Sea Anchors

by John January 1, 2004

Question: What is your thinking on sea anchors and do you carry one on Morgan’s Cloud?

Galerider Drogue Off The Bow

by John January 1, 2005

Question: I heard that you had good success heaving-to on Morgan’s Cloud using a Galerider drogue off the bow. What were the details?

Liars, Damn Liars, And Sailors

by John October 1, 2007

My friend Kevin is tough. Tough enough that I have heard him called Kevlar. A veteran of tens of thousands of ocean miles, both racing and cruising, Kevin has seen some seriously nasty weather.

Rode Size For A Galerider Drogue

by John May 1, 2008

Question: Would you recommend 3/4″ or 1″ rode for use with a Galerider Drogue for a 46 foot 33,000lb cutter?

Goals For Heavy Weather System

by John January 17, 2009

Before discussing the actual nuts and bolts of our gale and storm survival gear and strategy on Morgan’s Cloud, I’m going to write a bit about the goals we keep in mind when we are putting together gear and thinking about strategy for dealing with heavy weather at sea.

Heaving-To

by John February 1, 2009
The bow of aluminum expedition sailboat Morgan's Cloud showing Treadmaster deck covering, Ideal windlass, and beefy deck gear, and cutter rig, while in the travel lift runway at Lunenburg Foundry, Nova Scotia.

On Morgan’s Cloud heaving-to has been for years, and still is, our first and favourite strategy when the weather gets nasty. It satisfies all of our goals discussed in this post and has the particular benefit of being surprisingly comfortable. In fact we have even enjoyed a sit down dinner at the salon table when [...]

When Heaving-To Is Dangerous

by John February 17, 2009
I'm happy to say that I did not take this photograph at sea, but rather from the shore after tropical storm Noel

The key to heaving-to safely is keeping the boat directly downwind of the slick created to windward by her own drift to leeward. I can’t overemphasize how important this is. If a heaved-to boat forereaches fast enough to get out from behind the slick, heaving-to can actually become more dangerous than continuing to sail because [...]

Options When Heaving-To Is Not Working

by John March 1, 2009
Galerider drogues.

In the previous post in this series I wrote about an experience we had on Morgan’s Cloud when being heaved-to turned out to be dangerous. In this post I’m going to cover the options we considered to stop the breaking wave strikes we were experiencing.

Stopping Wave Strikes While Heaved-To

by John March 17, 2009
A drawing of the Pardey Bridle Sea Anchor deployed compared to aluminum sailboat Morgan's Cloud's use of a Galerider drogue.

As we discussed in this post, heaving-to is only safe as long as the boat does not forereach out from behind her own slick. It is the slick that causes waves to break before they reach the boat. In this post we looked at some alternatives to stop the wave strikes we were experiencing while [...]

Survival Storms

by John April 1, 2009
I'm happy to say that I did not take this photograph at sea, but rather from the shore after tropical storm Noel.

In the last five posts in this series I have been writing about the techniques that have worked well for us on Morgan’s Cloud in gales and strong gales at sea. That is up to Beaufort Force 9 (41 to 47 knots). Next I’m going to write about our thinking on how to handle a [...]

Our Old Back-up System

by John April 18, 2009

As discussed earlier in this series, our primary gale and storm survival strategy is heaving-to, with or without the addition of a drogue off the bow, as discussed in this post. However, we have always carried a second system in case our rigging was damaged making heaving-to impossible. We also believe, as discussed in this [...]

Our New Back-up System

by John May 1, 2009
The Jordan Series Drogue flaked out on a dock.

On Morgan’s Cloud our heavy weather system has always included two options: our standard strategy of heaving-to, with or without a drogue over the bow, and, although we have never had to use it, a backup system. In the last post I wrote about our decision to replace the old backup system and in this [...]

You Need A System

by John May 18, 2009

Many of us (I have been guilty of this myself) buy storm survival gear, throw it in a corner of the lazarette, and head off to sea congratulating ourselves on our foresight and seamanship…not a good idea.

Jordan Drogue Launch System

by John June 1, 2009
Custom stainless steel chainplates on the stern of aluminum sailboat Morgan's Cloud to hold the bridles of a Jordan Series Drogue.

OK, enough blather about why we selected the Jordan Series Drogue and why you need a complete system for dealing with a drogue or sea anchor; on to the nuts and bolts of our deployment system.

A Professional Skipper’s Take On Heavy Weather

by John June 18, 2009
Pearson 55 sailboat Sea Return on a mooring at Ebenecook, Maine in the fog.

We received an e-mail a few weeks ago from our friend Bob Tetrault who has been following our heavy weather series. Bob went to Maine Maritime, has a master’s ticket, and has fished the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank in all kinds of weather. He currently owns three boats that fish the Gulf of [...]

Comment From New Zealand On Parachute Anchors

by John July 1, 2009

Our heavy weather series continues to attract interesting comments and suggested alternatives from experienced ocean voyagers. This one comes from Lane and Kay Finley who have a lot of ocean experience and make films about sailing. They also have a great web site with lots of good information.

Jordan Drogue Retrieval System

by John July 18, 2009
Retrieving the Jordan Series Drogue using a Milwaukee electric drill and a special bit that fits into a standard winch socket on aluminum sailboat Morgan's Cloud.

I have written about our deployment system for our new Jordan Series Drogue on Morgan’s Cloud. In this post I’m going to look at how we are going to get the drogue back aboard after the storm.

Drogue Retrieval—The Devil Is In The Details

by John August 1, 2009
JHH5_100936To retrieve the Jordan Series Drogue on aluminum sailboat Morgan's Cloud, we use a blue retrieval line that runs from the bridles to the winch, and a red nipper line that runs between the drogue line and a chain plate.

In the last post in this series we talked about the difficulties in retrieving a Jordan Series Drogue and a way to make it practical using a drill motor and winch bit. However, that is only part of the solution. Like so many things in offshore sailing, the devil is in the details.

Drogue Retrieval—An Alternative From Hal Roth

by John August 18, 2009
Hal Roth's drawing of how to retrieve a Jordan Series Drogue.

The last two posts in the series, in which we wrote about our solution for the retrieval of our Jordan Series Drogue, drew an interesting e-mail from Hal Roth, who did not like our solution because of the loads involved.

Yet More On Series Drogue Retrieval

by John September 1, 2009

We just received this e-mail from our friend Evans Starzinger, who, together with his partner, Beth Leonard, have just completed their second circumnavigation. This one west to east and south of the great capes on their Samoa 47 Hawk.

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