CHAPTER 10 Trailing a series drogue
Bridle
Series drogues
Individual drogue Weight
Drogues Even more drag can be achieved by streaming a drogue. A number of designs for drogues are commercially available, but it must be understood that the effect on a sailing boat can be dramatic. Drag is very considerable, loads are correspondingly high, and chafe is a real danger. Some users note that while the drogue certainly reduces way and holds the stern up to the waves, it is so effective that the boat is pooped (swept end-to-end) far more regularly than was otherwise the case. This was the experience of Charles Watson in Saecwen, a 35ft long-keeled yacht in a North Atlantic storm using an Attenborough drogue after broaching and being knocked down under bare poles. So severe was the punishment that Watson gave up on the drogue and lay a’hull. A series drogue (see below) may well have proved a safer option, although it was not generally available in 1990 when Saecwen had her experience. The series drogue is a development of the single drogue that is favoured by some experienced multihull skippers. It has also been successfully deployed by many monohulls. It is built up from a large number of 5-inch cones set around 20 inches apart on a long nylon line. Size depends on the boat’s displacement, but a typical
example would be 100 cones on 16mm line for a 5 or 6-ton boat. The extreme end carries a weight which is often a bight of chain, but can be a conventional anchor of around 25lb (11 kilos). The whole drogue is streamed from a bridle to the stern(s) of the boat, with about 70 - 100ft (22-31 metres) of line between the bridle and the first cone. This type of drogue is said to be easy to set and can be retrieved without a winch or trip line. It also delivers a surprisingly steady pull because the length over which the cones are spread means that at least some of them are always loaded up despite the pulsing of the waves. If a drogue holds the boat back too hard, there is no law against using one with a storm jib set. The strains will rise substantially, but it may still be worth trying.
MANUAL OF SEAMANSHIP | 105
Storm Survival
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