing Performance and Endurance expectation
• Can Galvanised Steel be used with Stainless Steel?
• Windlass Selection Guide
• More Articles and Guides

Stainless Steel Wire Rigging and Wire Rope

• 1x19 Wire Rigging
• 50 / 100 metre Rates - Wire and Fibre
• 7x19 Flexible Wire Rigging
• Compacted Strand Wire Rigging

Dinghy Rigging

• Stainless Steel Dinghy Rigging
• Dinghy Rigging Fittings

Fibre Rigging

• LIROS D-Pro Static Rigging
• LIROS D-Pro-XTR Fibre Rigging
• DynIce Dux Fibre Rigging
• Fibre Rigging Fittings

Wire Terminals

• Cones, Formers, Wedges, Ferrules, Rigging Spares
• Hi-Mod Swageless Terminals
• Sta-Lok Swageless Terminals
• Swage Terminals

Wire Rigging Fittings

• Turnbuckle Components

Rigging Accessories

• Rigging Chafe Protection
• Headsail Reefing Furlers
• Plastimo Jib Reefing
• Selden Furlex Reefing Gear

Furling Systems

• Anti-torsion Stays
• Straight Luff Furlers
• Top Down Furlers

Guard Wires, Rails and Fittings

• Guard Rail Fittings
• Guard Rails in Fibre and Webbing
• Guard Wire Accessories
• Guard Wires

Standing Rigging Assistance

• Replacing your Furling Line
• Fibre Rigging Break Load Comparison Guide
• More Articles and Guides >
• Cruising Halyards
• Performance Halyards
• Dinghy Halyards

Rigging Shackles

• Captive and Key Pin Shackles
• hamma™ Snap Shackles
• Soft Shackles
• Standard Snap Shackles
• Wichard Snap Shackles

Classic Ropes

• Classic Control Lines
• Classic Halyards
• Classic Sheets
• Cruising Sheets
• Performance Sheets
• Dinghy Sheets

Sail Handling

• Boom Brakes and Preventers
• Lazy Jack Sail Handling
• Rodkickers, Boomstruts
• Sail Handling Accessories

50 / 100 metre Rates - Running Rigging

• 50 / 100 metres - Cruising Ropes
• 50 / 100 metres - Dinghy Ropes
• 50 / 100 metres - Performance Ropes

Control Lines

• Cruising Control Lines
• Performance Control Lines
• Dinghy Control Lines
• Continuous Control Lines

Running Rigging Accessories

• Anti-Chafe Rope Protection
• Lashing, Lacing and Lanyards
• Mast and Boom Fittings
• Rope Stowage
• Sail Ties and Sail Stowage
• Shock Cord and Fittings
• LIROS Ropes
• Marlow Ropes

Running Rigging Resources

• Running Rigging Rope Fibres and Construction Explained
• How to Select a Suitable Halyard Rope
• How to select Sheets and Guys
• Dyneema Rope - Cruising and Racing Comparison
• Dinghy Rope Selection Guide
• Rope Measurement Information
• Running Rigging - LIROS Recommended Line Diameters
• Running Rigging Break Load Comparison Chart
• Colour Coding for Running Rigging
• Selecting the right type of block, plain, roller or ball bearing
• Recycling Rope
• Running Rigging Glossary

Plain Bearing Blocks

• Barton Blocks
• Harken Element Blocks
• Low Friction Rings
• Selden Yacht Blocks
• Wichard MXEvo Blocks
• Wooden Yacht Blocks

Control Systems

• Ratchet Blocks
• Stanchion Blocks and Fairleads
• Snatch Blocks
• Genoa Car Systems
• Traveller Systems
• Block and Tackle Purchase Systems

Ball Bearing Blocks

• Harken Ball Bearing Blocks
• Selden Ball Bearing Blocks

Roller Bearing Blocks

• Harken Black Magic Blocks
• Selden Roller Bearing Blocks

Deck Fittings

• Bungs and Hatches
• Bushes and Fairleads
• Deck Eyes, Straps and Hooks
• Pad Eyes, U Bolts and Eye Bolts
• Pintles and Gudgeons
• Tiller Extensions and Joints
• Harken Winches, Handles and Accessories
• Barton Winches, Snubbers and Winchers
• Lewmar Winches, Handles and Accessories
• Winch Servicing and Accessories

Clutches and Organisers

• Barton Clutches and Organisers
• Spinlock Clutches and Organisers
• Lewmar Clutches
• Harken Ball Bearing Cam Cleats
• Barton K Cam Cleats

Deck Hardware Support

• Blocks and Pulleys Selection Guide
• Barton High Load Eyes
• Dyneema Low Friction Rings Comparison
• Seldén Block Selection Guide
• Barton Track Selection Guide
• Barton Traveller Systems Selection Guide
• Harken Winch Selection Guide
• Karver Winch Comparison Chart
• Lewmar Winch Selection Guide - PDF
• Winch Servicing Guide

Sailing Flags

• Courtesy Flags
• Red Ensigns
• Blue Ensigns
• Signal Code Flags
• Flag Staffs and Sockets
• Flag Accessories
• Flag Making and Repair
• Webbing only
• Webbing Soft Shackles
• Webbing Restraint Straps
• Webbing Sail Ties
• Sail Sewing
• PROtect Tape

Fixings and Fastenings

• Screws, Bolts, Nuts and Washers
• Monel Rivets

Hatches and Portlights

• Lewmar Hatches
• Lewmar Portlights
• Fids and Tools
• Knives and Scissors

General Chandlery

• Carabiners and Hooks
• Antifouling

Flag Articles

• Flag Size Guide
• Bending and Hoisting Methods for Sailing Flags
• Courtesy Flags Identification, Labelling and Stowage
• Courtesy Flag Map
• Flag Etiquette and Information
• Glossary of Flag Terms and Parts of a Flag
• Making and Repairing Flags
• Signal Code Message Definitions

Other Chandlery Articles

• Anchorplait Splicing Instructions
• Antifoul Coverage Information
• Hawk Wind Indicator Selection Guide
• Petersen Stainless - Upset Forging Information
• Speedy Stitcher Sewing Instructions
• Thimble Dimensions and Compatible Shackles

Jackstays and Jacklines

• Webbing Jackstays
• Stainless Steel Wire Jackstay Lifelines
• Fibre Jackstay Lifelines
• Jackstay and Lifeline Accessories

Lifejackets

• Crewsaver Lifejackets
• Seago Lifejackets
• Spinlock Lifejackets
• Children's Life Jackets
• Buoyancy Aids

Floating Rope

• LIROS Multifilament White Polypropylene
• LIROS Yellow Floating Safety Rope

Guard Wires, Guardrails and Guardrail Webbing

Lifejacket accessories.

• Lifejacket Lights
• Lifejacket Rearming Kits
• Lifejacket Spray Hoods
• Safety Lines

Seago Liferafts

• Grab Bag Contents
• Grab Bags and Polybottles
• Liferaft Accessories
• Danbuoy Accessories
• Jimmy Green Danbuoys
• Jonbuoy Danbuoys
• Seago Danbuoys

Overboard Recovery

• Lifebuoy Accessories
• Purchase Systems
• Slings and Throwlines

Safety Accessories

• Fire Safety
• Sea Anchors and Drogues

Safety Resources

• Guard Wires - Inspection and Replacement Guidance
• Guard Wire Stud Terminal Dimensions
• Webbing Jackstays Guidance
• Webbing Jackstays - Custom Build Instructions
• Danbuoy Selection Guide
• Danbuoy Instructions - 3 piece Telescopic - Offshore
• Liferaft Selection Guide
• Liferaft Servicing
• Man Overboard Equipment - World Sailing Compliance
• Marine Safety Information Links
• Safety Marine Equipment List for UK Pleasure Vessels

Sailing Clothing

• Sailing Jackets
• Sailing Trousers
• Thermal Layers

Leisure Wear

Accessories.

• Rain Jackets
• Sweatshirts

Sailing Footwear

• Dinghy Boots and Shoes
• Sailing Wellies

Leisure Footwear

• Walking Shoes

Sailing Accessories

• Sailing Bags and Holdalls
• Sailing Gloves
• Sailing Kneepads

Clothing Clearance

Clothing guide.

• What to wear Sailing
• Helly Hansen Mens Jacket and Pant Size Guide
• Helly Hansen Womens Sailing Jacket and Pant Size Guide
• Lazy Jacks Mens and Womens Size Charts
• Musto Men's and Women's Size Charts
• Old Guys Rule Size Guide
• Sailing Gloves Size Guides
• Weird Fish Clothing Size Charts

The Jimmy Green Clothing Store

Lower Fore St, Beer, East Devon, EX12 3EG

• Adria Bandiere
• Anchor Marine
• Anchor Right
• August Race
• Barton Marine
• Blue Performance
• Brierley Lifting
• Brook International
• Brookes & Adams
• Captain Currey
• Chaineries Limousines
• Coastline Technology
• Colligo Marine
• Cyclops Marine
• Douglas Marine
• Ecoworks Marine
• Exposure OLAS
• Fire Safety Stick
• Fortress Marine Anchors
• Hawk Marine Products
• Helly Hansen
• International
• Jimmy Green Marine
• Maillon Rapide
• Mantus Marine
• Marling Leek
• Meridian Zero
• MF Catenificio
• Ocean Fenders
• Ocean Safety
• Old Guys Rule
• Petersen Stainless
• Polyform Norway
• PSP Marine Tape
• Sidermarine
• Stewart Manufacturing Inc
• Team McLube
• Technical Marine Supplies
• Titan Marine (CMP)
• Ultramarine
• Waterline Design
• William Hackett

Clearance August Race Boat Cleaning Kit £26.00

Clearance LIROS Racer Dyneema £55.08

Clearance Folding Stock Anchor £123.25

Clearance LIROS Herkules £0.00

Clearance Barton Size 0 Ball Bearing Blocks - 5mm £0.00

Clearance Marlow Blue Ocean® Doublebraid £18.48

Mooring Clearance

Anchoring clearance, standing rigging clearance, running rigging clearance, deck hardware clearance, chandlery clearance, safety clearance.

Yacht Drogues

Reference: JGM09001

Manufactured by Jimmy Green Marine

Best Quality PVC

High Tenacity Polyester Webbing

Marine Grade Stainless Steel Ring

Heavy Duty Stitching

Longstanding design and production

PayPal Credit is a credit line for your PayPal account that acts like a credit card for online shopping. You can get approved for a limit, use it at stores that accept PayPal, and make repayments directly through your PayPal balance.

They offer 0% interest for 4 months on purchases of £99 and over and allow you to pay in instalments with businesses like Jimmy Green Marine.

Apply online if you're a UK resident over 18 with a good credit history.

