Hypothetical Question - spin off?

[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

One thing that came through from Jimi's question was the use of drogues. I currently do not carry a drogue, they are not expensive, not really; I just don't know what size would be appropriate to carry.

Like many items on board that people carry they came with the boat, or someone you know with the same boat has one 'this size or that size' so you just copy. Or you were given an item and have just kept that one, maybe adjusting it here and there in it's life.

Well I have none of the above here, Top Cat is 2.9 tons, 26ft x 13ft 9", she has some windage but nothing like some catamarans. I would like a drogue that will pull her nose to wind or allow some kind of steering. It might also be deployed if I am under tow to stop her skitting (its a real word ok).

Would anyone like to tell me how I work out what size would be appropriate, also I guess, it should be able to be hauled back in by two of us without putting us in danger.

Thank you in advance....

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk>Top Cat Homepage</A>

 

[snowleopard]

<a drogue that will pull her nose to wind or allow some kind of steering>

seems to be a bit of confusion here. there are sea anchors which will hold you hear to wind and drogues which will slow you while running before. they are totally different beasts and not interchangeable.

i carry a sea anchor and spent a lot of time discussing the size requirement with manufacturers and suppliers. one started with a rule of thumb that the parachute diameter should be the same as the beam of the boat. 'what about cats? i asked. reply: the same. then i pointed out that with my 23ft beam that would give me the same size chute as a mono of 100+ ft and displacing maybe 100 tons. we settled on a diameter of 15ft, the same as a mono of say 60ft. in the end i bought the complete kit from aladdin's cave, made in australia.

my displacement is 6 tons and i probably have twice your windage. that means you need around half the area that i have, i.e. around 11 ft dia.

and you can't haul it back aboard by pulling on the line, you motor round to pick up the buoy on the end of the floating trip line allowing you to collapse it first.

i don't currently carry a drogue, if i did it would probably be a series type which allows you to reduce drag by veering less line.

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[jimi]

interesting .. think given sea room and being clear of shipping lanes a very attractive option if losing a rudder would be to lie to some sort of sea anchor .. until weather ameliorates .. what do you reckon

<hr width=100% size=1>.. got an udder rudder, brudder?

 

[plombier]

Have you considered streaming a very long, heavy looped warp which would slow you down when running or keep you stable when being towed. Are sea anchors not normally deployed from the bow to keep head-to-wind and recovered with a winch?

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by plombier on 16/03/2004 23:04 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

Yes you are right, thank you for clearing my misunderstanding. I read with interest about series drogues and noted a set of plans to build them by hand, very interesting.

The parachute, yes, the designer of my boat after reading John Passmores account off Shetland where Lottie Warren capsized while running under bare poles at 10kts streaming strops said that maybe this was not the best approach in heavy weather. He said that he will now be considering carrying a parachute to bring her into the wind.

11ft seems manageable I guess, have you tried deploying yours yet, did it open successfully, did you have any problems or learn anything you did not expect. Are you intending to just use one of your anchor warps, are we not looking at 100m of line plus....

Another question, do you think a series drogue will have the same steering abilities as a single large drogue?

<hr width=100% size=1>Julian

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk>Top Cat Homepage</A>

 

[Twister_Ken]

Reality Check

I sometimes think that if we carried everything aboard our boats that we might, just possibly might, need one day, they'd sink before we set sail.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.writeforweb.com/twister1>Let's Twist Again</A>

 

[AndrewB]

Series drogue thread

There was one on the PBO forum last week <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ybw.com/cgi-bin/forums/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=pbo&Number=484607>HERE</A> with a number of interesting points raised, mainly concerning heavy weather use but also applicable to steering. In a post headed "DIY version" there is a link to a site giving the USCG recommended lengths.

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[MainlySteam]

The Pardey's DVD (also on tape I believe) Storm Tactics has very good coverage of para-anchors. So good in fact that I would never consider carrying one - would rather take my chances with the boat than hang over the side in big seas trying to deploy one of those. The demo is in calm water.

A small fragile boat maybe when it may be deployed in only gale condtions rather than true storm ones, but otherwise, in my view, only as long as you have the holding on ability of an ape or can swim to shore wherever that is, or a strongly crewed boat.

Personal view only, oriented towards my lack of apedness and my adversedness for going for swims in conditions of little hope for rescue.

John

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