Another excellent source of information on Sea Anchors and Drogrues, is Earl Hinz's excellent book "Heavy Weather Tactics using Sea Anchors and Drogues". The first in depth publication about the use of sea anchors was by John Claud Voss: "The Ventursome Voyages of Captain Voss". This was based on his voyages from British Columbia to London Via Cape of Good Hope in a 50 year old dugout Log Canoe. This "vessel" was 26 feet long and about 6 foot beam--it had three masts and 250 sq feet of sail. He began his voyage in May 1901 and arrived in London in Sept 1904, having traveled about 10,000 miles at sea. He used a sea anchor extensively in heavy weather. This vessel is still on display in the BC Maritime Museum. The book is worth a read--and the museum worth a visit. There are problems in extreme conditions which are way beyond those of gale force winds. Seas do not come from a consistant direction. Seas which are breaking will easily come over the deck of vessel even with a 9 or 10 foot freeboard foreward. The vessel will be wildly pitching as headed into the waves. It is easy to say that one will depoly the sea anchor (or Para-anchor as the larger units are described). But the judgement as to when to make that deployement is very difficult. If one is handling the situation well, he tends to contiune press on. Opening a deck box becomes very diffiuclt--and may require several people to do so safely. Streaming a 600 foot rode is also very difficult--even from a place which may be accessiable from below decks. It is impossiable to describe conditions on a boat in Force 12 + no matter what direction she is headed. Another problem is how is the boat handled as the sea anchor rode paid out. The bow needs to be head totoward wind, and the boat moving away from the sea anchor and rode. Sternway under these conditions is hazardous. There is also the danger that the sea anchor rode be swept under the boat and fouled into stabilizer fins or running grear. Jacklines are an excellent idea--and we used them extensively. Cleats are excellent termination points. The termination points must take the stress of a man falling full weight, which can be a shock load of over 1000 lbs. I had several large U bolts, with SS backing plates for cliping the second safety harness tether--as well as onto the jacklines. Massive U bolts are favored over lightly bolted fasteners. Looking at some current design of boats built for passagemaking, the high bows may have some advantage with increased reserve bouancy and keeping the deck relitatively dry in moderate seas. However as the seas get to 20 feet, even a 10 foot high freeboard foreward can be under water as the boat pitches. These high bows have some disadvantages--the windage is increased and makes maneuvering more difficult--and often the supplied bow thruster is inadequate. The load on a sea anchor can be in the many thousands of pounds because of the massive pressure of both wind and waves against this high bow. One the other hand--many of these boats do have broader sterns--and relitatively low freeboard aft. This makes it dangerous to run off from the storm and waves--more so dangerous with a drogue in extreme weather. Although there is no ideal design--there is some advantage to the Diesel Ducks and Passagemaker, which have strong and high sterns and will not be pooped--with damage to aft doors,cabin house and flooding. Towing wraps has its own set of hazards. A friend purchased a Colon Archer disigned motor boat (65 foot, 100 tons) which had been the pilot boat on station off Bergen, Norway. This was an extremely seaworthy boat, but was caught in a Hurricane in Mid Atlantic. She was rolled and the short stabalizing masts were lost, with some deck house damage. The owner streamed warps to slow her down and keep the high canoe stern to the seas, but kept the 60" prop turning to attempt to have some control. As one large wave broke, a wrap was swept under her counter and entrangeled in the prop. The boat survived--and eventually was towed into land. Best Wishes for a New Year to All--and may none of you ever have to use any of these techniques! Bob Austin