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IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF K. ADLARD COLES
Adlard Coles and his era may have passed away, but his legendary
masterpiece Heavy Weather Sailing will always be a best seller. What is
so remarkable about Heavy Weather Sailing is that in it Coles laid down
a foundation for the methodical comparisons of different tactics used by
small craft. Coles was an enterprising seaman who knew sailboats inside and
out, but the ingredient that set his work apart was the systematic way
in which he compiled, documented, and analyzed case histories. Coles avoided
dogmatism. He stayed away from secondhand accounts, unsubstantiated claims and
idle speculation. He relied on real life observations, evidence and data. He
let the facts speak for themselves, searched for compelling logic, and was
quick to nail it down when he found some. And yet he was slow to speak from a
posture of certainty. He kept his mind open, avoided overcompensation, and was
willing to learn new lessons. He understood the subject of heavy weather
tactics to be complex and did not wish to draw false inferences or jump to
premature conclusions. He purposely left many questions, in particular the one
relating to sea anchors and drogues, open to future resolution. We walk in his
footsteps.
GROUP SYMMETRY AND DISASTERS AT SEA
Symmetry-keeping, inertia and group linearity have been the cause of
many disasters at sea, even for naval ships. There comes a time when every
fiber in a seaman's body seems to be urging him to change course, or break
away, or heave-to. But he/she just sits there, paralyzed as it were, letting
nature take its course. Reflection will show that sailors are more likely to
succumb to this sort of inertia if they are involved in a race, flotilla, or
rally. Examples abound. Fastnet '79. The Queen's Birthday Storm. Transat des Alizes. The disastrous
Sydney-Hobart Race of 1998. The Caribbean 1500 Rally of 1998.
It is a lot easier for an independent-thinking cruiser to "break
symmetry" than it is for a crew participating in a race or rally.
Hypothesis: Everything else being equal, the herd mentality can increase the
odds of disaster, but independent thinking can reduce it.
Experience has shown that in offshore gales small differences in
initial disposition can produce huge differences later on. Indeed much of what
we call seamanship has to do with being able to act in advance -- taking
appropriate measures early. If one can't act early enough because of peer
pressure, or race or rally deadlines, the chance of disaster may increase.
There is nothing wrong with yacht races or rallies per se, so long as
organizers recognize the pitfall and provide adequate
"symmetry-breaking" guidelines. But there doesn't seem to be any such
policy in force today. So, if you are about to participate in race or rally, or
go "buddy boating" with other cruisers, remember this: Group sailing
poses a danger in that the participants are under pressure to finish the voyage
together. This sort of pressure runs against the cardinal rule of cruising
safety, which is never leave according to clock or
calendar, nor have a deadline at the other end. If you are
participating in a rally and the barometer begins to fall, it may be time to
break symmetry and go your own independent way, irrespective of what everyone
else is doing.
NEW
DATABASE FILES:
Science depends on a large number of
observations from which reliable patterns can be extracted. However in trying
to compile a database such as this, one runs into a paradox: Those who use drag
devices for the first time and run into problems will tend to send back
comprehensive reports; the veterans who use them routinely and don’t run into
any problems, won’t. To avoid a possible distortion, we need a broader sample –
a more balanced base of participation. If you use a sea anchor or drogue in
heavy weather PLEASE PARTICIPATE IN THE DRAG DEVICE DATABASE, even if it was a
routine event. It is easy to participate. Just fill out the DDDB form and send
it along with a paragraph or two of observations, opinions and suggestions.
Your participation will help balance things out, level the playing field,
sharpen the focus and increase our understanding of offshore safety. Thank you
for your participation.
The files listed below were submitted after the publication of the 4th
edition of the DDDB. For an actual copy of any of these files please send a
SASE to DDDB, POB 19, SUMMERLAND, CA 93067, U.S.A. Please specify the file by
its number (S = sea anchor, D = drogue, M = monohull, C = catamaran, T =
trimaran, P = power).
MONOHULLS USING SEA ANCHORS
S/M-42: Vessel name Never
Monday, Out Island sloop designed by Morgan, LOA 33' x 7 Tons. Never
Monday was tethered to a 15-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor in a
whole gale about 500 miles north of the North Cape of New Zealand. "The
boat was immediately brought bow into the waves..." (Quoting her owner). Never
Monday remained sea anchored for 64 hours, the line chafing
through just before the parachute could be retrieved. "I may have second
thoughts about deploying the sea anchor because of the rough ride we
experienced, but I feel that we were spared a complete roll over by the fact
that we were on a sea anchor," (quoting her owner).