More Information

PBO Best Budget Buy. PBO wrote: "Jimmy Green, based in Beer in East Devon, make a number of sizes of drogue - this one was a Size 10, suitable for Mohraina's 29ft. It comprises a PVC cone. At low revs, it reduced our speed from 3.5 knots to 2 knots. exerting 28kg on the line. Flat out, it reduced the boat speed from 7 to 4.5 knots, exerting 100kg on the line. It set immediately on immersion despite the lack of any stiffening to hold the mouth of the cone open, and behaved well underwater, with no spinning, slewing or porpoising. A short length of chain helped keep it submerged. It was simple to recover, and a tripline will help to collapse the drogue on recovery" PBO, July 2014

Yacht drogues are designed to be towed from the stern during adverse weather conditions, helping to maintain course downwind and avoid broaching.

Yacht Drogue Deployment and setup:

• slow the yacht to afford more control
• keep the boat tracking down wind
• help prevent broaching in surf conditions
• is possible from the bow in extreme conditions

Yacht Drogues are normally deployed from the stern, attached via an Octoplait V shaped Bridle.

The bridle shares the shock load and can also be used to adjust the steering angle to the wave pattern.

Attach the bridle to a long warp to prevent shock loading and to ensure that the drogue remains submerged.

Smaller sized drogues can be trailed one behind the other on the same warp by making them off at different points along the rode using the stainless ring.

Jimmy Green Yacht Drogues also feature a webbing loop at the narrow end of the cone for trip line attachment.

Yacht Drogue Warp and Chain The set up for each yacht drogue will depend on the expectation for slowing drift and the anticipated conditions in which it may be deployed. The main principles are:

• A long warp comparable with the break load of your bower anchor rode - customers often choose 100 metres
• A short length of chain comparable with the break load of your bower anchor rode - customers often choose 5 metres, but just how much weight is required to ensure the right level of submersion is open to debate.
• Rated Shackles - comparable with the break load of your bower anchor rode

Jimmy Green Swivel Advisory A swivel is optional. Opinions are polarised on whether one is required. Research into the subject is advisable, so that you can decide who or what to believe. Practising deployment is also advisable - you can try without a swivel and see if it performs for your individual yacht and set up. It is a simple enough task to add a swivel if you find that one is required.

Do you need a swivel ? This largely depends on whether you believe that incorporating a swivel is a help or a hindrance in other yachting applications. Do you think that a swivel encourages or prevents rotation ? Generally speaking there are two possible scenarios:

• incorporating a swivel may facilitate a degree of rotation to compensate for any twist in the warp and chain and therefore keep the drogue rotationally stable
• adding a swivel to the set up may simply encourage rotation resulting in the drogue spinning around needlessly ?

The Jimmy Green Yacht Drogue Size roughly equates to yacht length in metres.

However, this is only a guide and will depend on your individual requirements.

Due to the complex nature of the sewing process, all the dimensions are approximate. Exit Ø = the approximate diameter of the smaller end of the drogue

Yacht Drogue Warps

Yacht drogue trip lines, you may also like, spliced set length octoplait nylon bridles, para anchor warps, stainless steel jaw and jaw swivels, para drogue.

What’s the difference between Drogues and Sea Anchors

Drogues and sea anchors don’t do the same job.  They each have completely different purposes and it’s impossible for one to do the other’s job. What were traditionally known as sea anchors have developed over time and now tend to fit more into the drogue family. Both modern sea anchors and drogues take the shape of a parachute so can be termed a para-drogue or para-anchor.

The  para-anchor  is designed to provide sufficient power to hold the bow of a vessel head to wind in the worst storm conditions. It should be deployed from the bow of the vessel and greatly reduces the risk of broaching, capsizing or rolling, keeping the boat more comfortable and stable throughout the duration of the heavy weather. Most importantly it allows the vessel to take the storm head on, rather than running with it, which reduces the time spent in discomfort. Typically a para-anchor would be fitted with stainless sinking chain to help get it launched as safely as possible and it would have a retrieval line. It would also be made of a strong high density, brightly coloured nylon for high visibility in search and rescue situation. Every long distance yacht should have one on board. A range of sizes are available depending on the length of the vessel.

A  para-drogue , on the other hand, is deployed from the stern and designed to provide greater control, vary the speed of the vessel and improve directional stability downwind. This is particularly important when running before large seas, reducing the risk of broaching, particularly in breaking waves and shallow seas. It can also be rigged as an emergency steering device and help prevent overtaking when under tow. The para-drogue can come in single, tandem and triple versions. The tandem and triple units are designed to interact with each other to maintain a positive and even drag on the stern of the vessel. Para-drogues are not difficult to rig up.

For example a 9ft diameter sea anchor – or para-anchor – is required to hold a bow head to wind, whereas a 3ft diameter para-drogue, when deployed astern, is designed to slow a boat allowing directional stability downwind. The 3ft drogue simply does not have the power that the 9ft para-anchor does and would allow the yacht to fall backwards or be thrown by a wave if used to hold the bow head to wind.

In summary, the para-anchor complements the para-drogue and vice versa. The para-drogue can be used as a means of allowing the safe deployment of a para-anchor by substantially slowing a vessel down when it is impossible to heave to or luff up owing to sea state. Once the downwind speed of the vessel is substantially reduced the para-anchor can be deployed over the windward side from the cockpit.

Related posts

What Size Sea Anchor Do I Need?

The size of your sea anchor depends on your boat’s size and weight. For parachute anchors, diameters range from 6-20 feet. For series drogues, size is determined by the number of drogues. More drogues or larger diameters create more drag, helping maintain boat position in various sea conditions.

There is one fundamental difference between sea anchors and drogues which is the placement of them from the bow or stern.

I’m going to cover sizing for both so you don’t end up with more questions than answers.

In all boating activities, safety is paramount. A sea anchor or drogue is one of the least spoken about and yet important life-saving appliances . 

Key Takeaways

Factors to consider when sizing a sea anchor.

Before determining what size sea anchor is needed for your boat, it’s beneficial to refresh your knowledge with this introduction to sea anchor use .

Sea anchors, commonly parachute anchors, are used to keep boats facing wind and waves. They open like parachutes in water, maintaining rode tension.

Made of lightweight materials like nylon or Dacron, their size, determined by diameter (6-20 feet), depends on the boat’s size and weight. They’re used in open seas to hold the boat’s position in moderate to high conditions.

That being said, the factors that must be considered when selecting a sea anchor are:

Boat Size And Weight

The boat’s size and weight are critical factors when choosing a sea anchor. 

The larger the boat, the larger the sea anchor required to provide adequate drag to slow it down. 

The boat’s weight also affects the size of the sea anchor needed. A heavier boat requires a larger sea anchor to create enough drag to slow it down.

The Weather Conditions

The size and shape of a sea anchor will also depend on the specific conditions in which it will be used. A larger sea anchor may be needed to provide adequate drag in particularly rough waters.

A sea anchor that is too small for the conditions will not provide enough drag to slow the boat down or help it maintain direction, while one that is too large may be difficult to handle, deploy, and retrieve. 

It’s important to consider the maximum wind and wave conditions the boat will likely encounter and choose a sea anchor to handle them.

Rode (Line) Length

The length of the line connecting the sea anchor to the boat is essential. 

The rode must be nylon and 10 to 15 times the boat’s overall length in heavy weather. A stainless steel swivel is highly recommended. Multi-hulls must also rig the rode to a bridle, with each leg being 2-2½ times the boat’s beam and rigged to the outer hulls.

Too short a line can cause the boat to pitch and roll, while too long a ride can reduce the effectiveness of the sea anchor. 

There are two opinions (rules) regarding how long the rode should be:

How To Determine the Correct Size

The sea anchor needs to be correctly sized to perform how it is intended.

The seams are reinforced with nylon webbing. Nylon lines with a minimum strength of 1,500 pounds are joined at the rode end to a shackle with strength from 17,000 to 52,000 pounds.

A correctly sized PARA-TECH Sea Anchor will likely never experience the loads it is capable of taking.

The sea anchor’s drag is a crucial factor when selecting its size. The drag is the force the sea anchor creates when it is deployed into the water. The size of the sea anchor determines its drag capabilities. 

A larger sea anchor creates more drag, while a smaller one creates less drag. It’s essential to choose a sea anchor that can generate enough drag to slow the boat down in the expected wind and wave conditions and yet is small enough to be easily deployed and retrieved.

A good rule to follow is that the worst-case scenario should be followed. Select a sea anchor slightly larger than you think you’ll need to ensure it can handle even the roughest conditions.

Manufacturers Recommendations

Most manufacturers recommend that the anchor size relative to the boat size follow the general values in the list below.

Thanks to the Drag Device Database, PARA-TECH Sea Anchors now come with a Deployable Stow Bag for easier deployment, avoiding inflation on deck. The bag is simply tossed overboard.

Unlike a drogue, these Sea Anchors ensure your bow faces the wind, resulting in a slow leeward drift as seas pass beneath.

The Sea Anchors, made of high-strength nylon, are four times stronger and heavier than surplus parachutes, previously used as Sea Anchors. The lines in the storage bag are tubular nylon.

Drogue And Sea Anchor Sizing Formula

A general rule of thumb is to use one drogue for every 10 feet of boat length. For example, a 40-foot boat would require a series of drogues with four drogues.

A helpful rule for sea anchors is that the sea anchor diameter should be roughly 1/3rd the boat’s length. For example, a 48-foot boat would require a sea anchor with a diameter of around 16 feet.

🛡️ Safety Considerations

A safety protocol must be observed when the sea anchor is deployed.

Inspection and Maintenance

A sea anchor or drogues should be regularly checked to ensure they are fully intact.

They must be removed from the storage bags, spread out, and inspected carefully. If there is damage, contact the nearest agent to see if they can be repaired.

Keep the rode carefully wound, ensuring no knots will make it hard to release in rough weather. 

Emergency Scenarios

After figuring out your sea anchor sizing, the next step is to learn when to use a sea anchor .

You must practice deploying the sea anchors and drogues. This will give you an understanding of what is required before you deploy it in “anger.”

Emergencies: In the event of engine power loss, using a Sea Anchor will point the bow into the seas, keeping the boat from rolling in the trough, thus making repairs easier. The boat is also held in its last reported position, making it easier for assistance to find the disabled boat. 

Practicing deployment and keeping the tension on the rode beforehand may be the difference between abandoning the vessel and staying on board with control maintained.

When deployed, always keep the tension in the sea anchor rode.

Once the storm has died and you’re ready to move on, it’s time to pull in the anchor rode slack.

The retrieval float that should be at the end of your trip line will provide a location for you to motor toward.

Using a boat hook, grab the retrieval float on the windward bow. Carefully pull the rode in, and the now collapsed anchor should follow.

