John and Joan Casanova subsequently (70’s and 80’s) made well-documented use of a parachute anchor in their multihull cruising. Patrick Royce was the first sailor to tell of these adventures (early 60’s). However, dating roughly from the end of Word War II, sailors and, most particularly, commercial fishermen, began experimenting with parachutes as devices for heaving to. What John Claus Voss (author of the turn-of-the century classic Venturesome Voyages) and even Adlard Coles in his Heavy Weather Sailing called “sea anchors” were small conical devices much like present-day drogues. The main reason sea anchors and drogues get confused is that, until relatively recently, they were basically the same thing. However, their heavy weather missions are quite different. Both are ways of keeping your boat end-on to the wind and seas. You use it to control speed and stabilize your course as you run downwind away from the seas.īoth sea anchors and drogues work by creating drag. A drogue, on the other hand, generally goes over the stern. A sea anchor is meant to fix a boat in place, much like a conventional (non-floating) anchor. There’s understandable confusion between sea anchors and drogues. Our examination of commercially available devices is not a product comparison but an overview of some available options.
Whether as “drags” used to tire harpooned whales or “brakes” to control hard-to-maneuver barges, drogues have been working the waterways for centuries. Where the water is too deep for anchoring to the ground sea anchors have long had their uses. Sailors through the ages have carried buckets, bags, cones-just about everything except the kitchen sink-and thrown them over when they wanted to limit drift.
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