Wise words, John.

I might suggest that the folks discussing sea anchors should read the Pardeys
book (sorry, I forget which). Lyn and Larry were the ones who pioneered the
use of sea anchors, and especially the springing method so that the boat lies
off a bit. I can recall Lyn's description of how she watched, fascinated, as
huge, and sometimes breaking, seas simply disintegrated in the area of the sea
anchor as they passed over it, before reaching the boat.

Re: drogues, I have not used one in a trawler, but I cannot envision running
off before a storm in a boat with a fat, trawler-type transom and bluff bow
(compared to a sailboat). Drogue or no. Can anyone cite any info on drogues used
with trawler hulls? My troller is very much like Passagemaker, with a
sailboat hull. But she has a lot more freeboard, and more windage, especially aft,
than my traditional canoe-stern Westsail, which is very much like the Pardeys
boat. Also, no one has mentioned streaming warps, which I have done; I believe
this is more common than drogue use, and it's surprising how stabilizing warps
can be.

Regarding the Jordan drogue, guess who wrote USCG report CG-D-20-87? Dan
Jordan. So forget that. I don't understand why some are already praising Jordan
drogues. Anyone care to comment? I know many sailors who have used Jordan
drogues, and have heard nothing critical. But inasmuch as Jordan's own
recommendations stop at 30 tons displacement it would seem to eliminate any serious trawler
use. Also, the gear is getting pretty heavy.

With the exception of Bob Austin, I haven't seen anyone speak up and say
they've used any of these devices, so there is much speculation -- dangerous, IMO.

In short, I think there's a lot of stuff being bandied about without any
backup, and I'd like to hear from real experience. Anyone?

John
"Seahorse"

John Harris wrote:

1. The report speaks primarily to sailboats and specifically those of
   Fastnet type and under 45'. These are boats of low hull profile designed for
   racing, not for heavy weather in any direction. They have been built as
   light as possible for the maximum wind conditions that they expect to
   encounter.

Even typical cruising sailboats seldom have a high bow of the range of a
similar sized trawler.

2. The report sights their primary real world experience as the use of
   Drogues by the Royal Life Boat Institute in England - where they use the
   Drogue in heavy seas when wanting to make way and entering channels.

3. The comments on the use of bow deployed sea anchors make two mistakes: A)
   failing to deploy the anchor two wave lengths from the vessel, and B) not
   using an attachment that will stabilize off the direct bow with a harness.

4. It properly identifies a very large breaking wave as a potential
   disaster, but states that this is generally not the conditions of severe
   weather in open ocean.

John,

In answer to your inquiry of actual use of sea anchors, I have been in full gale conditions twice, both times with the desired line of travel slightly off the bow. I have not deployed the sea anchor on either occasion, because the weather outlook that I had indicated the weather would improve in a few hours. Neither time did I feel at risk underway. I would have immediately used the sea anchor if there had been major boat trouble or crew trouble but neither occurred.

I carry the sea anchor 1/2 with the idea that it is an excellent aid incase of near hurricane or hurricane conditions with high seas in open ocean. And the other 1/2 is because it serves as a state of refuge in case something major occurs to boat or crew - thus the ability to lay in a relatively conformable state and moving at very low speed (.1 to .5 knots) while providing the opportunity for medical attention, or sleep, or repair as needed.

Regards, John Harris

A sea anchor seems like a very good idea when you just can't continue on,
but under those conditions I'd sure hate to venture out onto the foredeck to
deploy a sea anchor.  Do any of you have your sea anchor rigged in such a
way that you can deploy it from the relative safety of the Portuguese bridge
or other fairly safe location?

Lee Robinson
"Katahdin"  Seaton 42 (custom)
New Bern, NC

RE: Do any of you have your sea anchor rigged in such a way that you can
deploy it from the relative safety of the Portuguese bridge or other fairly
safe location?

You make a good point. My answer is that we do not have a way to deploy the
sea anchor from the Portuguese bridge. We use jacklines and harnesses on our
boat. One of the jack lines runs from the hand grip next to the starboard
side pilot house door to the port side bow cleat. The jackline has a 10,000
lbs strength so can protect multiple crew if needed.

The sea anchor itself is stored in a latched deck box just in front of the
Portuguese bridge. It is simple to handle since once rigged the whole duffle
size bag in thrown in the ocean. The main handling problem comes from
handling a 600' long 3/4" nylon rode. This is in one piece and is stored on
our boat on a "U" shaped shelf inside the chain locker. The length of the
shelf is about 10' so it takes 60 lengths or 30 cycles to hold the rode.
This is delivered through a hatch with a special partial cover that is
adjacent to the chain locker in the forward shower ceiling.

In addition to these items there are 4 other items required A) a 20# weight
to load the shackle down (I use 8' of chain) B) a large fender to support
the crown of the parachute C) a small fender to float the end of the pickup
line,  D) chafing gear (which is stored with the parachute bag.)

One of the important considerations is NOT waiting to long to deploy the sea
anchor in deteriating weather. This can't be over stressed if it is to be
used as a hurricane survival tool. There is no substitute for being alter to
weather conditions and the outlook for coming days.

Regards, John Harris