multihullers please and others

I'm of the belief that the best storm tactics are a good weather forecast and a fast boat to sail yourself away from trouble and into shelter quickly enough.

With today's tools, techniques & technology this is feasible.

The evidence is that I don't think you'll find many of today's world-girdling racers carrying drogues or paras etc. They work with it. Granted, they are racing, but the pressure of racing has caused us to push the envelope and explore new techniques and discover that there is another way.

Ok, granted, you could find youself on a lee shore in a terrible storm in a lemon of a boat, with limited sea room. But for my views on this, see my opening remark.
 
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Dogwatch - Are you saying that Pat and others have decided the advice followed by John was wrong, i.e. streaming a loop from bow to stern to force the boat to slide sideways down the waves?

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It is my understanding - from a range of published comment - that designer Pat Patterson changed his views and his guidance to owners following this loss. However, you should speak/write to 'Pip' Patterson, his son, for the definitive guff..... and, of course, the hapless owner John Passmore. Definitive.

As for Richard Woods' escapade, I think you will find - if you read ALL the published stuff from him on this, that there are some pointed questions regarding the length and residual strength of the warp deployed, the measures taken to prevent chafe, and the condition of the para-anchor material itself. He does agree that several bits of his kit were known by him to be in a degraded condition, due to age/UV, and were overdue for replacement. His trampoline netting, for example, broke under his weight, making it hazardous to work forward.......

All those who advocate a para-anchor - including many hugely-experienced Antipodeans who have ridden out severe storms - insist that the 'rode' is long enough, it is strong enough, it is made from stretchy nylon, and it is *effectively* protected from chafe.

Old, stiff/furry, UV-degraded anchor warps and too-small para-anchors of suspect strength are not necessarily going to do the job in a survival storm......

Again, you should seek out Richard Woods and ask him, as others have done, what he would do differently next time and why.

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Oops. Just seen subsequent posts. There's quite a lot published on multis and para-anchors, in big storms. That's experience - not conjecture. Try googling for 'The Drag Device Database'.

Many folk have tried makeshift devices 'when caught with pants down', and some have worked. But I wouldn't want to rely on that level of 'By guess and by God!'. Others clearly choose to worry about it only when it happens.....

I believe, from quite extensive research of others' experiences, that one can use certain techniques to slow a boat down, but there comes a point in big storms where one cannot continue sailing, and stopping the boat safely is then the best option. I believe that both an adequate Jordan Series drogue and a sound, sufficient Para Sea Anchor can do that. And for that task, second-rate preparation and kit is not enough.

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Having read John's amazing account, I think he did two things wrong - the first was set off with a forecast force 9; the second was not just leaving the helm, but setting the autopilot to a course rather than lashing the helm; therefore, as soon as the wind changed direction, instead of the boat reacting to it, the autohelm started to send him accross the waves.
 
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the first was set off with a forecast force 9

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I haven't read all the tale, but if this true then the word "donut" springs to mind.
 
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And so, when I reached the top of the Shetlands, I stopped. I sorted out my long warps, re-read Pat Patterson on the management of catamarans in gales, and waited to see which quadrant of the west the unpleasantness would be coming
from. If there was to be any north in it, I would duck back down the east coast. Anything else would see me running off towards Norway. Either direction would avoid the oilfield on the Viking Bank. After 24 hours, during which every fishing boat in the Shetland fleet came to see whether I wanted to be salvaged, the
coastguard shipping forecast gave the definitive southwesterly force 9. Ideal, I could get some westing before it arrived. It was while I was on the way that I heard my last coastguard broadcast which had now become "southwest storm force 10, soon."

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