S/P-4

Commercial F/V

70' x 30 Tons

24-Ft. Dia. Sea Anchor

Force 9-10 Conditions

File S/P-4, obtained from Captain Bobby Lucas, Youngstown, FL. - Vessel name Captain Gorman III, hailing port Panama City, FL, commercial F/V, designed by Davis, LOA 70' x LWL 66' x Beam 20' x Draft 7' x 30 Tons - Sea anchor: 24-ft. Diameter Para-Tech on 600' x 7/8" nylon braid rode, with 5/8" galvanized swivel - Full trip line - Deployed in a whole gale in deep water about 150 miles SE of Morgan City, Louisiana, with winds of 45-60 knots and seas of 15-20 ft. - Vessel's bow yawed 10° - Drift was 8-10 n.m. during 48 hours at sea anchor.

Captain Gorman III is one of numerous commercial F/Vs that work the Gulf of Mexico out of Panama City, Florida. Many are equipped with sea anchor. Some carry 1000 feet of nylon rode on a hydraulically operated reel. Captain Gorman III routinely uses her 24-ft. diameter Para-Tech sea anchor for sea layovers and station-keeping offshore. In March 1988 her skipper, Bobby Lucas, deployed it about 150 miles south of the Louisiana coast in a gale. Transcript:

I am a longliner fisherman for tuna and swordfish, and I fish anywhere from 100 to 200 miles offshore. During the winter I am in a lot of rough weather. I used to idle into the sea or idle with the sea to keep from lying dead in the water and getting hit broadside by big waves. It is very dangerous not to have any way of anchoring. Now I always carry my 24-ft. sea anchor so that I can get my bow around into the sea and keep from lying in the trough in rough weather. I have been anchored in 50 knot winds, gusting 70, and seas of 12-20 ft. for as long as 48 hours. Without the sea anchor it would have been a very uncomfortable ride and possibly I would have had to steam in to port. Offshore, it is necessary to have a sea anchor.