Trailing Warps

[Blue5]

Just been reading books and articles on heavy weather sailing and trailing warps, all gripping stuff but no mention of lengths or sizes. I assume there is no one size fits all but on say a 40ft boat what would be required to effect efficient drag and stability

 

[Deleted member 36384]

A Lot - But There Are Better Ways To Slow Down

Just been reading books and articles on heavy weather sailing and trailing warps, all gripping stuff but no mention of lengths or sizes. I assume there is no one size fits all but on say a 40ft boat what would be required to effect efficient drag and stability

350 ft of 1 1/2" warp but you get better drag from certain devices. There is a shed load of stuff on this forum. Also look through PBO and YM web pages for past articles as they have done some good research into this subject. Its about £3 a reprint.

I just Googled "trailing rope size for slowing down yachts" and up popped a forum where this subject is discussed.

 

[Spicemariner]

Try googling Jordon Series drogue. You can buy the kits from Sailrite in the US.

 

[goboatingnow]

You rarely have a specific line typically I have used a length ( or several lengths of long mooring warps, with some sort of weight at the end to keep it from skipping. Its not an exact science...>!!

 

[estarzinger]

You rarely have a specific line typically . . . Its not an exact science...>!!

That's for sure. Mostly people use their spare anchor warp (eg 100m).

Our own experience doing this (on a 37'er and then a 47'er) is you need at least 150' to get a useful amounts of drag. A 50' dock line will do pretty much nothing. And it helps to have a small amount (but not too much) of weight on the end (say 10' of chain).

Our rule of thumb is that a long warp works well on a boat that will not/does not surf (like or first boat), but that a drogue is needed on a boat that will surf (like our current boat).

 

[Blue5]

Thanks all, some interesting stuff out there. Great web site estarzinger, will bookmark that one.