With all respect and due appologies for not being up on this aspect of hyro and aerodynamics, I doubt if the fate of this cat or any other cat rests on a "Von Karman Vortex Street"-- There have been other cats which have been lost riding to sea anchors as well as capsizing at sea. The reality of the situation is that this 37 foot cat was at a place where it didn't belong. The usual route this time of the year is to leave Mainland Europe and head down to Maderia then to the Canaries and across to the Caribbean or directly to S. Florida, the latter would take them out of the trade wind belt.. Then head up to the US coast and work the way up the coast as weather permits. Instead they were headed to Annapolis- by going basiclly the Rhumb line from Maderia, which would take the boat slightly North of Bermuda right into the risk of winter gales in the North Atlantic. I am not sure if a sea anchor would have saved them if they had one, if it had been rigged and properly deployed. (It goes to the comment I made on stabliity a couple of weeks ago). The problem is that in a significant North Atlantic storm, waves are NOT all of the same direction or magnitude. What Larry Pardey postulates on from the deck of his long and deep keel sail boat, may not translate well to a cat--(I don't know the rig of this cat--if a wing mast, how much windage etc). I have never ridden to a sea anchor--but in heavy storms have chosen to run off, and would have continued to do so with series drogues if conditions had detiorrated. I have not had the luxary to sit on the deck and contemplate in Force 10 conditions...(48-55Knots of wind, Seas up to 55 feet and peroid 8 to 25 seconds). I tend to stay below deck and hang on in those conditions.... So even if the boat was properly bridled to a sea anchor, it is still possiable that a wave would have capsized the boat. It is hard to tell how experienced the crew is, if the conditions detiorrated so rapidly that they didn't have time to take actions--even if they had a sea anchor, once the seas, and winds get to a certain state, it becomes very difficult and dangerous to depoly the sea anchor--especially if the boat is not already set up for it. Where was the life raft? Was it inflated or lost during the capsize?. What about survival suits? Entrance into the boat thru the bottom? Fortunately the EPRIB was set off. It is so inexpensive to own a EPRIB--that there is no excuse for every boat--and every person not to have one. I suspect that this will be analyized, but it is tragic that there was loss of life. But I don't think that a "Von Karman Vortex street" would have made a difference! Bob Austin