Category Archives: Drogues on Monohulls

Monohulls deploying a drogue or speed limiting device from their stern

Drogues on Monohulls

D/M-20 SPARKMAN & STEPHENS 34 (Swarbrick)

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S&S 34 monohullD/M 20

Monohull, Sparkman & Stephens

33' x 6 Tons, Fin Keel

Seasquid

Force 9+ Conditions

File D/M-19, obtained from Ben Tucker, Australia - Vessel name Gypsy2, hailing port Hobart, monohull sloop designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built by Swarbrick, LOA 33' x LWL 25' x Beam 10' x Draft 5' 10" x 6 Tons - Fin keel - Drogue: Seasquid on 150' (45m) x 7/16" (11mm) kermantle dynamic nylon double braid rode plus 6ft (2m) of 8mm chain - Deployed in  deep water midway on passage from Hobart, Australia to Bluff, New Zealand in winds of 45 knots gusting to 60kt and breaking seas of 20 - 30 ft. (6 - 10m) - Surfing down waves was inhibited, and speed was reduced to about 4 knots during 18 hours of deployment

Ben Tucker has over 70,000 miles of sailing experience, plus a million miles as an officer on a container ship. On this occasion he was sailing from Australia to New Zealand in early summer when he get caught in a strong gale:

On passage from Hobart to Bluff in early summer we got caught in a nasty low with strong westerly winds. Over the day the wind and seas built and quite suddenly it went from fun fast downwind sailing to dangerous just on dusk. We dropped the deep reefed main, and eventually ran with just a scrap of the roller reefing headsail set. As the seas built up we started surfing too fast for comfort down the front of the seas and deployed a sea squid on about 45 meters of 11mm kernmantle dynamic nylon rope that had previously been used for climbing.  About 2 meters of 8 mm chain was shackled between the drogue and the warp. 

The drogue immediately slowed us down and controlled the surfing. 

But a big problem with our setup was soon revealed, the stretch in the drogue warp, coupled with the short line and only a short length of lightweight chain caused the drogue to break free of the approaching wave and fly forward towards us through the air about 10 meters and then re-engage, this would allow the boat to accelerate quickly to 7 or 8 knots until the drogue reengaged and with a brutal jerk it then slowed us down again to around 4 knots, this would often rip the drogue back out of the water again, repeating the cycle.

It was clear that the wavelength was around 100 meters or so, as the drogue was visible behind us on the approaching crest when we were near the trough.

It was deployed off the port quarter with no bridle to keep it clear of the windvane. We added a length of 19mm polypropylene line approximately 100 meters long in parallel with the drogue. This slowed us down enough that the drogue remained in the water with a more steady pull. 

We rode out the night hand steering with a small scrap of jib sheeted tight amidships and the drogue and warp behind.  Many times the cockpit filled with water, and were buffeted badly by the bigger crests, bouncing down the wave face. But by early morning it had eased significantly. 

We found that the windvane had been damaged by the drogue line at some point, and the plastic sea squid drogue had a bad crack in it, probably due to the tumbling as it flew through the air, then tangled with the chain and reengaged. 

the biggest lesson was to avoid using a dynamic rope with a drogue, Have at least 100 meters of warp available and plenty of heavy chain on the end to keep it well under water.  

The next time I used a drogue sailing to Antarctica on my 33 foot yacht Snow Petrel I had no issues with a much longer line, approximately 120 meters of 18mm polypropylene and 10 meters of 10mm chain using a Seabrake HSD 300 and the pull was very steady and consistent.

Once again we have problems with drogues skipping out of the waves, in this case exacerbated by using a very stretchy climbing rope as a rode. Elasticity is crucial in the rode for a para-anchor so as to prevent shock loading, but in a drogue a non-stretchy rode, combined with some weight at the drogue end, helps to keep the rode submerged leading to a more constant rode tension.

Ben notes that the wave length was about 100m and the drogue rode about half that. One would expect that this might work well, placing the drogue on the back of the when one needs it most, ie surfing down the face of the same wave, but in this case the extreme stretching of the rode seems to have counteracted this, resulting in the drogue pulling out of the water with the concomitant rapid acceleration of the boat.

As the Furgusons on St. Leger (D/M 17) found, one needs to either have a long rode with more weight to cover a wider range of conditions (as did Ben Tucker on his next adventure), or else be able to adjust it from the cockpit to specifically tune it to the conditions at the time.

