Mailport Drogue Tactics Heavy-Weather Tactics On
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MAILPORT DROGUE TACTICS In your recent article on drogues (January 2009), you describe the Jordan Series drogue, which is com- pact, simple to deploy, and tremen- dously effective, perhaps too effec- tive. So why doesn’t one just deploy a little less of the series drogue, or Just as winter descended upon North America, reader Marianne Webb trail less of it on a longer lead line sent us this photo of her Gemini 105Mc enjoying the clear skies and warm to achieve less drag. One could also waters off Barbuda. We print it now as a reminder: Spring is not far off. attach a trip line to the end, so that you could retrieve it from rear to front one cone at a time. that is unlikely to pull out of a wave change one’s mind and heave-to, if Rod Kleiss face and lose its bite. They don’t the crew gets tired. Superior Pilot, Vancouver Pilot have enough experience yet to say if When we go offshore, we carry a Bayfield, Wisc. this is a good idea or not. To follow large (18-foot) Para-tech sea anchor this and other projects, visit www. with 600 feet of dedicated line. We Circumnavigators and PS con- bethandevans.com. haven’t had to use it yet, but would tributors Evans Starzinger and Beth prefer to deploy it off the bow so Leonard, who produced the drogue HEAVY-WEATHER TACTICS that we can use the windlass to re- report, have in fact made their Generally, I find that I prefer more trieve it. When doing so, we would Jordan Series drogue in two lengths. flexibility in heavy-weather man- store the anchor and rode ready to They can stream both for maximum agement aboard our yacht, Free deploy in the port cockpit locker drag, or just one for reduced drag. Spirit, than a Gale Rider or sea and would run the end of the line However, even a shortened series anchor can offer. If one has limited up to the bow, outside of all rigging, drogue is still more difficult to re- sea room because of proximity to and then in to the bow over the cover than a single-element drogue shipping, rocks, land, etc., then us- because you have to be careful ing a drogue or sea anchor has risks ON THE WEB AT not to rip the sewn-in cones while as well as benefits. As your January winching. Putting a trip line on the drogues article stated, it takes a WWW.PRACTICAL-SAILOR.COM series drogue is an interesting and couple of hours and a lot of sweat to debated topic. Various manufactur- bring in a drogue. f you find Technical Editor Ralph ers all advise against it, because I have found over the past 30 INaranjo’s epoxy barrier coat project they think it will create a major years of cruising that heaving-to (page 27) inspiring, then you’ll want to tangle. Also, the series drogue still using a deeply reefed mainsail or also read two related stories posted has significant drag when pulled in a storm trysail works well. We do free online: “Hull Blisters: Know the backward by a trip line. Starzinger not use a backed jib since we find Enemy” and “Do It Yourself Sailboat and Leonard know of two boats that that tends to push the bow off and Blister Fix.” To get the most out of the have tried trip lines on Jordan series makes the boat crab downwind products in our test of vinyl window drogues and reported that they have rather than stay up into the wind. treatments (page 22), the online not had tangles. The couple is cur- Free Spirit will ride nicely in 60 article, “Caring for Clear Plastics on rently working on a setup that uses knots of wind this way with fairly Your Boat,” offers some insight into two standard drogues, one behind heavy seas. the maintenance of hatches, port- the other, with 300 feet of rode If we have enough crew, then lights, and windows. These and more between. With this, they can crank it’s often preferred to sail out the articles can be reached by clicking away at the winch when recovering storm—at least if one’s destination the “Tools and Techniques” button at and they will have an arrangement is downwind. One can then easily www.practical-sailor.com. PracTIcaL SAILOR MARCH 2009 3 M AILPORT sider the shape and how that affects The February article was not the ability to generate lift. If a foil meant to imply that all new boats with half the area can generate the exhibited the sailing tendencies same lift through a more efficient described. In fact, our testers’ shape, then all you lose is skin experiences with your T3400 have drag. That’s good right? But it can been positive (February 2006), go too