Written by:

I’m the founder and chief editor here at Sailing Savvy. I spent a decade working as a professional mariner and currently, I mix those experiences with digital publishing. Welcome, and I hope that we can be the hub you need for safe passage.

FREE shipping on $100+ Orders

You have no items in your shopping cart.

Enter Your Search Term Below

JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser to utilize the functionality of this website.

Galerider Drogue

Availability:

2 Review(s)

Write your own review

PRICE 

$650.00 - $945.00

based on selected options

* Required Fields

Description

Specifications.

Customer Reviews

2 review(s).

Write A Review

Only registered users can write reviews. Please, log in or register

There are currently no rebates available for this item

Related Products

Related accessories.

White Nylon Rode

Ocean Signal rescueME MOB1 DSC / AIS

Spinlock Deckvest Hydrostatic Inflatable Vest ViTo Rearm Kit

Kong Double Line ORC Tether

ACR HemiLight3 Automatic Light

You may also like

Wichard Tether Pro ISO Double

Regular Price: $375.00

Special Price $259.00

Shakespeare Stowaway Emergency VHF Antenna

Spinlock Deckvest 6D HRS 170N Life Jacket

Regular Price: $409.00

Special Price $339.99

SOS Dan Buoy Bulkhead Holder / Bracket

SOS Dan Buoy Man-Overboard Marker - Gen 3

• Boats & Parts
• Gifts & Galley
• Training Center

The Navigator

• News & Articles
• Expert Advice
• Safety Alerts
• Shopping cart
• Customer Service
• Shipping Information
• Returns & Refunds

Retail Store

• 151 Harvard Avenue Stamford. CT 06902
• Driving Directions >
• Mon: 9 AM - 5 PM
• Tue: 9 AM - 5 PM
• Wed: 9 AM - 5 PM
• Thur: 9 AM - 5 PM
• Fri: 9 AM - 5 PM
• Sat: 9 AM - 3 PM
• Sun: CLOSED
• Toll Free  (800) 941-2219
• Local  (203) 487-0775
• Fax  (203) 487- 0776

Apparel Deals

Privacy Policy  |   Terms of Use  |   Copyright 2024 Landfall Navigation. All Rights Reserved.

• BOAT OF THE YEAR
• Newsletters
• Sailboat Reviews
• Boating Safety
• Sails and Rigging
• Maintenance
• Sailing Totem
• Sailor & Galley
• Living Aboard
• Destinations
• Gear & Electronics
• Charter Resources

Using Drogues And Sea Anchors

• By Cap'n Fatty Goodlander
• Updated: February 15, 2018

While growing up aboard the schooner Elizabeth in the 1950s, I used to swing through the rig, much to the disgust of the timid adults ashore. I loved being aloft. I felt comfortable there, like a proud frigate bird surveying the ocean. Once, in St. Petersburg, Florida, while standing atop our starboard ratlines, I noticed a blue kite stuck in a tree in nearby Vinoy Park. We were poor; I had no toys, and kites were fun. So I quickly slid down our galvanized shrouds, leapt onto the dock of slip No. 7 and dashed across the street. It was tricky because the kite was caught at the very top of a large banyan, but I eventually managed to get it down. Alas, it wouldn’t fly. Again and again, I tried to launch it, and it would just spin out of control. I soon became frustrated, but fortunately, my brother-in-law, the Gyroaster, came by. He was a giant of a man, and handsome as heck. My sister, Gale, would melt when he was around. Yuck! Actually, you’ve probably seen him — he was the Marlboro Man for many years. And anyway, he knew a lot of stuff. “You need a tail,” he said, as he returned to his pickup truck and ripped up a greasy T-shirt. Once a few knotted strips of fabric hung from the kite, it was a totally different beast. It flew sweetly. I had perfect control. I’ve never forgotten that day.

At the beginning of our third circumnavigation, this one aboard Ganesh, our new-to-us and unfamiliar ketch-rigged Amphitrite 43, I quickly realized that my learning curve would have to be steep. Ganesh behaved completely differently than our previous S&S-designed Hughes 38, Wild Card. Gusts over 30 knots would send our old boat zooming like a scalded cat; ditto for large, breaking seas. Once we did 150 miles in 24 hours under bare poles using our Monitor self-steering device, and Wild Card felt like she was on rails. In a blow, Ganesh was different. Way different. Off the coast of Colombia, with an apparent wind of 34 knots and a speed of 8 knots, Ganesh was beginning to scare me, and I don’t like to be scared. Worse, I could see that look of concern that my wife, Carolyn, had in her eyes. “She’s really, um, slewing, isn’t she?” Carolyn noted. Since a large part of seamanship consists of stoically observing, I began watching the building seas with great attention. In the troughs, Ganesh was fine. She’d point dead downwind. But as a wave picked her up and she accelerated down its foaming face, she’d start frantically hunting. The further off course she became, the more her bow would dig in, the less effective her rudder would be, and the more she’d want to carve out like a runaway surfboard. It was disconcerting, this uncomfortable feeling that our transom might attempt to pass our bow. What if we got sideways to the seas? Would all 15 tons of her broach? I didn’t want to find out.

One solution would have been to heave-to, but we were making great time and pointing directly at the Panama Canal . I hated to stop her. Sure, it would be safer, but these heavy wind and sea conditions would last all week. I didn’t want to heave-to for five to eight days. I wanted to keep moving.

The towing of warps is an old trick. So I took a 150-foot-long anchor line and connected its end to my port cleat, led it through my strong aft chock and lowered the bight into the water. At first there was almost no pressure, but as I paid out the line, the drag increased. When I came to the end of the line, I cleated it off on the starboard aft cleat. Now I had a large bight of line 75 feet astern. It didn’t do much of anything, but took about a quarter of a knot off my speed.

I watched and watched and thought and thought. That’s all heavy-weather management is, really, just experiencing and seeing what happens, which, in this case, wasn’t much.

Next, I took one of our fenders with a stout line on it, tied a bowline around the bight of line, and tossed the fender into the water. It ran aft and stopped, and I immediately felt a difference. I added a second fender. Even better! Now we weren’t slewing around nearly as much. However, occasionally both fenders were yanked out of the water and would start skipping over the waves. When they did, we’d slew badly until they bit in again.

Next I relieved the pressure on the port end of the dragging line with a rolling hitch and short length of line secured on board. I tied the bitter end of another anchor line to the first, then cast off the rolling hitch. The added length of line paid out, and now my two fenders were trailing 150 feet aft, and coming out of the water far less. I let her ride like this for a while as the sea continued to build. I decided we needed more drag, so I tied another two fenders onto the line — and then extended it with another rode.

Now I had four fenders 300 feet aft. And I watched.

Next, I adjusted the length of my towline until all four fenders sat directly behind one of the waves, completely out of my sight. I reached down and felt the moderate strain. Suddenly a huge breaking sea approached, Ganesh started to surf off, the towline load spiked dramatically and all four fenders were completely pulled though the wave, from backside to front, and then dug anew.

I knew I had the right idea when Carolyn appeared in the companionway with her novel and asked, “Is it calming down?”

There was no longer any tendency for Ganesh to get squirrelly. I wasn’t scared of broaching, and our speed was still averaging around 6½ knots.

I’d put a tail on my kite. I was in perfect control.

Each storm is different, and thus, a skipper needs flexibility in his decision-­making. This requires having the correct gear and knowing how to deploy it.

One time, we came out of New Zealand with a perfect weather window — not! A major gale was on the way, in the same area as the infamous and fatal 1994 Queen’s Birthday storm. Yes, there was a squash zone involved this time too. Even the Kiwi skippers I heard on the radio were getting nervous, which is enough to make any sane sailor gulp. When a Kiwi or South African sailor says, “There’s a bit of breeze on the way,” that means you should check your last will and testament.

The whole reason I carry a Para-Tech sea anchor and a Jordan Series Drogue is so I have options in an ultimate storm. Was this one? I wasn’t certain, but I decided to deploy one or the other slowing device just in case. If I’d wanted to make speed downwind and stay with the system, I’d have deployed the series drogue, my experimental homemade fat-bag or my webbing drogue. However, the last thing I wanted to do was travel with this particular storm. I wanted to remain in it for the shortest time possible, so I decided to set my Para-Tech sea anchor off the bow so we could park and let the storm pass by.

I heaved to and rigged the Para-Tech’s retrieval line exactly as recommended. Next, I ran a 400-foot nylon rode from the aft deck, outside the stanchions (tied with yarn to keep it from unraveling) and up to the bow. Here’s the sobering truth of it: People occasionally get severely injured while deploying or retrieving large parachute-type anchors. It’s dangerous. The ads don’t tell you this, but it is. Once that parachute is in the water, your vessel might as well be shackled to a block of granite on the bottom.

Thankfully, we had no problem deploying ours from our nearly stationary position.

Once the sea anchor took up and I’d doused our storm trysail, it was just like being anchored in 20-foot swells. Of course, our masthead was scribing large arcs in the sky and we were rolling violently from rail to rail. At first, we took to our bunks, Carolyn green at the gills. Gradually, we started crawling around on the cabin sole. Twenty-four hours later, Carolyn was making bread while I was jammed in a corner, playing guitar. We felt perfectly safe, if not comfortable.

Luckily (actually, luck had nothing to do with it) we’d removed both the anchors that normally live on our bow, as well as all our chain. These were now tied inside our boat to our mast base. Our boat’s ends were as light as we could make them. Thus she rode the giant waves like a swan.

Every two hours, day and night, I’d change the chafe point on the Para-Tech’s rode. That sounds easy, but it wasn’t; not when the line was shock-loaded with 5,000 pounds or so. Here’s how I did it: I donned my foulies and sea boots, put on my safety harness, grabbed a crowbar and carefully made my way forward. (Picture crawling on the back of a rearing stallion in pitch-black darkness and you’re close to seeing me move about on deck.)

Once at the bitts, I made sure the 40 or 50 feet of extra rode was all in front of me, so if it got away, I wouldn’t be killed instantly. Then I paused and said to myself, “Fatty, this is what you came for. This is all part of it. But if you lose control of this line or end up in the water, you’re dead. Right now you’ve got 10 fingers. Let’s keep it that way.”

That’s exactly how it happened. I actually whispered that to myself. Some people think I have no fear; that’s silly. Everyone has fear. Life is precious. The trick isn’t to ignore your fear but rather to harness it.

And that’s what I did. I loosened up the line on the cleat, working gingerly, like I was playing with a bomb that could blow any second. More and more I loosened the line until any more loosening might allow it to come off the cleat. Then I carefully stuck my crowbar into the final crisscross of line and wiggled it. Instantly, with a sickening snap tightening sound, the line on the cleat slipped and took up once again.

I’d changed the chafe point by about an inch with complete control.

