Drogue for Following Seas ?

[Al]

Hi All,

Has anyone ever used a drogue (West Marine Part Number 381071) to control a CP16 in following seas ?

Al

[Craig Weis]

Part of the problem of a drag device is that it does not allow the boat to respond to the changing seas fast enough to save the boat from being abeam [Broaching and rolling over, turning turttle] of the sea and therefore knocked down.
If your surfing down the waves drag a bucket in a bridle or 100 foot of line behind the boat for improved control.
Always have your knife ready to cut the line.

My 'drone' is a 3 lb Hills Brother Coffee can in bridle. I also use the can to pee in and toss over the side, and to hang from the stern cleat while at dock to act as a shock absorber from other boat's wake. Smooth baby.

Al asks;

Extra\ What is the safest point of sail for following seas ? Dead astern IMHO.

jpfx says correctly;

You could get 'pooped' by a wave and bailing out takes a few minutes which might be less time than you've got.

Exactly! That's how the Half Moon went down in the Bay of Green Bay taking the life of Lathem Smith, his hired man, and Lathem's daughter's best friend. The Half Moon was once owned by FDR's nephew and she was built with an extra wide companionway for FDR's wheel chair.

Apparently she sailed that night back from Marinotte-Monomenee heading for Sturgeon Bay with out being buttoned up. When the Half Moon was brought up the hired man was in the rigging, Lathem's body was grappled off the bottom, and the best friend drown just a few feet from the beach and cliff holding up the Sherwood Point Lighthouse after swimming with life jacket on all night. And Lathem's daughter washed up on the shore in her life jacket just a few feet in front of her best friend and was discovered alive a few hours later when her moans were over heard above the sound of the crashing waves by the lighthouse keeper's wife. In the picture on the lower left between the bushes is a point of land off in the distance. That's Letham Smith's Quarry where a goodly portion of LimeStone came from to rebuild Chicago after the great fire of 18??.

skip.

[Al]

Hi Skip,

Balancing boat speed with wave speed does sound rather challenging. Would a 1 gallon milk jug filled with water and tied to the aft windward cleat with 30 feet of rope keep the boat from surfing or broaching from a tripped keel or would you use a 5 gallon bucket with more rope ?

Al

Extra\ What is the safest point of sail for following seas ?

[jpfx]

What skip said.
(from what I've read elsewhere) this gets worse the shorter the boat is. You could get 'pooped' by a wave and bailing out takes a few minutes which might be less time than you've got.