S/M-43:
Vessel name Blue Devil, Caliber 38' x 10. 5 Tons. This yacht was
participating in the 1998 Caribbean 1500 Rally when she ran into the remnants
of hurricane Mitch and her skipper deployed a 15-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea
anchor. Blue Devil was tethered to the para-anchor for 16 hours in F-9
conditions, her skipper reporting satisfactory results.
S/M-44:
Vessel name Dragon, Hinckley 38’ x 11 Tons. This yacht also ran into
tropical storm Mitch while participating in the 1998 Caribbean 1500. Dragon was tethered to an 18-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor
for 36 hours in Force 9-10 conditions, her lady skipper, Pat Festino, reporting
satisfactory results.
Afterwards Pat crawled to the bow and retrieved the sea anchor by hand, a
crewmember grinding in the rode on a cockpit winch. “Foot by foot it came in.
My journal says, ‘inch by inch.” (Quoting her words.)
S/M-45:
Vessel name St.Crispin’s
Day, Hallberg-Rassy
“Mistral,” LOA 33’ 5” x 6 Tons. This yacht also ran into tropical storm Mitch while participating in the 1998 Caribbean 1500. St. Crispin’s Day was tethered to a 12-ft. dia.
Para-Tech sea anchor for 36 hours in Force 9-10 conditions, her singlehanded
skipper reporting satisfactory results.
S/M-46:
Vessel name White Water, full-keeled wood sloop designed by Sparkman &
Stephens, LOA 38' x 10 Tons. White Water with
family of four on board was tethered to a 15-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor for
15 hours in a gale about 300 miles west of Vancouver, BC. In spite of being
partially fouled, the sea anchor did a very good job of holding White Water's bow into the seas.
S/M-47:
Vessel name Shag, cruising cutter designed by Lidgard, LOA 40' x 12
Tons. Shag was tethered to a 12-ft. dia. Coppins sea anchor for
63 hours in a whole gale in the Tasman. “Some waves broke on the bow but did
not put the boat at risk. Not much heavy water got back to the dodger from the
bow,” (quoting her owner). A 6-ft. length of chain coming over the bow roller
solved the chafe problem. “Plan B... was to run with a Galerider off the stern.
Very much a second best alternative especially as we did not wish to approach
the continental shelf in those conditions.”
S/M-48:
Vessel name Ardevora of
Roseland, Whisstock
Ketch designed by Steve Dalzell, LOA 55' x 22 Tons. Ardevora was tethered to an 18-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor
in shallow water (25-100 fathoms), opposing current and Force 9 conditions off
the coast of Chile, her owner reporting violent pitching/yawing motion and
generally unsatisfactory results. After 4 hours the rode parted from chafe and
the yacht came beam to the seas, her owner reporting a much more comfortable
ride lying ahull, but with a caveat: “Instinct suggests lying ahull is inviting
damage/disaster,” (quoting Ardevora’s owner). “I made mistakes and
miscalculations and so lying to our sea-anchor was an unpleasant experience.
However I believe that even if a sea-anchor is perfectly set-up, lying to it
would not be as comfortable as heaving-to.”
(Compare with file S/M-52 below).
S/M-49:
Vessel name Okiua, custom ketch, LOA 41' x 11 Tons. Okiua was tethered
to an 18-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor for 12 hours in F-8 conditions in steep
coastal seas near San Clemente Island (off the coast of California). After some
trials and tribulations the sea anchor was properly deployed and did a good job
of stabilizing a chaotic situation. “I can see it start to open and take hold,
and this is a VERY, VERY good feeling. The bow of the boat came straight to the
waves and wind and held great. Well, almost too great, as the next big wave
came up under the bowsprit, snapped away 2 planks, then traveled down the deck
and drenched me again…” (From the
owner’s log.)
S/M-50:
Vessel name Harmony, Passport 40’ x 12. 5 Tons. Harmony also ran into the remnants of hurricane Mitch
while participating in the 1998 Caribbean 1500. Her skipper deployed an 18-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor –
“Deployment was accomplished by tossing the rode bag and sea anchor to weather
and everything worked beautifully. The boat just settled bow to the wind and
seas…. The ride on the sea anchor was good but rough because of the steepness
and confusion of the seas.” Harmony rode to the sea anchor for 7 hours
before losing it due to line chafe. Her skipper said he would purchase another
one.