Drogues on Monohulls

D/M-21 Seastream 43

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D/M 21

Monohull, Ian Anderson SeaStream 43 MKIII Cutter

43' (13m) x 18 Tons, Fin Keel 

Jordan Series Drogue

Force 9+ Conditions

File D/M-21, obtained from Tim Good, UK- Vessel name Shadowfax, hailing port Falmouth, monohull cutter designed by Ian Anderson and built by Seastream, LOA 43' x LWL 36' x Beam 13' 9" x Draft 6' 6" x 18 Tons - Fin keel - Drogue: Jordan Series Drogue on 360' (110m) x 7/8" (22mm)  nylon double braid rode plus 14kg chain - Deployed in  deep water just south of Madeira while singlehanded midway on passage upwind from Canary Islands to Azores in winds of 45+ knots  and breaking seas of 16 - 23 ft. (5 -7m) - Speed was reduced to about 1.5 knots during 36 hours of deployment. Total drift was about 42 nm. Yacht was pooped by a large breaking wave once.

Tim Good has over 20,000 miles of experience, mostly in the East Atlantic and North Sea, but this was his first singlehanded passage. After his mainsail was split by the wind, and then his engine died owing to a fuel pump fault, Tim was unable to heave-to, and so chose to deploy the drogue to minimise his downwind drift:

I was sailing singlehanded upwind to the Azores from Gran Canaria. I knew that a strong blow was forecast to arrive as I passed Madeira. I decided to continue on rather than stop in the shelter of Madeira. The blow was stronger than forecast and around dusk I decided to reduce sail and heave-to when the wind had picked up to 45 kts sustained.

While reducing sail, my mailsail split down the middle, making it impossible to heave to. I tried to make headway with staysail and engine at around 45 degrees to the sea. Breaking waves were knocking the bow off but the engine kept correcting. Around 1am the engine stopped due to a leaking lift pump and I had no option but to turn and run with the sea and wind. I decided then to deploy the JSD which was in a 100L drybag in the cockpit and the bridles already rigged. 

I had around 14kg of chain on the end and I threw this over the stern. The JSD then deployed out of the bag smoothly with no chaffe or handling. The boat slowed to around 1.5-2kts. 

The waves were strangely large and frequently breaking for the windspeed. They'd had a long fetch to gather size from NW Spain. Presumably as a result from the acceleration around Madeira it increased their size. Difficult to say the size. Perhaps 5-7m?

About 45 mins after being on the drogue a big wave pooped over the stern filling the very large cockpit. I got pooped a few times but nothing as large as that.

I had no issues with chaffe since I have large overhanging chainplates which prevent any chaffe and strong crosby shackles, rated with a breaking strength in excess of half the displacement of the boat.

After approx 36 hours I retrieved it single-handed in around 1.5hours. It was easier than I had anticipated as the leader would go around my main winch and with each wave, the leader would slacken sufficiently to winch in a meter or so.

I continued on to the Azores and had the mainsail repaired.

I made a video of the account here which includes info about the deployment, chainplates and bridle setup. 



My chainplate design can be seen here:
https://www.chasing-contours.com/series-drogue/

Tim's video is highly informative and demonstrates how well he had prepared his boat in advance of any extreme conditions. Like all of us he had hoped never to need to use the equipment he installed but, as we can see here, his preparations resulted in easy and stress-free management of the conditions. In fact, this is probably the best prepared boat of all our drogue reports, and the result of that is clear to see. His solution for preventing chafe is excellent. Yes, it was probably quite expensive to build and install, but completely eliminates the problem.

Had he not been so well prepared his experience would have been way more challenging. Once again the need for propert preparation is made.

Drogues on Monohulls

D/M 22 Bestevaer 60C

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D/M 22

Dykstra-designed 2-masted Aero Rigged Schooner.

