Storm Sails and Drogues

[charlienog Profile]

Hi,

Currently considering a set of storm sails for Amalie.

There are a number of options for storm jibs and trysails.

Also looking into series drogues (Don Jordan design, http://oceanbrake.com/whatisit.html) for extreme weather conditions.

What is the experience of other forum members in these areas?

Charles

[Antti_DD Profile Website]

Hi Charles,

Unfortunately, I don't have experience on either of these, but hopefully someone else has. I would also be interested to hear more about this issue.

I guess that the problem with a storm jib is that setting the sail in the conditions where it is needed might be a bit problematic when the boat doesn't have a dedicated stay for the storm jib. However, there are many products on the market, which make it possible to hoist the storm jib around the furled fore sail. Here is one product (storm-bag), which concept seems interesting: http://youtu.be/IeVix3gbZdc

[charlienog Profile]

Hi Antti, slow getting back to you on this - apologies.

After a bit of research on this topic, I've come to the following conclusions to be able to handle heavy weather conditions:

- best approach to heavy weather is to avoid it, if you can, by using more than one weather forecast for the area and timing the start of the trip -

1. 'heaving to' is important to understand and practise under progressively heavy seas.
2. for more extreme conditions ( gale force and greater) there is split opinion on the best approach to be used:
2.1 series drogue chutes (small dia. >100 chutes) attached to a bridle at the stern
2.2 a single parachute sea anchor, with a long rode (> wave peak to peak distance or at least 3 times the LOA, i.e. 100m +) attached to the bow, stern or combined with the heave to position.

I decided to opt for 2.2 + heaving to. This seams to cover medium to worst case conditions with a 'relatively' straightforward deployment and easier recovery than the series drogue.

... work in progress.

Charles.

[Antti_DD Profile Website]

Hi Charles,

With DD, I have been heaving to in offshore only once before. That was during a 2,5 days singlehanded cruise in the Baltics, when I needed to get some sleep. The wind was probably around 20-25 knots at the time so of course the conditions are not comparable to the extreme conditions. Nevertheless, I was surprised how easy it was to find the right balance for heaving to and how comfortable the life become onboard compared to beating against the wind and waves. Based on this experience, I have not considered buying a sea anchor as HR29 appears to behave well when hove to. However, in extreme conditions having that sea anchor as a reserve is not a bad idea, so again it comes down to the kind of sailing that you are doing. Here in the Baltics where the shore is always close, I don't see that much need for having a sea anchor.

[charlienog Profile]

I agree with you, survival techniques are more relevant to offshore sailing, so it would difficult to justify the expenditure for a drogue or parachute if you're into coastal sailing and have easy access to a harbour if the weather picks up.

Charles