S/M-51:
Vessel name Illusion, Breekvelt (New Zealand) steel cutter, LOA 36' x 13
Tons. Illusion was tethered to a 12-ft. dia.
Fiorentino sea anchor for
10 hours in Force 8-9 on her way to Newport Beach, California, from Ucluelet,
Canada. Her owners reported satisfactory results – “We had been in the
[adverse] conditions noted on the reverse side [of the DDDB form] for close to
three days and were able to catch up on some rest as we laid to our
para-anchor.”
S/M-52:
Vessel name Shiriri, Chadelle schooner, LOA 55' x 14 Tons. Shiriri was tethered to a 12-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor in
shallow water (35 fathoms) for 24 hours in Force 10 conditions just south of Cape
Mendocino, California, an area infamous for its chaotic sea states. Her owner
reported violent pitching up and down motion at sea anchor. 15 Hours into the
deployment the engine went down because of a line around the prop, and later
the rudder quadrant sheared. Conditions were so bad that a call had to be
placed to the US Coast Guard. An hour before the CG cutter arrived the rode
chafed through and the schooner came broadside to the waves, her owner
reporting a much more comfortable ride lying ahull, with the usual caveat – “I
know that we risked a roll over in those conditions.” (Compare
with file S/M-48 above).
S/M-53:
Vessel name Blue Cristal, Beneteau sloop, LOA 37' 7” x 6. 5 Tons. Blue Cristal was tethered to a 15-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor
for 26 hours in Force 8-9 conditions on her way to Noumea from Bundaberg,
Australia. Her owner reported satisfactory results – “The Para-Tech sea anchor
worked very well… two other vessels in the area tried to sail out of it… one
ended up 75 miles off course and the other ripped its mainsail and broke the
forestay…”
S/M-54:
Vessel name Supremacy, custom wood sloop, LOA 45’ x 12 Tons. Supremacy ran into a whole gale on her way
from New Zealand to Tahiti and her retired owner deployed an 18-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor. Supremacy was
anchored to the surface of the raging sea for 120 hours (five days), her owners
indicating that she was riding well to the sea anchor. However at a certain
stage the cast aluminum rudder quadrant cracked, one thing led to another, and
a call was placed to the Coast Guard, her owners deciding to abandon ship. In a
letter to DDDB’s Victor Shane, Jim Lott of the New Zealand Maritime Safety
Authority wrote: “I concur fully with the comments about cast aluminum [rudder]
quadrants. Frankly, I would not entertain the thought of one myself. It is hard
to beat cast bronze.”
S/M-55:
Vessel name Virtuosity, Laurent Giles sloop, LOA 25' x 4 Tons. On a bumpy
passage between Cyprus and Rhodes, Virtuosity ran into a Mediterranean gale and was tethered to a 12-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor for 11 hours. Her
owner reported satisfactory results – “On arrival in Rhodes we met two other
yachts who were caught in the same gale… one, a German yacht, capsized and was
lucky to recover and make safe harbour.”
S/M-56:
Vessel name Morgan’s
Cloud, McCurdy & Rhodes cutter, LOA 56' x 28 Tons. Morgan’s
Cloud was on a passage from Bermuda to the Caribbean when she was overtaken
by a cold front. The yacht ran all day before the gale but when the seas became
ungovernable her owner decided to heave-to under triple-reefed main, his tactic
of choice. However, “at about 23:00 hrs. we were hit hard on the weather beam
by a breaking wave that heeled the boat to about 30-40 degrees…. The lulls
would allow the boat’s bow to fall off and then in the next puff she would
reach off at as much as 2 knots before the action of the rudder lashed hard
down would bring her back up to about 60 degree off the wind, her normal
heave-to attitude.” To remedy the situation, her owner then deployed a 42” dia.
Galerider drogue OFF THE BOW (similar to the Pardey stratagem). “The drogue
line made an angle of about 130 degrees from the bow of the boat, so that the
Galerider was in the water behind and to windward of the boat.” This took care
of the forereaching problem, allowing the bow to stay 50-60 degrees from the
wind with no tendency to fall further. (Experience and creativity are the
parents of seamanship.)
MULTIHULLS USING SEA ANCHORS
S/C-21: Vessel name Mutual
Fun, Prout
Catamaran, LOA 37' x BOA 16' x 6 Tons. Mutual Fun was
hove-to to an 18-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor in a whole gale about 450 nm NW
of Bermuda in Force 9 conditions for about 15 hours. “Once the anchor deployed,
it was like sailing into another world. No longer were we punching into the
sea, but just riding over them.... We were able to say 'time out' during a
severe situation.” (Quoting her owner).
