{"id":2612,"date":"2024-01-13T13:42:53","date_gmt":"2024-01-13T13:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/?p=2612"},"modified":"2024-01-14T19:21:58","modified_gmt":"2024-01-14T19:21:58","slug":"drogues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racecoast.net\/omstest\/drogues\/","title":{"rendered":"Drogues"},"content":{"rendered":"

People hold opinions on storm tactics almost as vehemently as they do when the talk turns to anchors. The other night, I was part of the Ocean Cruising Club\u2019s Zoom meeting to discuss the Jordan Series Drogue. There were almost 200 participants and nobody suggested this was anything other than the ultimate \u201cmust-have\u201d device for serious offshore cruisers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same on the Jester Facebook group \u2013 all the small-boat sailors gearing up for this year\u2019s Azores Challenge have been preoccupied with their transom-mounted chainplates and whether you can have too many cones.<\/p>\n

I kept quiet. I have a SeaBrake.<\/p>\n

Although the OCC\u2019s moderator mentioned this Australian-made gadget in passing, there was no doubt that the tone of the meeting was that in a survival storm, you cannot do better than throw out (sorry \u201cdeploy\u201d) your JSD, disappear below, slam the hatch behind you and go to bed with a hot toddy.<\/p>\n

It was difficult to argue \u2013 after all the screen was filled with the weather-beaten faces of sailors who had all used a JSD in anger (Jeanne Socrates, four times!)<\/p>\n

As someone who has never used one at all – even to practise – I didn\u2019t feel qualified to press the little button to raise my electronic hand.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve been thinking about it ever since.<\/p>\n

To begin with, if you have a Jordan Series Drogue, you must \u2013 absolutely must \u2013 attach it to two stout stainless steel plates each with a minimum of five bolts arranged in a non-linear pattern<\/em> and bolted through to an equally strong backing plate, preferably after beefing up that section of the hull with extra layers of chopped strand mat. This modification must be capable of supporting the full weight of the boat plus an added margin to cover possible shock loads.<\/p>\n

Then, you must be prepared when you meet your survival storm, for your cockpit to be filled with a ton of water as waves the size of houses break over the stern. Anything but the strongest washboards may well be breached, flooding the cabin and leaving the boat waterlogged, sluggish and at the mercy of the next massive breaker.<\/p>\n

The more I heard about this, the more I thought about my SeaBrake up in the fo\u2019c\u2019le, tucked away behind the bike stowage, taking up hardly any room \u2026 and its line in the cockpit locker ready to double up for anything else I might want to do with 30metres of 14mm low-stretch braid-on-braid and two-and-a-half metres of 10mm chain.<\/p>\n

So I started making a list of pro\u2019s and con\u2019s for both devices \u2013 and I\u2019m going to post it here in the hope that people will add their own comments. Because the one thing I do know is that the only time I have been in a survival storm, I had just a rope with a couple of motor scooter tyres out the back and turned the boat over. Being a catamaran, she stayed that way. They came and got me in a helicopter.<\/p>\n

So, here goes. Tell me if I\u2019m wrong.<\/p>\n

Jordan Series Drogue<\/u>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Advantages:<\/u><\/p>\n