A little over two days later, the wind had gone down but the seas were still high. The smart thing to do was to stay put, but alas, another storm was spinning off the Tasman between Australia and New Zealand, and if we didn’t set sail we’d have to stay parked for another four days or so.

Thus, we decided to retrieve the sea anchor and try to get northward out of the worst of the weather.

What happened next, well, I still start whimpering just remembering it.

First off, my good friend and sailing hero Larry Pardey had once advised me to remove the retrieval line on the Para-Tech. “They never work, and they often get in the way,” he said. “Trust me, Fatty, just cut it off.”

On the other hand, the manufacturer of the unit said folks successfully use the retrieval line all the time.

So, I decided to try it. I followed all the instructions as faithfully as I could. In theory, the retrieval line collapses the parachute, making it easier to haul back aboard. But when I went to actually use it in battle conditions, it was totally useless: completely snarled in a jumbled mess.

Score one for Larry.

As mentioned, the sea was rougher than I would have liked, and I have one more confession, dear reader. My 400 feet of ¾-inch nylon rode wasn’t in one piece. I’m a poor man. Most of my shopping is done at Dumpster Marine. The anchor line was cobbled together from various discarded bits and one new 125-foot piece of black Samson braid.

Now, I wasn’t worried about my knots coming undone because I’d tied double-­carricks and whipped the bitter ends with strong wax twine. But a knot is a lump, and this greatly complicated things. I won’t bore you with a blow-by-blow. Let’s just say getting each knot through the roller chock and around the rope windlass gypsy took about 45 minutes of tying and untying various short rope pennants with rolling hitches. Had any of those knots slipped while shock-loaded, well, bye-bye Fatso.

So here is the reality of the more than three hours that I wrestled with Satan up there on my foredeck: Retrieving my Para-Tech sea anchor was, far and away, the most dangerous thing I have ever done intentionally. In hindsight, I should have cut it loose. But, as mentioned, I’m a poor man, and it is a costly bit of fabric. And, yes, another factor came into play: I’m stubborn and pigheaded as well. I put that damn thing in the water, and I was going to get it back aboard!

Over the next couple of years I became fascinated by slowing devices. It didn’t take long to realize that the ideal one would create little drag at 4 knots and lots of drag at 6 to 8 knots of boat speed. Over the years, many attempts have been made to improve the proverbial mousetrap, and of course, I couldn’t resist the challenge taken up by some of my childhood heroes. My early idol Frederick A. Fenger (father of the wishbone rig) invented the plywood sea anchor, and John Voss came up with various fabric devices during his adventures made famous in The Venturesome Voyages of Captain Voss. I have no doubt that when Ulysses lost an attached sail overboard in a storm, he noticed the calming effect as it trailed behind his ship. So, I sidled up to the prettiest little seamstress I know, gave her a hug and a smile, and placed a number of drogue designs in front of her. “The Flat Fat drogue,” I told her, “uses cheap seat-belt material for the webbing and nylon for the slowing flaps, and stows well. The Fat Puffer has slits that bulge as the force of the water increases. And the Fat Web is basically just a bunch of webbing with maximum wetted surface that takes up minimal space.” Carolyn frowned. I’m always asking her to sew up crazy ideas, most of which don’t work. However, occasionally she adjusts one of my stupid ideas brilliantly — and I steal all the credit. (Well, I’m a man, right?)

Don’t forget, heavy-weather management boils down to controlling two things: angle and speed. A drag device is one of the simplest, most basic ways to achieve this.

Carolyn looked at the various designs and scratched her head. “What’s my budget?”

“The usual,” I said. “Zero.”

She grimaced and gave me a look.

“Hey, babe,” I said. “There’s no challenge in buying one!”

“Darn you, Fatty,” she said, as she hauled her rusty Pfaff sewing machine out of the bilge and began hosing it down with WD-40.

Soon she was hunched over her rattling, jiggling machine, spewing out various drag devices and a brand-new Jordan Series-style drogue (136 cones) for good measure.

Perhaps the most important thing to be learned from this article is that “anyone can play,” as my father used to put it. You don’t have to be a scientist or mathematician to tame the elements. The truth is that a spare tire (even a retread) tied astern can save your life in certain conditions.

Why not heave-to in a storm? I do. I love to heave-to. It is a basic skill of any offshore sailor. But sometimes I want to keep moving for various reasons, perhaps to sail out of a strong (and dangerous) ocean current, for example. I want options, lots of options. I need flexibility to survive offshore year after year. And, frankly, my boat is usually fine heaved-to in up to 45 knots. However, if I get a 70-knot gust, will my sail track pull out or the gooseneck shatter or sheet break? I don’t know. And I don’t want to find out in hurricane-force winds.

As Carolyn and I endlessly voyage, we’ve found that I like places she doesn’t. Take Namibia’s Skeleton Coast, for example. There are odd currents, fierce storms and dangerously shifting sandbars. It’s a perfect place for an adventurous soul like me. “And how, exactly, did this area get its name?” Carolyn asked as we sailed Ganesh northward along its dramatic West African coast of shifting desert sands. “From all the wrecks of the old sailing ships,” I said. “The vessel frame ends sticking up out of the dunes were easy to spot and kind of eerie. Once the rescuers rowed ashore, they’d then follow the footprints of the thirsty sailors in the sand to find their dehydrated bodies. So, it was kind of a two-for-one skeleton hunt.” “Oh, lovely,” Carolyn said, rolling her eyes. We’d gotten a good weather window out of Cape Town. There were a number of cruising vessels within 50 miles on the same passage. We had all tracked the moderate gale sliding toward us from St. Helena. A couple of the crews had real problems in the 40-knot gusty winds. They became fatigued from hand-­steering for more than 35 hours in the large breaking seas. For Carolyn and me, it was a romantic time-out. I set out version No. 4 of my Fat Puffer. It’s a large bag that fills with water and has slits that enlarge and, hopefully, create turbulence in the gusts to break up a wave. I also unrolled our storm staysail. Our Monitor windvane was steering us straight and true. Our AIS transponder was on, ditto our radar. Our new LED tricolor is very bright, so we figured we’d be seen if other vessels were near. We both went below; only occasionally peeking out to see the majesty of Mother Ocean in a grand mood. I had a cup of tea, Carolyn opted for a single glass of red wine. We smiled at each other. “What’s your favorite part of storm-strutting?” she asked. “You,” I said.

• More: drogues , How To , safety at sea
• More How To

When the Wind Goes Light

How We Built Our Own Bulwarks

How to Keep Your Windlass Working For You

Southern Comfort: Tactical Tips for Sailing South

Sailboat Review: Vision 444

Sailboat Preview: Lagoon 43

Sailor & Galley: Ice Cream, Anytime

• Digital Edition
• Customer Service
• Privacy Policy
• Email Newsletters
• Cruising World
• Sailing World
• Salt Water Sportsman
• Sport Fishing
• Wakeboarding

Taking the weather for granted is easy to do on a nice day. Sails are filled with a gentle wind, and the boat heels slightly as it slices through rippling water shimmering beneath a warm sun. On days like these it is hard to imagine that sailing can be a totally different experience when conditions turn rough.   A parachute sea anchor is typically deployed off the bow. It will almost stop the boat, allowing only a very slow drift downwind. It is a passive device. It does not demand the continuous attention of the crew. During heavy weather, the sea anchor allows the captain and crew to deal with exhaustion and seasickness, to maintain adequate nourishment, to tend to the boat, and to maintain rational decision-making abilities. To enable a safe landfall, a sea anchor can hold a boat in a favorable position until a heavy fog clears or daylight arrives. It can keep a boat off a lee shore until engine repairs can be made or help arrives. It provides a stable boat from which it is easier to dive, fish, or check your navigation.     Historically, a sea anchor was anything from a leather bucket to a cone-shaped canvas scoop used off the bow to hold the boat in a safe position when faced with heavy wind and waves. Later, commercial fishermen and then sailors began using military surplus parachutes as sea anchors for the same purpose, thereby coining the name parachute sea anchor. These large-diameter devices have evolved over the years and offer much more holding power than their cone-shaped cousins. A boat forced aft against an oversized canopy that is “fixed” in the water can present problems. In his book, Heavy Weather Tactics Using Sea Anchors and Drogues, Earl Hinz points out, “The powerful but irregular motion of the sea when resisted by a sea anchor can produce great strains on the sea anchor gear. The dynamic of loading will give all of the problems found in ground anchoring, such as overloading cleats and Samson posts, causing severe chafe on the rode, and occasionally burying the bow in green water.” Larger chutes tend to take up more storage space aboard, cost more, and are often more difficult to deploy and retrieve. Deploying the parachute sea anchor is only half of the procedure. Retrieving it successfully is the other half. A trip line can make the retrieval process easier. The next choice is whether to use a full or partial trip line. Full trip lines extend from the apex of the chute all the way back to the boat; partial trip lines run to retrieval floats. Another concern about using parachute sea anchors is whether they will always hold the bow of a boat upwind. This is a controversial matter. Left to its own devices with no drag device, a modern monohull will normally lie ahull, meaning beam to the wind. This is caused at least in part by the center of aerodynamic drag (force of the wind) being forward of the center of hydrodynamic drag (force of the water acting on the hull). This is particularly true if the boat is not carrying sail. The sea anchor must overcome this natural tendency and pull the bow into the wind. While a monohull’s “natural” tendency is to lie ahull, in most cases it is quite easy to get these boats to be fairly stable sailing dead downwind under bare poles. Drogues take advantage of this natural stability. There are both unitary and series drogues. A unitary drogue is deployed as a single drag device attached at the end of a length of rode. A series drogue utilizes smaller drag devices, such as cones, all of which are attached along a length of rode. Most drogues are unitary drogues, and most unitary drogues are intended to reduce a boat’s speed to a safe and manageable level while allowing for a fair amount of directional control by the helmsman. Keeping the boat below hull speed can prevent surfing down large wave fronts and punching the bow into the back of the next wave in the trough. These drogues are referred to as speed-limiting or low-drag drogues to contrast them with medium-drag drogues (like the Jordan Series Drogue which is designed to virtually stop the boat). These drogues require active participation from the crew, but allow the helmsman greater control and ease of steering. In situations where it is desirable to keep moving to reach shelter, or to maneuver to a more favorable part of the weather system, these devices are preferable. However, the same low drag that grants more steering control can also make the boat more vulnerable to capsizing, broaching, or pitchpoling in a “once-in-a-lifetime storm.” In addition, with a single drag device at the end of a long rode, the boat is more susceptible to large waves that approach from an angle. In order for a boat to get assistance from the drogue, it must position itself by swinging at the end of the long rode. The time it takes to do this can be crucial, and failure can result in a wave hitting the boat broadside. Series drogues were invented and developed by Donald Jordan. These drogues are deployed off the stern but, like the bow-deployed parachute sea anchor, they are intended to almost stop the boat. In this manner, the stern of the boat faces toward the wind and waves. The advantage of this is that the boat is much more stable pointing and sailing slowly downwind. There is less tendency to yaw because the mast and other high wind-drag items are downwind of the keel and rudder which are the high water-drag items. A properly sized series drogue will keep the boat speed down to 1 to 1 ½ knots in storm conditions, so it does not require the crew to steer. In this attitude if the boat is struck by a large breaking wave, which is the most dangerous threat to a boat in heavy weather, the boat will be briefly accelerated up to wave speed, and then as the wave passes it will be dragged back by the series drogue. Unlike the sea anchor, the series drogue is intended to control the loads on the rode, fittings, and attachment points by allowing the breaking wave to accelerate the boat. It is not intended to have enough drag to resist this large and rapidly developed force. It does have enough drag to quickly bring the boat speed back down after the breaking wave passes. It will prevent the boat from being thrown into the trough. Donald Jordan asserts that a breaking wave will not damage a boat by striking it but can damage it by throwing it into the trough. The Jordan Series Drogue typically is made up of more than 100 small fabric cones. These smaller drag devices are located all along the length of the rode. Therefore, if half the cones are inactive within the slack portion of a wave, the other half are still capable of maintaining a hold on the boat. Also, if a large wave is approaching from an angle off the stern, the drag devices closer to the boat, where the rode elasticity is low, will create a load much faster than if a unitary drogue were being towed at the end of a long rode. The drogue is weighted by chain at the end, which makes it function below the wave action and keeps a constant tension on the rode. Because of the way the Jordan Series Drogue works, the stern will be struck by breaking waves. This is a controversial aspect of the device. Critics assert that the transom, cabin trunk, and drop boards must be capable of taking the full impact of breaking waves and that the impact will be severe. Donald Jordan contends that experience with his drogues has proven that this is not a problem. In any case, the cockpit should be able to drain water quickly, and all drogue attachments should be well backed up to help spread the loads imposed upon the gear. In addition, it is not intended that the crew be in the cockpit when the drogue is in use. The speed will be kept too low to allow the boat to be steered, and the crew should go below. Deployment of any drogue generally takes place over the stern. The whole assembly should be carefully checked to ensure knots are properly tied, shackles are safety wired, the bitter end is attached to the boat, and the system is free of tangles with itself as well as parts of the boat and crew. When the boat is in the trough of a wave, its speed is at its minimum. This is the time to deploy the drogue. In the case of unitary drogues, a portion of the rode nearest the boat is deployed first. As the boat moves forward, the water will pull the rode along in a bight. More of the rode is paid out until the drogue itself is reached. The device, previously laid out and checked for tangles, is then released. The series drogue has a length of anchor chain at the end to keep it below the surface. This is dropped into the water, and the drag from the chain is allowed to pull the rest of the drogue overboard. The series drogue is intended to be permanently attached to a bridle on the transom and ready for deployment at any time. Unitary drogues can also use an adjustable bridle setup. The main rode is led off to one side of the transom and secured to a strong cleat or reinforced attachment point, preferably forward of the rudder post to improve steering. A snatch block with a pendant line tied to it is then snatched onto the main rode. The pendant line is run off the other side and led to a winch for adjustment. This system allows the crew to position the boat’s stern to oncoming waves, exposing, for example, only the quarter portion of a flat transom to the full impact of a breaking wave. Once you have made a decision to purchase a parachute sea anchor or drogue, take the time to research all available options. “Silver-bullet storm tactics” are hard to come by because of the variety found in weather conditions, boat designs, personal preferences, and crew capabilities. There are other tactics to employ in heavy weather, such as running under bare poles and heaving-to. Using a drag device requires prior planning since the equipment must be aboard. If it is to be effective it must be ready for deployment, and you must be comfortable using it. If you equip your boat with drag devices, practice deploying them in moderate conditions. Get familiar with the components. Make sure all crew members know the procedure and their responsibilities.     Click

