christmas presents

[haulback]

So, what are you giving your boat for christmas this year??

I was going to give Haulback a new electric windlass for being so good last year, but I got impatient and installed it last month instead of waiting to put it under the tree.

So instead I am going to build her a Jordan Series Drogue. This is something I always thought we should have, but never quite got around to putting one together. Have all the materials on hand to get started...107 'cones' and about 400 feet of spectra rope. I will splice together bridle and mainline out the spectra, tapering from 3/8" to 5/16" then down to 1/4" for the last bit.
Volume-wise should take up about equivalent space to about 1 to 1 & 1/2 'milk crates' and weigh less than 15 pounds, excluding weight for the end, for which I will use something already on board.

Hope she likes it!!!!!!

Jim/Haulback

PS - I was just kidding about the dog team!!

 

[BobJ]

Hey there Haulback,

The SHTP08 R/C made Ragtime! a new mains'l cover, and made nice work of it.

I've also had my eye on a new mainsheet - maybe out of that Swiftcord stuff to make the boat go faster. (She doesn't have a long-boarded bottom like Haulback, so I have to try something else for speed.)

Happy Christmas!

 

[dogbark]

Hey Jim, that drogue sounds nice. Can you give out some more details? Did you make the cones? How are they attached? How did you decide on 107 cones? How do you retrieve it after deployment? Thanks, Al

 

[haulback]

Hey there, Al

Will copy a brief description and a link to a website for the Series Drogue. Much more informative than I could begin to be bothered to type..

I ordered cones pre-made form Ace Sailmakers back east for $4 each. But if you have an ordinary sewing machine you (or someone else??) could make them - the patterns are freely available.

As for getting it all back aboard, this is all still at the theoretical stage, but I will splice in a third 'leg' in the bridle, to be used only for retrieving drogue, that will reach a cockpit winch. Seems to me that one could then just winch the whole thing on to the boat, as the cones are certainly flexible enough to go 'round a winch-drum.

I have always thought this is the best option as far as a type of drogue to carry........I especially, without fail, find myself giving this subject lots of consideration as the seas are building and sail-reduction options decreasing proportionately.

............................................................................................
Jordan Series Drogue is a safety device designed to prevent the capsize and damage of both monohull and multihull sailing yachts and other vessels operating in the open ocean, in the event of a "worst case" breaking wave strike, as well as improving the motion of the boat in storm waves and to reduce drift.

The Jordan Series Drogue has been at sea for over 15 years. At least 1000 are in use all over the world. The drogue has been deployed through many storms including several hurricanes. No boat has ever been damaged and no crew injured. A typical comment from the skipper is " I did not feel threatened.".

The series drogue has been developed using modern engineering technology, including model tests in wave channels, computational dynamic analysis, and full scale testing by the U.S. Coast Guard at their motor life boat testing facility where boats are subjected to breaking waves formed on the Columbia river bar.

The drogue consists of a number of small cones woven into a tapered line with a small weight at the end. The maximum design load and the number of cones is determined by the displacement of the boat.
..................................................................................................

http://www.jordanseriesdrogue.com/D_1.htm

happy Christmas to all......

Jim/Haulback

 

[blighbaum]

Wow!! I just read the Jordan Drogue website. If it performs as advertised, it's the greatest thing since the magnetic compass!

- Tom Kirschbaum, Feral

 

[Ergo]

I agree with what Tom said but I think he's being a bit conservative in his ranking this device's importance. I think it is the greatest discovery since we stumbled upon air after crawling out of the primordial ooze.

Bill Merrick

 

[Hesperus]

Just for the record, Hesperus has a series drogue on board. I purchased it as a kit from Sailrite (they offer sail kits, and much other stuff as well). Since Hesperus is so small, I talked them into 1/2 a kit (50 cones as I recall). For my part, putting it together was a piece of cake (read, my sister did most of it for me, and Haulback did the final eye splice). It's never been wet, but it makes me feel good to have it aboard.

Paul Woodward
s/v Hesperus

 

[nereida]

Hi, Paul! Is Hesperus back on the East coast - or still in the NW?

Also just for the record, with talk of drogues & suchlike.... I'm NOT replacing the parachute anchor I had on board the old 'Nereida'. There's no way I could see myself deploying it successfully single-handed without a major problem, let alone retrieving it - always assuming the deck & cleats were still intact after the jerk of the deployment - and it seemed very unlikely it would have done me a lot of good even if I had deployed it according to plan. But I will be getting the Jordan series drogue - it will take up no more space, looks easier to deploy and the evidence seems pretty conclusive that it will work well. A cruiser friend happily spent lots of her 'spare' time a year or so back, machining the cones, feeling that it was time well spent with future ocean crossings in their 35-footer in mind.

Retrieving the series drogue using a big winch will hopefully work out OK - after a storm has passed there's time enough to take things slowly, in between cups of tea!

(Also just for the record, I'm NOT replacing my forward-looking sounder - hardly used it in many years- nor dinghy davits, demountable or otherwise - a halyard works just fine!)