60' (18.5m) x 25 Tons, retractable centerboard

Jordan Series Drogue

Force 9+ Conditions

File D/M-22, obtained from Stephen Brown, France - Vessel name Novara, hailing port Newport UK, monohull cutter designed by Dykstra and built by Damstra in Holland, LOA 60'  (18.5m) x  Beam 13' 9" (4.5m) x Draft 5' 6" (1.7m)  - 10' (3m)  (CB down) x 25 Tons - retractable centerboard - Drogue: Jordan Series Drogue on 330' (100m)  - 180 cones,   spectra/dyneema double braid rode plus  25kg of chain for weight, using  10m bridle arms and 10m rode before teh first cone - Deployed in  deep water en route from South Georgia to Port Stanley, Falkland Islands in winds of 45kts to 55kts with gusts over 60 kts  and breaking seas of 16 - 23 ft. (5 -7m) - Speed was reduced to under 2 knots during 42 hours of deployment. Total drift was about 82 nm. 

Steve Brown has over 80,000 miles of experience, and seems to like cold weather! Novara was custom built as an icebreaker specifically for high lattitude and polar cruising, so they knew they would be getting into some serious weather.

On trying to return to the Falklands after cruising around South Georgia they were unable to find a decent weather window so left immediately after a storm passed, hoping that the wind and the waves would abate over the following week.

They did, but only for a few days, after which another system passed through, bringing 45kts and breaking seas.  Reluctant to be tethered to a para-anchor (which was probably too small), They elected to deploy the series drogue.

This was stored, ready to go, in a launch bag on the roof of the pilot house, with the end-weight chain in a separate bag at the stern near to the launch position. The bridles were already attached to the stern cleats and were temporarily secured using cable ties that woujld quickly break when a load was applied.

Once the decision to deploy was made, the chain and drogue were thrown over the stern. The centerboard was up. Once in the water, the boat quickly turned around to head downwind, and the speed slowed to under 2 knots. As Steve said, "it works!"

Although the boat lifted nicely on each passing wave, they did get pooped several times by breaking waves coming up over the stern and flooding the cockpit.

After almost two days the winds eased to 25kts and Steve and his crew were able to winch the drogue in using their main winch.

They lost a couple of days of time, and 82 miles of distance, but everyone was safe and there was no drama. Another successful deployment.

Steve makes a number of interesting points about his experience:

  1. Using a large sailbag secured close to the deployment point would have been easier than their pilothouse roof method.
  2. On retrieving the drogue they found 14 cones had been shredded by the wind, having been lifted clear of the water. He has since replaced the cones and extended the first section  (closest to the stern of the boat) by 10 meters so as to ensure they stay submerged.
  3. One of the bridles had been chafed through to 50% of its diameter through contact with a rough patch on the stern hawser. Steve has since put some thick diamter tubing over the bridle to try to prevent that.
  4. Retrieval could have been easier if the drogue had been led directly to the main winch instead of forward around a block and then back to the main winch. That would have avoided having a crew member at risk out on the side decks.
  5. Make sure your boat is ready for a huge wave crashing over your stern, as it can happen even with a drogue. Good cockpit drainage and well sealed hatches and companion ways are crucial.
  6. Practice makes perfect and will highlight any deficiencies in your setup or technique. Do this well before you set off on a passage so you can get it perfect.

To these observations, we can perhaps also add these suggestions:

  1. Chafe is a huge problem for drag devices that needs serious consideration BEFORE you set out to sea. The key to this is to avoid the bridle from touching anything.  Steve's solution of using a big plastic hose around the bridle is a good one. Perhaps an even better solution is that described by Tim Good in the previous report D/M-21 Seastream 43 in which he installs a custom-built bridle attachment point that extends well aft of anything that could possible touch the bridle.
    Then during the storm check on it regularly. Had Steve's storm lasted another day or two he could have had some big problems if the bridle chafed through.
  2. Big seas can and will jump onboard into your cockpit - be prepared for that and make sure anyone outside, even in the cockpit, is securely tethered. Better still, stay below and get some rest.
  3. As Steve says, think through and practice the retrieval. The challenge is how to get started - how will you get the bridle on to the winch to begin the process?
Drogues on Monohulls

D/M 23 Bruce Roberts V388

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D/M 23

Monohull, Bruce Roberts Voyage 388 cutter

39' (12m) x 23 Tonnes, Fin keel

Jordan Series Drogue

Force 9+ Conditions

File D/M-23, obtained from Rob Skelly, Canada -  Vessel name Pauline Claire, hailing port Vancouver, monohull steel hulled cutter designed by Bruce Roberts and built by Rob Skelly himself, LOA 39' (12m) x LWL 34' x Beam 13'  (4m) x Draft 6' 10"  (2.1m) x 23 tonnes - Fin keel - Drogue: Jordan Series Drogue  100'  leader followed by 130 cones  on 7/8" (22mm) nylon double braid rode plus 6.8kg lead weight with 24' (7m) bridles of 7/8" 3-strand nylon - Deployed in  deep water 120 miles south of Madegascar while singlehanded midway on passage  from Reunion to Durban in winds of 50+ knots  and breaking seas of 16 - 23 ft. (5 -7m) - Speed was reduced to about 2.5 knots during 36 hours of deployment. Total drift was about 70 nm. 