Luxury Yacht Vacations          The above articles are provided as a courtesy by some of the industry's top rated boating magazines. If you would like to subscribe to any back issue or just want to learn more about safety at sea, simply click on the magazine link following the article.      New Sailboats Sailboats 21-30ft Sailboats 31-35ft Sailboats 36-40ft Sailboats Over 40ft Sailboats Under 21feet used_sailboats Apps and Computer Programs Communications Fishfinders Handheld Electronics Plotters MFDS Rradar Wind, Speed & Depth Instruments Anchoring Mooring Running Rigging Sails Canvas Standing Rigging Diesel Engines Off Grid Energy Cleaning Waxing DIY Projects Repair, Tools & Materials Spare Parts Tools & Gadgets Cabin Comfort Ventilation Footwear Apparel Foul Weather Gear Mailport & PS Advisor Inside Practical Sailor Blog Activate My Web Access Reset Password Customer Service Free Newsletter Pearson 37 and 37-2 Used Boat Review DIY Survey Checklist for Used-Boat Buying Valiant 40: Reshaping the Cruising Hull Bristol Channel Cutter 28: Circumnavigator’s Choice Best Crimpers and Strippers for Fixing Marine Electrical Connectors Thinking Through a Solar Power Installation How Does the Gulf Stream Influence our Weather? Can You Run a Marine Air-Conditioner on Battery Power? Practical Sailor Classic: The Load on Your Rode Anchor Rodes for Smaller Sailboats Ground Tackle Inspection Tips Shoe Goo II Excels for Quick Sail Repairs Spring Season Engine Start-Up for Winterized Engines Solutions for a Stinky Holding Tank Diesel Performance Additives Hidden Maintenance Problems: Part 3 – Gremlins in the Electrics Seepage or Flooding? How To Keep Water Out of the Boat Alcohol Stoves— Swan Song or Rebirth? Living Aboard with an Alcohol Stove Choosing the Right Fuel for Your Alcohol Stove Preparing Yourself for Solo Sailing How to Select Crew for a Passage or Delivery Preparing A Boat to Sail Solo Re-sealing the Seams on Waterproof Fabrics Chafe Protection for Dock Lines Waxing and Polishing Your Boat Reducing Engine Room Noise Tricks and Tips to Forming Do-it-yourself Rigging Terminals Marine Toilet Maintenance Tips Sails, Rigging & Deck Gear Safety & Seamanship How Much Drag is in a Drogue? Ps compares popular boat-slowing devices.. Weve long been interested in drogues, devices specifically designed to be towed behind a boat to reduce speed and to produce directional stability in heavy weather. Our last major drogue test was in 2009, when noted marine writers and circumnavigators Evans Starzinger and Beth Leonard shared their storm tactics (see Heavy Weather Sailing Tactics” . Another relevant article, Sea Anchors and Drogues , compared a variety of drag devices. If you are interested in purchasing a drogue, we recommend reading the archive articles along with this report. This study was intentionally limited to drogues for small to medium size boats (those between 30 and 45 feet). These are the boats that are more likely to benefit from using a drogue. Smaller boats rarely encounter conditions requiring a drogue, and on bigger boats, the high loads associated with using a drogue become problematic. Weve also limited our discussion to gale conditions (sustained 47 knots with higher gusts). With modern forecasting, very few sailors will ever experience a storm of this intensity underway, and the cautious coastal sailor never should. There are sailing-resource books that address using drogues in more severe conditions, but since our key data was recorded in sustained winds of 35 knots with gusts to 47 knots, the topic was beyond the scope of this report. Photos by Drew Frye What We Tested Our tests focused on drogues, which should not be confused with sea anchors. Drogues are generally deployed from the stern in heavy weather to slow a boat down and to add directional stability to prevent a broach. Sea anchors are typically deployed from the bow and are designed to hold a boat nearly stationary; parachute-type sea anchors from Fiorentino and Para-Tech fall into this category. For more on sea anchors and their use, see Sea Anchor Match-up , in the Feb. 1, 2005 issue online. Drogues are divided into two classes, with no absolute dividing line. Medium-drag devices are intended to slow the boat significantly and to apply more than 2,000 pounds of restraining force in the event of a very steep or breaking wave. Depending on size, they generally limit vessel steering, allowing only a downwind or slight reaching course. Ace Sailmakers Jordan Series Drogue and the Ocean Safety Para Drogue (depending on vessel it is used with) fall into this category, although other drogues would qualify if they are oversized for the vessel. Our focus for this test was on low-drag devices intended for steering a boat in difficult downwind sailing conditions, reducing yawing, preventing surfing, reducing broach potential, and generally making the life of the autopilot or helmsman easier. These devices can also be used to provide some steering control for a boat that has a damaged rudder. Low-drag drogues can be further classified into several design groups, each with features intended to improve stability at greater speeds as compared to standard parachute drogues. The Jimmy Green Yacht Drogue is an elongated cone, providing some glide surface for the water. The Para Drogue is a slotted parachute, with openings intended to stabilize flow along the canopy. The net-like Galerider, made by Hathaway, Reiser & Raymond, is made using heavy-duty webbing. And finally, there are the ballutes-the Burke Marine Seabrake, Fiorentino Shark, and Para-Tech Delta Drogue. A hybrid between balloon and parachute (thus the portmanteau ballutes), they operate like devices used to slow high-speed air and land craft. We fabricated one-third-scale versions of the major drogue types. This allowed us to roughly confirm scale-up factors and observe drogue behavior at higher loads. Data from small-scale tests was not used in calculating loads that appear in the accompanying table. Except where noted, the table data is based on testing on the following products: The full-size Seabrake GP24L, Delta Drogue 72, Galerider 30, and Yacht Drogue 25 were tested multiple times in a wide range of sea conditions: The Ocean Safety Para Drogue was tested in flat water only. The Jordan Series Drogue (109 cones) was tested once in flat water to confirm drag data. Not tested: Fiorentino Small Shark and other sizes of all drogues. We also tested a few do-it-yourself options: a towed warp (half-inch line plus chain) and a towed milk crate. How We Tested Although every manufacturer makes recommendations regarding the drogue size for a given vessel, its not always clear under what conditions their guidance is appropriate, and each boat and captain will have different storm management tactics. Some sailors believe a boat should sail fairly unrestrained, while others believe in more aggressive efforts to reduce speed. Our test focused on relevant performance and design details that we could objectively compare, including the counteracting forces generated by each drogue, how each drogue behaved in the water, and how easy they were to deploy and recover. We quantified the drag force versus speed for various drogue types and sizes. To evaluate factors that we could not physically test, such as the effects of wave dynamics (acceleration, angular change, and oscillation), we turned to other studies and databases, creating an extremely comprehensive data set for analysis. Finally, testers examined each drogue for construction quality and strength. For more details on test procedures, see How We Tested on top right. Observations Drogue makers recommend slowing the boat to a few knots and slowly feeding out rode, but that might not always be possible. In order to test the construction of the full-size drogues, we set each at 7.5 to 9 knots of boat speed, and none resulted in undue force on cleats. Keep in mind, this is not the recommended procedure. The point is that all of the test drogues were constructed to withstand many times the strain they should actually develop in the water. Medium Scope Testers found very few surprises when testing at medium scope (100 feet). This is much shorter than the 350 feet generally recommended for actual use, but for testing, we sought to determine how the drogues would behave in steep, breaking waves. In a storm with dangerous breaking waves, the angle of the rode to the water is greatly reduced by the steepness of a breaking wave face, and the most common failure of a drogue is for it to pull out of steep wave faces. All of the drogues produced drag forces roughly proportional to the square of the boat speed. When the speed doubles, as long as the drogue stays in the water, drag force quadruples. Steady-speed testing using a sailboat, of course, does not tell us about higher speeds, so we towed one-third-scale models with a tender at up to 10 knots; the behavior of the drogues and the drag versus speed relationship did not differ significantly. The ratio of drag to projected area was also consistent for each basic design. All of the drogues stayed near the surface at higher speeds, but none broke the surface significantly. In most cases, the amount of drag fluctuated greatly. Readings varied by 35 to 60 percent over a three- to five-second timespan when towed at 5 knots. The dramatic exception was the Galerider, which fluctuated only 10 to 20 percent. The difference is likely explained by a basic design difference; while most designs inflate into solid shapes, the Galerider strains the water through a webbing net. The warp also gave very smooth drag, presumably due to its small cross-section. All of the drogues rotated to some extent, but this varied with sea state and speed. None spun enough to impair function, even when testers removed the swivels. For systems that include a swivel, its important to use a good-quality swivel and to keep it in good repair. Testers only noted significant lateral movement with the Jimmy Green drogue. This yawing would likely increase chafe on the rode, where it is led through a chock. Presumably, it could also affect steering, as it was occasionally pronounced, as much as 8 degrees to the side. All other devices in the test tracked straight. Short Scope We expected larger differences between models at short scope (50 feet), but there was not a wide variation. The solid drogues (Delta Drogue, Seabrake, and Shark) create a bulge of water as they approach the surface under high load. In order for the drogue to emerge, the force must be sustained for several seconds to disperse this lump of water, and then the drogue will suddenly surface. The Galerider, on the other hand, functions by straining the water and is less affected by its proximity to the waters surface, smoothly emerging and re-engaging. The Jimmy Green drogue was more prone to skipping when it broke the surface, likely an indicator of how any cone design would behave if it were yanked from a wave face; all others smoothly re-engaged. Drogue drag is not directly related to model size, so be sure to look at drag data and not just size when selecting a drogue. Additionally, makers are not all on the same page when it comes to storm tactics. Some recommend relatively low drag so that the boat will still be pushed forward (and possibly retain steerage) as it absorbs some of the wave energy, while others believe in higher drag to deliver positive speed reduction. If you prefer a low-drag design (Galerider, for example) but would like more drag, you can consider going up a size. Some of the devices we tested included an attached weight, such