CATAMARANS: Heavy Weather Sailing SPECIFICALLY a Lagoon 380?

A

adamflude

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www.europeanyachtcharters.com
Please could anyone with experience of Heavy Weather Sailing in a Lagoon 380 give me some tips on use of drogues and slowing devices and also any experiences of holding position with a parachute anchor to allow storm to pass asap rather than sailing with the weather? <span style="color:blue"> </span>
 
I dont have the experience of sailing with it, but have done quite a lot of research in this area. IMHO (and USCG) a series drogue is the best system, but the stern of the boat needs to be able to cope with the occasional wave coming over the top. A Prout can do this , but not so shore of the lagoon. If you are not so sure, there are two answers - take a smaller drogue design and allow higher speeds under the drogue, or go to a parachute anchor. The answer really lies in how much sea room you have. The parachute will slow you to minimal movement relative to the ocean current, whereas the drogue will allow 1-2 knots (or more depending on the drogue design). Personally I prefer the series drogue, but am not so sure about the stern on the Lagoon.
 
You need to read "The Drag Device Database"
After reading it I ordered a parachute anchor. Needless to say it's never
been out of it's bag. I suppose it gives some peace of mind against
ever having to completely stop the boat in survival weather.
For most fair weather cruising, sailing slowly under very reduced rig,
or running under bare poles should be enough. If running too fast,
a tyre or two towed on an anchor line would provide plenty of drag,
and meantime as fenders they deter anyone rafting up, or keep you off
rough walls without bursting.
 
A good friend of mine has a Lagoon 380 and we've sailed together a lot over the last couple of years.

You'll be glad to hear that he boat has performed fine - it's better put together IMHO than the 41. However being short it does pitch a bit and going into the wind is hard work.

Like your other respondents neither he nor I have had really bad weather on passage (50kts max) so I have never resorted to my drogue or parachute anchor.

I see no reason why the Lagoon 380 would perform differently to any other cat. You'd obviously need to set up either the para or drogue on a very large bridle.

I would not worry too much about being pooped. It could always happen but you have pretty high freeboard at the back there.

Best wishes
 
Oh hell! Another thread likely to end up as an argument! Oh well here goes.... This is just my opinion OK?

I have been caught out in really heavy weather 3 times in a Cat. Once in the channel in a Prout 31 with nothing on board where we were able to run in to comparative shelter in Plymouth on a broad reach under staysail alone. That was in a F8 gusting 10 SW. Once in the Bay of Biscay with similar weather but worse seas where even bare poles downwind caused us to surf at alarming speeds. This was a pretty standard Snowgoose with a parachute sea anchor on board which we deployed until it became clear that whatever length of line we put on it it was in danger of tearing the cleats out of the deck, and once off the Canaries on a Snowgoose Elite when the skipper ( a very experienced cat sailor) wanted to slow us down to avoid running onto the island at night in a F8. and deployed a series of upturned buckets on a line as a drogue on a heavy bridle beween the hulls. This slowed us from about 8 knots under heavily reefed genoa alone to about 2 knots. Surprisingly he still left the genoa heavily reefed and we just went below and slept till it was all over!

When I built my own boat (a Snowgoose Elite) I put oversized bitts in place of the standard Micky Mouse cleats fore and aft with fairleads on both sides of each hull to take a bridle. Then I made up a series drogue out of 8 buckets with plywood on the bottom with a hole in the middle to take the rope ( 60 metres of it) so that deployed on the bridle the buckets are upside down. This was pretty well a copy of what we used on my friends boat. Last year when in a F7-8 in the Bay du Seine with horrible short choppy seas I decided to try it out for a laugh and found that it worked a treat. In fact we were in Northerly winds about 8 miles off Ouistreham when I set it and after 2 hours (and a leisurely lunch) we had moved about 2 miles closer to shore sitting very comfortably. Even washed up before continuing!

So my belief is forget parachute anchors off the bow. Use a drogue. Probably lots of different drogues would work but you can't do better than a series of buckets upside down on a long rope with a weight on the end nearest the boat to sink em. Bit do ensure that your cleats are man enough for the job. Most aren't as modern day builders make em.
 
Off topic I know, but I got caught out on the Prindle 19 in a squall once. Managed to get to a windward beach and lowered the sails, went back to the club (to leeward) under bare poles, and had rooster plumes off the rudders. Wind F7-8, boat speed 8-9 knots!
 
I've been sailing cats for about 25 years and believe that no multihull should go to sea without 100 m of 12mm line and a couple of tyres. Chuck it over the back and slow the boat down so that the waves are going faster than you.
Used it a coupleof times and it works.
Without it even a Wharram will be going too fast.
 
So that the outside (bottom) of the bucket faces forwards. The other way up the bucket just aint strong enough for the drag. A piece of ply the dia of the inside of the bucket makes it strong enough this way and the hole in the middle should be tight on the rope so that a stopknot won't rip through. what the bucket does really is keeps the plywood disc at right angles to the rope. Otherwise it tends to slip sideways and collapse. Its just a variation on the old tyre trick but the buckets will stack inside one another when not in use and fit in a locker. Try it. It's excellent!!!
 
boatmike's comments tie in with what the USCG said after a research project - that the best way of dealing with heavy weather was a drogue over the stern rather than a sea anchor to the bow, whether mono or multi. The problem with the anchor is that if the weather gets really bad it still wont hold the bows to the sea and you are much more likely to get flipped if you take the waves sideways on. They recommended the series drogue type.

having said that I met a Snowgoose sailor in Zumaya in N Spain who had just ridden out 70kn to a sea anchor. It was an offshore wind (one of those jobbies that pours down from the mountains in N Spain) so the seas werent as bad as 70kn might normally imply. He hit trouble and had to be rescued when he tried to recover the anchor after the wind had dropped to 25kn.
 
Thanks so much to all who responded to my request for information and advice regarding this subject.
I am now going to experiment with a series drogue.
Many thanks
Adam
p.s. I am compiling a list of commercially endorsed catamaran skippers who are interested in occasional work, taking out guests on our Lagoon, from Port Solent. If you are interested, or know of anyone who may be, please contact me direct.
 
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