<<A drogue is to slow the boat down and keep it moving slowly in the
desired direction and keep it pointing in the right direction i.e.
broach prevention. >>
Definitely.
My goal would be simply to keep the boat upright and facing windward
with as little stress as possible, so I'd either go for drogues or an
undersized parachute. Probably drogues because there are so many
redundant pieces, making them less prone to fouling or failure.
This would be the case regardless of the orientation of the boat
(either bows to weather or windward hull to weather, a separate debate
to which there has already been plenty of activity).
I'd keep a real parachute anchor on board just in case I needed to
minimize leeward drift, but use it only when absolutely necessary.
<<A parachute anchor is to anchor the boat. It should keep the boat
stationary relative to the body of water. Who would anchor their boat
from the stern?>>
I agree with you that anchoring a boat from the stern could be
foolish. Anchoring the boat and taking the force of the storm aft would
be looking for trouble. I'll buy the argument that keeping the stern
windward could work IF you're still actively moving leeward and slowly
drifting up wave faces (using the directional stability of the bow to
keep the boat in line). But only with drogues.
This is where I'll differ with someone's previous post. One actually
can move leeward, through the water, when using drogues. That's the
point. Just because waves move leeward does not mean that all the water
itself is moving leeward. Waves are simply a surface feature created by
the wind, and do not represent a moving current. In fact, as some have
pointed out, they can be against the current. You can still move
through the water leeward even as waves overtake you.
Fortunately bow vs stern would appear to be a non issue with the
proas. The question is how much you want to slow your progress leeward
and/or how much force you want pulling your boat into the proper
orientation.
<<Professional fishers make significant ground to windward off the east
coast of Australia by harnessing the southerly current using a parachute
anchor. >>
Neat. That's either convenient, gutsy, or crazy, depending upon the
weather. My hat is off to anyone who works for a living in the Southern
Ocean, Bering Sea, or North Sea. I'm not that brave.
- Mike
nudd@ozemail.com.au wrote:
> More confusion.
> A parachute anchor is an anchor, not a drogue.
> Different devices, different purposes.
> A drogue is to slow the boat down and keep it moving slowly in the
> desired
> direction and keep it pointing in the right direction i.e. broach
> prevention.
> A parachute anchor is to anchor the boat. It should keep the boat
> stationary
> relative to the body of water. Who would anchor their boat from the
> stern?
> Professional fishers make significant ground to windward off the east
> coast of
> Australia by harnessing the southerly current using a parachute anchor.
> PN
>
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