as a mushroom anchor, to prevent the drogues surfacing. Conventional wisdom suggests that 10 to 30 feet of chain (length and weight will depend on drogue type and size) should be placed in front of the drogue to keep it submerged and to sink it nose-first in the lulls, preventing slack from forming in the rode between waves. Fiorentino, however, recommends adding the weight to the tail of its Shark via a dedicated pendant. Testers noted that attaching the chain to the tail made deployment easier. While the weight of the chain or mushroom anchor will help keep the drogue in the water, hydrodynamic forces around the drogue and in the waves are far more influential. Interestingly, Galerider does not address using chain, except on very short rodes when used for emergency steering; however, many users do add a chain leader, which they say improves performance. When budgeting for a new drogue, remember that the drogue itself is only about half of the total cost. The rode, swivels, chain, and shackles can add $500 to $700. For rode, we prefer double-braid or plait material; three-strand tends to unlay and hockle under high load. Follow the vendors advice on which rode material is best. Most vendors recommend rodes made of nylon, which is relatively elastic (helpful for absorbing shock), but Burke Marine recommends less-stretchy polyester for its Seabrake. Of those tested, Fiorentinos Shark was the easiest drogue to deploy, particularly in strong winds. It packed small, used a tail weight (typically a small mushroom anchor) in place of chain, and was the easiest to get into the water. Testers liked the compact and tangle-free construction, which appears to be designed to withstand anything. We did not field test a production version of the Shark, but our research, along with the data and video footage we reviewed and our extensive testing of a the scaled model suggest it behaves like drogues of similar design. Bottom line: Durability, stability, and appropriate drag levels earn the Shark a Recommended rating. The popular Galerider design shined in our tests, even as we pushed our speeds and loads higher. Based upon one-third-model testing, there seems to be no practical upper speed limit to its stable performance, and testers noted that it had considerably less tendency to surface at long rode lengths, even with no chain attached. It comes with its own shackle. This was the only drogue design tested that did not surface at 4 to 5 knots on 100 feet of rode. The drag numbers, whether near the surface or submerged, fluctuated far less than those of the other drogues. The designs many small openings seem to cancel out any oscillation. The only downside is the relatively low drag for its size, which means many boats will need a very large drogue. The metal mouth of the webbed basket will coil enough to allow for storage, but folding it requires a very firm hand to return it to the bag. Grip the drogue well when unpacking; it springs into shape with considerable force. Owners of older Galeriders should check the wire ring. There have been a few reports of wire ring failure. Fortunately, this isn’t crippling and is easily repaired, but it does cause increased yawing. Considering the long service history of the unit (more than 1,000 units over 20 years), durability has generally been very good. Recovery was easy, though its large mouth does like to snag rudders and transoms (a boat hook helps). Bottom line: The Galerider is the Best Choice drogue for steering and storm use. Jimmy Green Yacht Drogue A generic-looking cone, the Jimmy Green Marine Yacht Drogue 25 suffers from weaknesses common to this design group; it tends to yaw aggressively at speeds over 3 knots. When pulled from a wave, the occurrence is more sudden and complete than with other designs. We also have some concerns about its durability in a prolonged storm. On the other hand, it is much less expensive than other drogues and seems sturdy enough for some rough use. It also drains rapidly for easy retrieval. Bottom line: This drogue may be useful for emergency steering in moderate conditions with smaller boats, but is not recommended for sustained storms. Seabrake GP24L The Seabrake GP24L, made by Burke Marine, has been in service for years on one of our test boats, a PDQ 32 catamaran. While weve found it useful for preventing a broach in steep breaking waves at inlets, weve not tested it in more severe conditions. When the bridle is shortened to reduce drag, it becomes a little less stable, though it never tangled or inverted in use. Retrieval ease met expectations for a larger drogue. Water drains quickly for recovery, and the design is snag-free coming on board. Bottom line: We Recommend the Seabrake for emergency steering on larger boats and for storm use on smaller boats. Delta Drogue 72 The Delta Drogue was designed by a longtime player in this field, Para-Tech Engineering. Made of fabric and shaped like an equilateral triangle, the 72-inch Delta is dimensionally similar to other units in the test, such as the Seabrake GP24L. At very short scope, the Delta 72 occasionally had the bad habit of skipping out of the water when overloaded, but it always re-engaged before any effect was noticed. It behaved very well at normal scope. Since the drogue holds water, users must dump it during recovery before lifting it onboard. The elegantly simple design, which stows in a tiny bag, is functional, well-proven, and strong. Bottom line: The Delta 72 earned the Budget Buy pick for a real offshore drogue. Para Drogue Single Made in the U.K., Ocean Safetys Para Drogue offered more drag than other speed-limiting drogues; however, we were only able to test this for a few hours in calm conditions. The Para Drogue seemed quite stable under a steady pull and was not prone to surfacing or yawing. Our impression was that it was more suited to speed limiting use in a strong storm or to assist with emergency steering on a larger yacht. Like all parachute drogues without tripping lines, recovery was cumbersome but not unreasonable. Bottom line: There is limited information on this device, and we did not spend enough time with it to offer a fair assessment. We would be interested in hearing first-hand reports from anyone who has used it (email [email protected] ) and will look for more opportunities to further evaluate it. Jordan Series Drogue Although we did not test a production-ready Jordan Series Drogue (JSD), our report in 2000 discussed the JSDs pros and cons, and there is plenty of data regarding its ability to create significant drag. The result of a U.S. Coast Guard research project led by former Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Donald Jordan in 1987, the series drogue typically comprises 90 to 200 cones with 5-inch diameters evenly spaced along hundreds of feet of rode, with a weight at the rode end to hold the tail down. The brilliance of the design is that the failure of a single element, whether by mechanical failure or by being pulled out of the water, makes no difference. The pull is steady, whatever the conditions. The downsides are that the construction is bulky, the drogue is notoriously laborious to recover, and during a moderate gale, it will generate enough resistance to hold the boat nearly motionless, as with a sea anchor. For the JSD to perform as a drogue generally requires more wind and wave energy, as one would encounter in a severe storm. This design was developed for simplicity of construction, and many do-it-yourself series drogues have been built, although several sailmakers (including Ace Sailmakers) supply completed drogues. When compared to other drogues, the JSDs price seems high (see Value Guide), but the rode is included in the fabrication. Bottom line: When sized appropriately, the JSD drogue is well-engineered for storm survival. Recommended. To create a warp, testers used 200 feet of half-inch line plus 30 feet of 3/8-inch chain. The length we tested provided about 10 percent the drag resistance of appropriately sized drogues. If three to five times the length of chain and rope were deployed, the force would become noticeable, but it would still be less than the force generated by a conventional drogue. In tests, warps offered extremely easy deployment and recovery, and the drag was very steady. Bottom line: Warps can be useful for minor speed reduction in strong conditions, but not as a speed-limiting drogue, unless you deploy multiple warps. Weve seen reports of sailors using plastic milk crates as drogues and decided to try it out. The resulting drag was similar to the towed warp, but it was less stable. Bottom line: Probably not helpful. Testers were consistently satisfied with the drogues quality of construction, confirming the very low rates of construction failure for speed-limiting drogues. We would be happy sailing with any of them. We were pleased with how the data in our small-scale tests correlated with the full-scale testing. Drag consistently related to speed and size, roughly confirming the formula we used to estimate drag. Our small-scale testing was particularly useful in supplying higher speed data. The biggest surprises were the variability of the data and the surfacing behavior of drogues at short scope. The minor yawing of each drogue and wave action seemed to cause momentary fluctuations in the recorded loads. All of the drogues except the Galerider exhibited significant variation in the recorded loads during intervals as short as 5 seconds. This pulse-like tugging occurred even when we used 100 feet of rode. The Galerider, on the other hand, showed much less fluctuation. When towed at short scope, the same basic pattern continued, with drogues surfacing at about 4 to 5 knots and the loads becoming more variable. Again, the exception was the Galerider, which required more speed and less scope to cause excessive surfacing. While the Galerider is less efficient on a size basis (you need a big one), its stability and ease of recovery made it testers favorite. For economical stopping power, we like the Delta Drogue and the Seabrake. We will be following up this report with an article on using drogues for emergency steering. We will also take a closer look at recommendations for rigging and sizing drogues. We are particularly interested in input from sailors who have used drogues in gale conditions. You can send your reports to [email protected] . Field Testing Drag, Behavior Testers were always tethered to the boat, even in light weather. In heavy weather, two hands are required to manhandle drogues and the deck is moving; the tether saved us from going over many times. A bucket lashed to the stern rail was handy for handling chain rode without scratching gelcoat. The Delta was a handful to recover, unless the water was dumped first. A Galerider 30 (left), Seabrake GP24L (center), and Delta Drogue 72 (right) await their turn for testing. For data collection, we used one-third scale drogue models: (from left to right) generic cone, Shark, Delta, Galerider, and Seabrake. All performed exactly as calculations predicted they would, based on full-scale drogues’ actual performance. The smaller size allowed testers to really flog them to the edge of the design envelope. All performed quite well in very tough conditions. The above table lists drogues recommended by their manufacturers for boats that generally fit in the 30- to 45-foot range. This is an estimated size, and the broad range of boats in this category—stretching between a Catalina 30 to a William Garden Vagabond 47—illustrates the importance of consulting manufacturers and researching other reports when matching