S/C-22:
Vessel name Stress
Relief, Catamaran, LOA
33' x BOA 14' x 6 Tons. Stress
Relief used a 12-ft.
Para-Tech sea anchor four times in heavy seas en route to Bermuda from Newport.
Writes her owner: “First Time, 5-25-97: 48 hours on the sea anchor, seasick.
Second time, 5-27-97: water inside the salon -- hung on the sea anchor until
daylight. Third time, 5-30-97: radar fell off the mast & engine broke --
hung on the sea anchor until daylight. Fourth time, 5-31-97: genoa ripped
during the night -- hung on the sea anchor until daylight.”
S/C-23:
Vessel name Laura Lee, Prout Catamaran, LOA 37' x BOA 16' x 6 Tons. Laura Lee used a 15-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor to heave-to
in a gale en route to the Canaries from Gibraltar. “It is very important to
PRACTICE with this rig under windy but non-gale conditions as small mistakes
could be disastrous under gale/storm conditions! We had a 'dress rehearsal' a
few days earlier in Force 7 and learned the important lessons needed when the
real thing caught us.” (Quoting her owner).
S/C-24:
Vessel name Dream Hunter, Kurt Hughes catamaran, LOA 45' x BOA 24' x 6 Tons. Dream Hunter used an 18-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor to heave-to
in a gale about 80 miles ENE of Punto Del Este, Uruguay. There being a current
in the region, the cat was pulled 24 miles UPWIND (!) in the 36 hours that she
was hove to. “Tendency to yaw was eliminated by lowering the boards halfway. No
problems with deployment -- flaking the long rode is essential. Used rubber
chafe guards. Once the sea anchor was deployed the ride was so smooth and
controlled that crew of 3 slept for 12 hours!” (Quoting her owner).
S/C-25:
Vessel name Kapal, Roger Simpson catamaran, LOA 42' x BOA
24' x 5 Tons. Two days out of St. Maarten, Kapal had a close encounter
with Hurricane Jenny (November 1999) and her owners deployed an 18-ft.
dia. Para-Tech sea anchor. Kapal was tethered to that sea anchor for 44
hours in winds of up to 60-knot winds. “We are very happy with the result and
certainly very glad we didn’t go through the eye of Jenny (30 nautical
miles in diameter).”
S/C-26:
Vessel name Sanyassa, Prout catamaran, LOA 35' x BOA 16' x 6 Tons. On her way to
Fiji from New Zealand, Sanyassa
ran
into a nasty blow and her owner decided to deploy an 18-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor. Difficulty was
encountered in setting the sea anchor in those conditions, but “once the
parachute was deployed all problems ceased,” (to quote her owner). Sanayassa was sea-anchored for
24 hours in Force 7-8 conditions, her crew managing to get much-needed sleep.
S/C-27:
Vessel name Mango Mi, Chris White catamaran, LOA 42' x BOA 23' x 7 Tons.
Twenty-one days out of Mexico and 350 miles from Hawaii, Mango Mi found herself in confusing seas
piled high by 28-35 knot trade winds blowing over the unlimited fetch of the
Pacific. Suffering from fatigue and worried about the prospects of surfing down
15-20 foot seas at 17 knots, her crew decided to deploy an 18-ft. Para-Tech sea
anchor, in their own words, “to park it and get some sleep.” Deployment went
off without a problem and soon Mango Mi was anchored to the surface of the sea, facing into the
waves. “We lay at anchor for 20 hrs. and got some much needed rest. We drifted
8. 3 nm towards our destination.” (Quoting her owners).
S/C-28:
Vessel name Catapult, aluminum catamaran, LOA 40' x BOA 23' x 7. 5 Tons. Catapult was tethered to an 18-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor for three days when
her crew ran into adverse conditions in the Tasman Sea. “The wind did not ever
get to a steady 40 but there were rather large seas as is commonly the case in
the Tasman. The boat rode OK but I did not enjoy the motion and my crew and
eventually I got sea sick.” Difficulty was encountered in retrieval but the
skipper came up with an idea: “I tied the boat end of the sea anchor line to a
couple of large fenders and tossed it free so that the whole sea anchor rig and
line were floating free. We then motored up to the trip line buoy…. The
recovery from the moment of picking up the trip line buoy was a piece of cake.”