Having built his boat himself, Pauline Claire ended up being considerably heavier than the design specifications. Rob then set off  from British Columbia, Canada, on a circumnavigation with no previous sailing experience.  All was well until the Indian Ocean when he was notified by his shore-based sister of the oncoming gale that he could not avoid at his cruising speed.

Rob's Jordan Series Drogue was permanently set up with the bridles in place attached by spliced eyes to  the cleats welded to the aft quarters. Below the cleats on each side were vents that opened below into the engine room. These vents were quickly ripped off by the bridles once the drogue was deployed. After that there was nothing to chafe the bridles and, fortunately, there were no waves that pooped the stern that might have flooded the engine room through the now missing vents.

The drogue itself was stored in a locker on the deck above the transom from where it could be quickly thrown aft into the water.

Knowing the storm was coming, Rob was running downind under bare poles and auto pilot. The wind vane was pinned to lock the hydrovane runner amidships. The wind at this point was maybe 45 kts but the waves had not yet built to maximum.

The drogue was then deployed by throwing out the weight. The drogue rushed out, but two of the cones did snag (and tear) on the swim platform on the way out.

Once the drogue was out everything settled down. Autopilot was turned off, and Rob retired below from where he could watch the drogue through his Lexan companionway hatch. He was then able to sleep and send emails to his sisters by Iridium to reassure them that life was getting to be 'a bit of a drogue'.

The drogue would cycle between full load and slack as the waves passed by underneath. When under full load the bridle would be fully stretched out, once the load reduced the bridle would then retract and twist over itself. This did not seem to affect the performance of the drogue but might, over time, have caused some chafing issues though none was noted.

After two nights the wind had dropped and progressively eased to 15 kts while the seas continue to be large. Because the boat speed had dropped, there were times when the drogue was quite slack and, because of the movement of the boat in the waves actually got wrapped around the hydrovane rudder.  Once the load came on again the rudder was taking all the strain. Rob attempted to unwrap it but was unable to do some. Eventually, fortunately, during a slack period on a wave it did unhook itself.

The drogue was rigged with a strong recovery line attached to the V of the bridle. This long line was brought back to a which with which Rob was able to then haul in the drogue while the bridles remained attached to the cleats.

Once the bridle V was onboard, the bridle arms were disconnected from the cleats and the rest of the drogue was winched on board in sync with the slack from the waves, hand-tailing as the cones would not go through the self-tailer. Totaly recover time was maybe two hours.

Lessons Learned

  1.  The number of cones used were correct for the design weight of the boat. However, the boat ended up being much heavier than intended and so the number of cones was insufficient. This resulted in a speed of 2.5kts  instead of 1.5kts when on the drogue.  Since he was headed in the right direction anyway this was not of any concern. Rob has since had another 25 cones added.
  2. Rob also changed the 3-strand bridles into double braid (25mm) to prevent the twisting.
  3. He has also added another 8 lbs (3.6kg) of lead to the end of the drogue, separated from the other one by about 6' (2m). These are shackled to an eye splice at the end of the rode.
  4. The vents have been replaced with flat deck plates so there is nothing to snag.
  5. Rob has not yet figured out how to solve the problem of the cleats on the swim deck snagging the cones on deployment.
  6. There is a small wooden platform on the hydrovane on which one can step while pinning the vane in place. This had a sharp corner which also snagged a cone on deployment. That has now been rounded off.
  7. Rob recommends retrieving the drogue as soon as possible when conditions improve. so as to prevent the risk of it wrapping around a rudder.

Having discovered that the retieval was not as hard as expected, especially with the retrieval line going to the V of the bridle, Rob has no hesitation in using the drogue.