a drogue size to a boat. PS tested five of the above drogues. The source of other data is noted in the table. Each drogue maker suggests a size based on the length or weight of the boat. Drogue loads at 7 knots (see PS Value Guide above) are about 70 percent of the working anchor benchmarks, illustrating the importance of strong attachment points on deck. Delta Drogue Series Drogue Shark Drogue Circumnavigators Beth Leonard and Evans Starzinger test the Galerider sea drogue in Southern Ocean storms. RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR Another Look at Fitting Jacklines Collision Avoidance When ‘See and Avoid’ Fails When a Welcome Home Becomes a Rescue Dear sir I want to use sea drogues for pulling ships at a water stream . Whai i want to know is : at what speed will a 40 inch diameter sea drogue pull a 50 ton ship if the speed of water stream is 1 knot . This will help me to know how many sea drogues i have to use to make a 50 ton ship sail at the speed of 4 knots ( when the drogues pull the ship after them . LEAVE A REPLY Cancel reply Log in to leave a comment Latest Videos Sailboat vs Fishing Boat – Rules of the Road Catalina 445: What You Should Know | Boat Review How to Wax and Polish Your Boat Beneteau 46.1: What You Should Know | Boat Tour Privacy Policy Do Not Sell My Personal Information Online Account Activation Privacy Manager Log in or Sign up You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser . how to make a drogue or sea anchor Discussion in ' Boat Design ' started by sigurd , Jun 27, 2006 . sigurd Pompuous Pangolin I have some strong fabric and an old singer sewing machine, said to be capable of heavy fabrics. I want to make a couple different sized brakes. How should they be shaped?   FAST FRED Senior Member The easiest is a couple of auto or truck tires towed astern with a VERY stout line. No fabrication , no cost. Works great . FAST FRED   Like this? Doesn't seem to slow him down a lot I think. I am not sure whether a fabric sock, with "drawstring" closure at one end, and a 3 or more part bridle at the other, would collapse? It could have some pipe insulator foam along the upper front edge, and a weight at the bottom front edge. Couldn't that be pretty stable? (pic from http://www.trim.no/images/artikkel/standard/bergemiddels.jpg )   Attached Files: Bergemiddels.jpg. MarkC Senior Member The US Coast Guard has put forward a different approach. Trail from the rear a long line with many small 'chutes' sewn on. They have tested it too. Fairly damning of the big Parachute drogue. If I can remember the web-site?   JPC Junior Member Tough Issue This is a tough one: there are a lot more opinions than experience out there. I will readily volunteer that I have an ear-bending volume of opinions, and I have done a substantial amount of offshore sailing, but I have NEVER used a drag device. -so, my comments are just theory. I think that people will agree with the comment that the best storm device will vary depending upon the characteristics of the vessel, the weather/sea conditions, and the crew. With that obvious declaration made, I can tell you where I've come out on trying to answer the same question: I go with the Jordan Series Drogue. You can make one yourself, or you can purchase one at: http://www.jordanseriesdrogue.com/ Here's some general drag device info: http://seriesdrogue.com/coastguardreport/droguereport.htm   That babychute tail looks very neat! Can you explain to me how those little chutes are attached to the main rope so that I can make one?   sorry, I didn't "have time" to wade through the whole of the links before I posted. Great links! I think I know how to construct it now. For continuity, here is the answer to my question: http://seriesdrogue.com/coastguardreport/figure17.htm Don Jordan answered me also immediately and gave more details.   Glad that the answer was available. Since the load on any individual "pocket" will not be that great, the details of assembly should not be too critical and it's reasonable to take on the project yourself. That said, I know I'm too much of a procrastinator and the drogue would live, half-completed, on my living room floor for months - I'll have the guys in Annapolis make one for me! I'll be interested in your thoughts and experience. One of the questions that I haven't answered for myself is whether there's any meaningful value in rigging the drogue with a bridle - that is, whether a bridle-rigged series drogue would contribute meaningfully to maintaining the heading of the boat. I think that Linda Dashew discusses making a series drogue in "The Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia" or "Survive the Storm". There are also valuable references to the use of the series drogue and other storm devices in Allard Cole's "Heavy Weather Sailing", "Fastnet Force 10", and the several books on the '98 Sydney-Hobart Race, among others. Best regards, JPC   bilbobaggins Junior Member Drogues and sea-anchors It's VIP to differentiate between devices intended just to slow the boat down, while still continuing to sail, and devices intended to STOP the boat. The first group include 'towing warps', sometimes with tyres, anchors, conical drogues attached. This presents the stern to the following seas, which becomes problematic when the cockpit is regularly swamped by breaking seas. Catamarans with 'patio doors' are vulnerable to downflooding. Someone must remain at the helm, steering, hour after hour. The second group utilises a much larger 'drag-generating' device, which grips a weight of seawater greater than that of the boat, while the bows are presented to the seas. A very long, 'elastic' nylon rode is used, which absorbs shock-loading, and ensures the drag device remains embedded in the body of a sea, two removed from the boat. A bridle arrangement is effective on a multihull, while less so on a monomaran. The idea is that the boat is stopped/'parked up', facing the seas, while everyone is below sheltering and resting. Whatever system is chosen, it is essential that the gear used is well strong enough for the job, and is protected adequately from chafe. Loads imparted on the boat - and her fittings - are enormous. The accounts of successful deployments stress this, while some accounts of unsuccessful encounters admit that the gear used was too small/too weakened by UV/chafed through/not strong enough somewhere. There are lots of folk with strong opinions - and no experience - who haven't even studied the accounts of those who have serious and successful experience of survival storms using drag devices. Try reading this stuff... http://www.biggideas.com/sea-anchor/html/data.html and 'Heavy Weather Sailing' published by Adlard Coles.   Controversial stuff for sure. I don't have any experience in more than 50kt, and we were sailing. One thing that tends to confuse my intuition a bit is that the water doesn't move a lot with respect to the ground, whereas the wind does. So eventually it does seem plausible that the boat will generally move to leeward with respect to the water, even with a huge sea anchor. Thus I would think that the bow should point downwind in order to have a steady yaw with the smallest drogue, thus lower loads. But as you point out some boats may not take this very well due to flooding of the cockpit etc. Jordan claims there has been no damage from using the aft-deployed series chutes. Here is a quote from paratech backing up the idea that bow-deployed devices need to be draggier, and why they are needed (at least on some boats). "Please Note: Although it is much easier to pull the stern of the boat into the seas(even with a smaller Sea-Anchor) we consider it unwise in heavy weather situations. Because 99% of present day boats are designed to take the seas on the bow, we likewise have designed our present day Sea-Anchors for use off the bow only. They are true offshore anchors and as such are not to be confused with speed-limiting drogues used off the stern." Another situation may be if you have a multihull where you can raise the appendages. Then the bows, being sharpest, would be the most effective "feather", and the whole problem of going backwards likely diminishes. I experience this effect even in the little fat europe dinghy - it hates to be towed straight forward because of the sharp bow - but towing it backwards tends to be stable. There is one thing I feel certain about in mooring, at sea or elsewhere, and that is the importance of stretch in the system, in other words to even out the loads over time. this does decrease the max loadings. The babychute tail looks like it can do this in an elegant way. I don't see any reason why one style of drogue should be limited to deployment from only one end of the boat. both styles could be sized to do either. Don't talk to _me_ about procrastination!   Does anybody have an opinion on the size of drogue for a 20' cat with no mast? say 300-500 kg? like I said, don't try to out-procrastrinate the pros.   JPC - Thanks for providing the links to the US Coast Guard's report on the series drogue. I had forgotten No seriously - they have it covered. It is all there.:idea:   bilbo Junior Member Caution I would urge caution on those who would extrapolate from the 'US Coastguard' so-called test report, to use on real boats and real seas. First, the report is dated 1987 and is written by a Mr Jordan - who has a vested commercial interest. Second, the report confuses the different roles of a 'drogue' ( slows the speed of drift, while vessel continues ) and a 'sea anchor' ( vessel is stopped ). Third, the large-diameter parachute sea anchor, used now by hundreds of cruising yachtsmen, is neither tested nor discussed. It is simpy ignored. Fourth, the 'experimental' basis for the report's conclusions is a computer simulation model, and some measurements related to a small model boat in sheltered conditions. Hardly capable of scaling-up to survival storm conditions i.r.o a cruising yacht. Fifth, no mention is made of the body of experience of the use of such devices which has built up over the decades, including that of the RNLI cox'ns who have used conical drogues in breaking seas, for all of the history of that service. N.B. The lifeboat crews use of drogues is restricted to speed- and broaching control, in the final approach to a harbour/bar where breaking seas are encountered. Elsewhere, the vessel's manoeuverability and bouyancy is sufficient. By all means carry and use a Jordan Series Drogue system, or a small-diameter drogue. But, be aware of the limitations.   Caution I would urge caution on those who would extrapolate from the 'US Coastguard' so-called test report, for use on real boats and real seas. First, the report is dated 1987 and is written by a Mr Jordan - who has a vested commercial interest. Second, the report confuses the different roles of a 'drogue' ( slows the speed of drift, while vessel continues ) and a 'sea anchor' ( vessel is stopped ). Third, the large-diameter parachute sea anchor, used now by hundreds of cruising yachtsmen, is neither tested nor discussed. It is simpy ignored. Fourth, the 'experimental' basis for the report's conclusions is a computer simulation model, and some measurements related to a small model boat in sheltered conditions - hardly capable of scaling-up to survival storm conditions i.r.o a cruising yacht. Fifth, no mention is made of the body of experience of using such devices which has built up over the decades, including that of the RNLI cox'ns who have used conical drogues in breaking seas, for all of the history of that service. N.B. The lifeboat crews use of drogues is restricted to speed- and broaching control, in the final approach to a harbour/bar where breaking seas are encountered. Elsewhere, the vessel's manoeuverability and bouyancy is sufficient. By all means carry and use a Jordan Series Drogue system, or a small-diameter drogue. But, be aware of the limitations. These have been highlighted again recently by the published experiences of designer Richard Woods. A 'too small' drag device, set off the bows, fails to hold the bows directly up into the wind and seas. The result is that the bows fall off, the vessel drifting bodily downwind about beam-on - exactly what one is trying to avoid.... IMHO, one may set a drogue, or Jordan Series Drogue, off the stern and continue steering downwind at reduced speed ( seas will break into the cockpit ) OR set a large parachute sea-anchor off the bows and entirely stop the boat ( seas will break over the bows ). Either way, all the gear used needs to be well strong enough for the very substantial loads that will be encountered.   