Battle Testing a Jordan-Designed Series Drogue—Round Two

I refurbished the drogue using OceanBrake cones with green taped ends alternating with Ace Sailmakers cones made from sail cloth hemmed at one end only. The yellow cone is one of the original ones that failed. ©Trevor Robertson, all rights reserved.

Recap of Round One

Last year I wrote about my experience with the Jordan-type series drogue while on a passage in the Southern Ocean on my 35-ft gaff cutter Iron Bark. That voyage, from Newfoundland to Australia, then onwards to New Zealand with a side trip to northern Australia, took an inordinately long time (the leg from Newfoundland to Australia took 171 days) and met with more than the usual amount of heavy weather.

Along the way (and without any intention of doing so) I tested the drogue nearly to destruction. That was the basis of my last report. I promised to report back once I had repaired the drogue and given it enough use to make further comment meaningful. Here is that report.

Improvements Based On Round One

On arrival in New Zealand I contacted Angus Coleman of OceanBrake, who had supplied my drogue, and he immediately offered to replace the damaged cones without charge.

This was a very generous offer, especially as Angus did not know that I intended to write anything about my experience with the drogue.

It seemed the original cones failed when the material from which they were made shed its rubberized backing as a result of repeated stress reversals. Angus sourced a heavier polyester material with no backing and sent me 60 new cones made from this material.

Comparison Testing