S/T-22:
Vessel name Friends, Walter Greene trimaran, LOA 35' x BOA 29’ 6” x 3 Tons. Friends ran into
a nasty blow with large and confused seas 60 miles off the New Jersey coast.
Her skipper deployed a 15-ft. dia. Para-Tech sea anchor, but the 50-60’ of
nylon rode snapped almost immediately. It is difficult to ascertain what
happened, but the relatively short 3-strand rope is suspect. 3-Strand nylon
tries to unlay under extreme loading -- the “torque-wave” associated with
extreme dynamic loads can create a hockle or local stress point, resulting in
failure at that point. From the owner’s report: “Rope was wrapped around Harken
winches (3 times); rode went slack and tensed suddenly; rode snapped right near
winch… the strands were somewhat fused together.” The solution would be to use
a no-torque braided nylon rode instead. See also illustrations on the Wave
Rotation page of
this website for a possible explanation.
MONOHULLS USING DROGUES
D/M-20: Vessel name Cinnabar, cutter designed by Robert
Perry, LOA 40' x 11 Tons. Cinnabar towed a 42” dia. Galerider
drogue in a gale about 75 nm NE of Bermuda in 40-knot winds and 18' seas, the
owner reporting satisfactory results. The drogue was deployed to stabilize the
attitude of the yacht in a wind-current conflict situation, exacerbated by
severe --60-knot -- squalls. Microburst activity can't be ruled out. The drogue
was deployed for 12 hours, the yacht reported to have traveled about 12 nm in
that time.
D/M-21:
Vessel name Mary-T, Cheoy Lee Offshore 40' x 10 Tons. Mary-T was one of the boats in the 1994 Queen's Birthday Storm off New
Zealand. She did not have any purpose made drag devices on board, but was able
to jury-rig something out of her spare sails, shackled to a ground anchor. The
makeshift device was “no good off the bow,” to quote her owner, but fared
better off the stern before being lost due to chafe. Like many of the other
sailors that went through the Queen's Birthday Storm, the skipper of Mary-T
emphasized the important of PRIOR PREPARATION: “We are amazed at the variety of
boats and techniques that were used with success and no discernible pattern
apart from strong boat and preparation. Preparation BEFORE the storm counted
more than what you did in the storm.” (Words of wisdom indeed.)
D/M-22:
Vessel name Glenyon, CSY cutter, LOA 44’ x 23 Tons. Glenyon was a participant in the 1998 Caribbean 1500 and towed a 42” Galerider drogue when she ran into tropical storm Mitch, her owner reporting satisfactory results. The
drogue was deployed for 24 hours, the yacht traveling 25 nm in that time.
D/M-23:
Vessel name Starlight, Ericson sloop, LOA 38' x 9 Tons. Starlight
was returning to Annapolis from Bermuda when she ran into a gale in the Gulf
Stream. When she began to surf uncontrollably at 9. 5 knots her owner deployed
a Para-Tech Delta-72 drogue. This “slowed the boat to around 5 knots,
and steering was easy.” (Quoting her owner.) However the rig was lost when the
towline chafed through. The drogue was deployed for 8 hours, the yacht
traveling about 40 nm in that time.
D/M-24:
Vessel name Moonlight of
Down, Camper Nicholson sloop, 35’ x 8 Tons. Moonlight of
Down was on a passage from Cocos Keeling to Rodriguez Island (in the Indian
Ocean) when she ran into gale conditions and ungovernable seas. Her owner
wisely deployed a 36” dia. Galerider drogue “to stabilize the situation.” The
drogue reduced her speed from 6. 5 knots to 2. 5 knots. The Hydrovane
(self-steering) was then adjusted to put the wind/waves on the port quarter,
and the towline adjusted to position the drogue at the back of the following
swell. “The use of the Galerider
to steady the vessel running in hard Trade Wind conditions was most successful
due to the increased comfort of ride and the re-assuring feeling that you were
not likely to broach.” (Quoting her owner.) The drogue was deployed for 43
hours, the yacht traveling 73 nm in that time.