Advertisement: Please read the report. The reason for the report was stated as: As part of this report it is important to consider the question of why drogues have not been developed and accepted as a standard item of emergency equipment up to the present time. The following reasons seem to be of the greatest significance. Breaking waves capsize is relatively rare, and many sailors survive storms by lying ahull or by running off. They do not perceive the need for more gear. There is no firm specification for a drogue. When a makeshift arrangement has been tried it often has not worked and in some instances has made the situation worse. Prudent sailors are aware that a drogue can impose high loads on the boat. Since they do not know the magnitude of the loads they are reluctant to take the risk. In a survival storm the crew is of ten tired and disorganized. If the drogue is difficult or dangerous to deploy they are unable to handle the job. The research program described in this report is intended to address these concerns and to provide the information needed to make a rational decision on emergency equipment for the prevention of breaking wave capsize. Click to expand... Chainplates for a Fiorentino shark drogue Calculation for Chainplate for Series Drogue Sports cars on the sea surface Smaller Sea sleds Thoughts on this hull design - what seas and speeds etc.? Welding a sealed vessel? draggers eastern seaboard 60-seats passenger boats, want top speed of 50knots, any idea Far far, away from the sea... Lays a little shipyard.... Small 2 seat speed boat No, create an account now. Yes, my password is: Forgot your password? 309 IMAGES A Parachute Sea Anchor, or a Drogue? The trouble with using drogues and sea anchors How to Steer a Sail Boat or Power Boat Using A Drogue or Fabric Sea Anchor In Case of Steering Loss For Sale: GaleRider Storm Drogue Jury steering: Oh Rudder, where art thou? Two held after significant drugs haul seized from boat off Cornwall VIDEO Single Handed Sailing: NYC to Bermuda Nightmare, Part 3 (Westsail 42 Sailboat Paragon) The Drogue Cannabis & Cruises: How Major Cruise Lines Handle Cannabis and CBD Onboard Thoughts on boat design and drogues This WEIRD and AFFORDABLE Boat Can Take You ANYWHERE [Full Tour] Learning the Lines Drinking and Boating Do Not Mix COMMENTS Which drogue should you buy? 7 drogues on test A drogue streamed astern can help when a boat is being towed in waves, preventing snatching loads on the tow line and stopping the towed boat overtaking the boat doing the towing. 7 drogues tested: how we did it. We borrowed a Contest 29, Mohraina, moored at Poole's East Dorset Sailing Club and owned by Dick Hanraads. We headed out of Poole ... Sea Anchors & Drogues Recommendation—Drogues The Jordan Series Drogue is in a class by itself. Much more of a sea anchor than a true drogue, it fixes a boat end-on to the wind and waves with a resilient efficiency that wins praise from all quarters. Your boat has to be designed and built to survive seas stern-on, however, before the JSD becomes a good option. We test a drogue and a sea anchor Toby Hodges tries out a ParaAnchor sea anchor and a Jordan Series Drogue on a heavy weather sail training weekend in the English Channel. Drogues and sea anchors are designed to slow a boat or ... How to Use Drogues and Sea Anchors A sea anchor is deployed off the bow and is used to keep a drifting boat's head to the wind and waves so that it may ride rough seas more comfortably. A drogue is deployed off the stern and is used to keep the boat straight while motoring down-sea. Also, by slowing the boat as it races down a wave face, it reduces the chance for broaching or ... How to Deploy and Use a Sea Anchor or Drogue The trip line and floats go out first, remember to deploy sea anchors from the bow and drogues from the stern. Allow the trip line to drift out and clear. Toss the drift anchor in next, making sure to toss it into clear water. As the boat drifts away from the anchor, pay out about 50' of rode and snub the line with half a turn on the cleat ... Storm Drogues and Sea Anchors, Explained Fiorentino Para-Anchors. The Storm Drogue. A storm drogue is a device towed submerged from the stern to limit (but not stop) the boat's speed, and to keep the vessel's stern at a set angle to following seas. Conversely, a sea anchor is a device deployed from the bow to stop the boat's movement through the water, and to keep the boat's ... Marine Sea Anchors & Drogues Marine Sea Anchors & Drogues. A sea anchor can be deployed off the bow and is used to keep a boat's head to the wind, and waves so that it may ride rough seas more comfortably. A drogue is deployed off the stern and will keep you boat straight while motoring down-sea. Marine sea anchors from Defender can also serve as a stabilizer in a ... The Need For Less Speed: Storm Drogues And Sea Anchors The use of drogues is relatively well known as a steering device for sailboats in the event of a lost rudder, but they can have an equally important application to the modern power cruiser. Mariners have known for centuries that dragging something from the stern of the boat will slow it and keep its stern square to the waves. Jordan Series Drogue Jordan Series Drogue is a safety device designed to prevent the capsize and damage of both monohull and multihull sailing yachts and other vessels operating in the open ocean, in the event of a "worst case" breaking wave strike, as well as improving the motion of the boat in storm waves and to reduce drift. The Jordan Series Drogue has been at ... Surviving a Force 11 storm with a series drogue Surviving a Force 11 storm with a series drogue. Small cruising boats are not fast enough to sail away from bad weather. Tony Curphey shares how a series drogue was vital while sailing the Southern Ocean in a Nicholson 32. When the windvane steering can no longer cope with the seastate, it is time to deploy the drogue. Ideal Drogue setup will require experiments As wind increases, ease the drogue back from the boat. This increases drag (steering force), and keeps the drogues stable. In strong winds, we set the drogue was about 60 feet behind the boat. For best control, reef earlier than usual. Keep the traveler lower than normal on all courses. As true wind nears the beam, consider striking the main. Using a Jordan Series Drogue for Steering The bottom line is that while a JSD tail could be used as a steering drogue in an emergency, a purpose-built steering drogue is better. Darrell Nicholson. Practical Sailor has been independently testing and reporting on sailboats and sailing gear for more than 50 years. Supported entirely by subscribers, Practical Sailor accepts no advertising. Skip Novak's Storm Sailing Techniques Part 7: drogues Skip Novak's view is clear: although drogues could be a lifesaver on small boats of, say, less than 50ft, he would feel nervous about deploying the gear on bigger, heavier vessels. For smaller ... Yacht Drogues PBO wrote: "Jimmy Green, based in Beer in East Devon, make a number of sizes of drogue - this one was a Size 10, suitable for Mohraina's 29ft. It comprises a PVC cone. At low revs, it reduced our speed from 3.5 knots to 2 knots. exerting 28kg on the line. Flat out, it reduced the boat speed from 7 to 4.5 knots, exerting 100kg on the line. What's the difference between Drogues and Sea Anchors Para-drogues are not difficult to rig up. For example a 9ft diameter sea anchor - or para-anchor - is required to hold a bow head to wind, whereas a 3ft diameter para-drogue, when deployed astern, is designed to slow a boat allowing directional stability downwind. The 3ft drogue simply does not have the power that the 9ft para-anchor does ... What Size Sea Anchor Do I Need? A general rule of thumb is to use one drogue for every 10 feet of boat length. For example, a 40-foot boat would require a series of drogues with four drogues. A helpful rule for sea anchors is that the sea anchor diameter should be roughly 1/3rd the boat's length. For example, a 48-foot boat would require a sea anchor with a diameter of ... Galerider Drogue Galerider Drogue. The drogue provides elastic, but high resistance to eliminate surfing, yawing, and pitchpoling tendencies. In the trough, it continues to provide low resistance for steering control and function as an emergency tiller:. Updated in 2021 with eye & eye needle roller thrust bearing swivel designed to rotate under any load. Using Drogues And Sea Anchors Carolyn used webbing to sew a slowing drogue that can be towed astern. Cap'n Fatty Goodlander. Next I relieved the pressure on the port end of the dragging line with a rolling hitch and short length of line secured on board. I tied the bitter end of another anchor line to the first, then cast off the rolling hitch. Pros & Cons Between Jordan Series Drogue VS The Sea Anchors A series drogue utilizes smaller drag devices, such as cones, all of which are attached along a length of rode. Unitary drogues Most drogues are unitary drogues, and most unitary drogues are intended to reduce a boat's speed to a safe and manageable level while allowing for a fair amount of directional control by the helmsman. How Much Drag is in a Drogue? The above table lists drogues recommended by their manufacturers for boats that generally fit in the 30- to 45-foot range. This is an estimated size, and the broad range of boats in this category—stretching between a Catalina 30 to a William Garden Vagabond 47—illustrates the importance of consulting manufacturers and researching other reports when matching a drogue size to a boat. US Sailing Safety at Sea Para-Anchor and Storm Drogues US Sailing Safety at Sea training is one of the best in the world. From online to hands on training. To learn more visit https://www.ussailing.org/education/... series drogue size and count Sean, Yeah, I don't get it either. My understanding is the Jordan type drogue is to nearly "stop" the boat while others (Gale Rider, Sea Break) are designed as "speed reduction" drogues meant to slow boats to a 3-6 knot speed. I spoke to a gentleman who felt he deployed his drogue too early which caused him to be pooped badly, which created a whole string of bad events. how to make a drogue or sea anchor The lifeboat crews use of drogues is restricted to speed- and broaching control, in the final approach to a harbour/bar where breaking seas are encountered. Elsewhere, the vessel's manoeuverability and bouyancy is sufficient. By all means carry and use a Jordan Series Drogue system, or a small-diameter drogue. catamaran gulet motorboat powerboat riverboat sailboat trimaran yacht