far with very thin cross-sec- although we have not yet sailed tions that are more easily stalled, the fin-keel version in heavier air. creating a boat that is hard to keep Several readers also wondered in its groove. why the article did not touch on A nice thin rudder that slips eas- another related topic: stability. ily through the water stalls sooner. PS will be looking more closely at A stalled rudder isn’t making lift stability in a future issue, par- and isn’t controlling the boat. And ticularly as it relates to the new we didn’t even get into the issue standards used by manufacturers of the rudder broaching when the to classify boats as offshore ca- wider transom boats heel way pable. PS is genuinely concerned over. At what angle of heel will a that the European Community’s wide transom boat’s rudder broach Recreational Craft Directive The Tartan 3400 (above) is an ex- compared to a narrow one? Yikes. I (RCD) ratings (Category A, Cate- ample of a new boat design that has like Steve Killing and Doug Hunt- gory B, etc.) are misleading to new Black Billy by Photo succeeded in being well-mannered. er’s excellent book, “Yacht Design boat buyers. Explained.” Also excellent is “The Symmetry of Sailing” by Ross Gar- WAXING PAINTED HULLS? bow roller and three times around rett. Lots of depth. And some more: While reading the February 2009 the windlass and secure it to a bow “Principles of Yacht Design” by article, “Waxing Less than Poet- cleat. We would then feed it over the Larsson and Eliasson, “Seaworthi- ic,” I wondered whether it is nec- side slowly from the cockpit. This ness: The Forgotten Factor” by C.A. essary to wax a painted fiberglass accomplishes two things: It would Marchaj. hull that is in good shape? stop the boat more completely if close to dangers and, as mentioned, Dan Pfeiffer Frank Hall it can be retrieved more easily and Pyxis, Pearson 10m Miranda, CD Typhoon quickly because we have an electric Grand River, Ohio New Haven, Conn. windlass to do the work for us. TARTAN 3400 A non-abrasive wax/ Bob Gould My current boat, a Tartan 3400 sealant or detailing Free Spirit, Mariner 47 (modern beamy design), exhib- spray designed for Boston, Mass. its no tendency toward the kind painted surfaces of behavior described in your might protect and PEARSON 32 BEAM February 2009 article. Based enhance gloss, but Regarding “A Question of Balance,” on my experience, I believe the marine paint manu- February 2009. By my crude mea- factors you identified in the facturers are picky surements from the drawings you article (hull shape and keel/ about which products made, the 5-foot, 8-inch-wide Pear- rudder design, mostly) do not of they recommend. son 32 transom looks like 7 feet, 4 themselves create the balance Anything with an inches. This has significance in the problems you’re addressing. abrasive should be context of the article, if you consider Clearly, a good designer can avoided. Interlux the modern trend of wider transoms create a sweet-sailing boat with says its Premium Teflon Marine and the real reason for it: fitting that a smallish keel, a spade rudder, Wax is fine for its LPU paints, large aft cabin. These seemingly and lots of beam carried aft. My while the folks at Awlgrip advise small details become important in Tartan (beavertail shoal draft) is a to use only their Awlwash cleaner. the types of comparisons you are case in point. We will be including these types trying to make. of products as our review of waxes Also, you can’t simply compare Jim Starr progresses. In the meantime, we two foils (rudder or keel) based on Snap Dragon, Tartan 3400 would abide by the paint makers’ the lateral area. You have to con- New Bern, N.C. recommendations. 4 March 2009 WWW.PracTIcaL-SAILOR.COM M AILPORT STURDEE CAT was sized correctly for our 10-ton- Glad to see you are considering displacement boat and worked other daysailers. My 1975 14-foot effectively while cruising in our Stur-Dee Cat, Oldesquaw, probably local Pacific Northwest waters. sees many more sunsets while un- However, after a season of strug- derway than the trophy boats. My gling to recover our rode and wife, Kathy, and I are inspecting anchor at 2 a.m. in 30 knots in the the start of the Annapolis-to-New- Sea of Cortez, we upgraded to a port race in this photo (right). Lewmar V3, designed for a much larger boat. It has so far performed Ward Anderson well, but we have yet to be awak- Oldesquaw, Stur-Dee Cat ened this season with the wind Chesapeake Bay howling in the rigging and with a lee shore.