D/M-25:
Vessel name Egress II, Discovery cutter, LOA 42' x 15 Tons. On her way to
New Zealand from Tonga, Egress
II ran
into heavy weather with 40-50 knots winds and 20-ft. seas. Her owner deployed a
Jordan Series Drogue with 145 cones, each 5 inches in diameter. “We did not
feel any jerk as we slowed from seven to one knot,” (quoting her owner). Egress II was tethered to the series drogue
for three days, drifting 100 nautical miles in that period. “We were very happy
with our series drogue’s performance in a storm and wish to send a ‘thanks’ to
Donald Jordan for his unique answer to a longstanding sailing dilemma.”
D/M-26:
Vessel name Swift Cloud, Brooke cutter, LOA 37' x 6 Tons. In June 2002 Swift
Cloud left New Zealand for Rarotonga and ran into a Force 10 storm. Her
singlehanded owner deployed a homemade series drogue consisting of 30 cones,
each 10 inches in diameter. “At 45 knots the drogue held Swift Cloud
stern to, but an angle of about 20 degrees to the wind. At 60 knots she was
taking wind and sea dead astern. The ride was a little like being on a bungee –
I could feel her accelerate as a sea approached, but as she went up the face of
the sea the forward movement would slow and then reverse.” (Quoting her owner.)
The stern of the yacht took a beating, however, water coming in through the
companionway “as though from a shower nozzle.” The self-steering gear was
carried away when a weld failed, “but the boat was kept well under control.” Swift
Cloud was tethered to the series drogue for 60 hours during which time she
drifted in circle of about 20 miles radius.
EMERGING
PATTERNS?
NYLON 3-STRAND: The use of 3-strand rope for tether or towline is now
discouraged. 3-Strand nylon will try to unlay and torque (spin) under load,
leading to hockles and/or stress points that can fail. It may even deform under
extreme dynamic loading as the force tries to travel the full length of the
rode at the same time that the coil is trying to unlay (untwist). The solution
would be to opt for a neutral (no-torque) nylon braid instead.
AVOIDING HIGHLY LOCALIZED
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS: Would you park your car in the middle of a narrow battle zone, with
bullets whizzing by and mortar shells exploding all around? There may be a
moral in this for the mariner because sometimes it is possible to sail out of
narrow “battle zones” in a matter of hours; or better yet, avoid them
altogether. If the choice were between deploying a sea anchor in shallow water,
say, over the Cortez Bank, or in deep water only 10 miles away, which would you
choose? We have a number of files
now where sailors have set sea anchors in shallow coastal battle zones and
complained of a very rough ride – uncomfortable pitching up and down motion. Examples
would be file S/M-48 where a sea anchor was deployed in 25-100 fathoms in a
contrary current off the coast of Chile, and file S/M-52 where one was deployed
in 35 fathoms of the coast of Mendocino, California, a narrow area infamous for
chaotic sea states.
It goes without saying that shoals,
underwater ledges and continental shelves have a destabilizing influence on
wave shapes, in some places exacerbated by underwater geography, strong
currents, funnel effect, and/or some other local boundary condition. In the
Bass Strait between Australia and Tasmania, for example, mature waves traveling
the whole fetch of the Southern Ocean suddenly “pile up” and get squeezed over
the continental shelf, creating havoc and pandemonium in certain conditions.
Bearing such things in mind, the wise and prudent seaman will anticipate
conditions ahead of time and try to avoid a situation in which he has to park
his ship right in the middle of a “battle zone.” Remember, if you deploy a sea
anchor in a shallow “battle zone” you will be stuck there until the battle is
over, even if deep water is only a few miles away. Granted, one can’t always
choose, but one should always be mindful of bottom contours and the depth of
water under the keel. On any ocean passage one should try to anticipate the
exact day on which the keel will cross the boundary that separates deep water
from shallow, just in case there’s a storm brewing. (It helps to clearly mark
continental shelves, shoals and currents on your charts.)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: “To every thing there is a
season, and a time to every purpose under heaven,” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). A time
to use a sea anchor, and a time to use a drogue. Everything else being equal,
it might be time to tow a speed-limiting drogue to sail safely out of a battle
zone. Conversely, if you are approaching a continental shelf and the forecast
is “Force 10 Imminent,” it might be time to deploy your sea anchor and park the
boat until the storm passes on and it is safer to sail onto shallower water.
The words of John Armstrong, owner of Shag (see file S/M-47 above), are
indicative of this sort of hard-gained seafaring wisdom. Having assessed the
situation, having considered all of his options, Armstrong decided to deploy
the sea anchor in deep water, writing the following: “Plan B... was to run with a Galerider off the stern.
Very much a second best alternative especially as we did not wish to approach
the continental shelf in those conditions.”
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