Category: Storm Tactics

Companionway Washboard Hacks And Getting Out There

May 5, 2022January 10, 2021 by John Harries

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Most sailboats have companionway washboards sliding into channels. And while this is a good simple solution, a little work needs to be done to make them really safe. Here’s a simple hack that will take less than half an hour and cost less than US$20, together with a couple of tips on how to actually get out there, rather than working on your boat the whole time.

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Retrieval Problems With Unsheathed Dyneema (Spectra) Series Drogues

June 18, 2023July 19, 2019 by John Harries

Reading Time: 8 minutes

Building series drogues to Don Jordan’s design from single-braid Dyneema and Spectra has suddenly become popular. But there’s a big problem that will make retrieval difficult to impossible.

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A Chat With Randall Reeves

January 27, 2021June 8, 2019 by John Harries

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Randall Reeves and John spent a couple of hours discussing storm tactics in general and the series drogue designed by Don Jordan in particular. Here’s an excerpt.

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Susie Goodall’s Series Drogue Failure

June 18, 2023April 15, 2019 by John Harries

Reading Time: 7 minutes

Susie Goodall was one of the few competitors in Golden Globe Race 2018 with a series drogue to Don Jordan’s design. But it failed her, and her boat pitchpoled What went wrong and does Susies’ terrible experience indicate a fundamental problem with the series drogue and/or Don Jorgan’s science and engineering? John digs in to find out.

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Large Sea Anchors, Not Recommended

January 27, 2021June 1, 2013 by John Harries

Reading Time: 3 minutes

For many years large sea anchors were thought by many, including us, to be the ultimate storm survival option. In this post we detail the disadvantages of large sea anchors that we believe substantially outweigh the advantages and why we got rid of ours.

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Earl Comes To Lunch

January 27, 2021September 4, 2010 by John Harries

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Hurricanes, you just can’t trust em. When we went to bed Earl was supposed to make landfall on the west side of the province, some 80 miles away. But this morning he has wobbled east and is heading straight for us here on the southwestern shore of Nova Scotia.

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Yet More On Series Drogue Retrieval

January 27, 2021September 1, 2009 by John Harries

Reading Time: 3 minutes

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

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A Professional Skipper’s Take On Heavy Weather

January 27, 2021June 18, 2009 by John Harries

Reading Time: 3 minutes

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 Maine.

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