When we first set off to go cruising in 1992, one question that was often asked by our non-sailor friends was “Where do you anchor at night?”.  At the time that seemed like such a funny question to us, but we would kindly explain that you can’t anchor out at sea -- the depths are too great, instead we just keep a diligent watch and continue sailing through the night.  And that’s what we did for our first South Pacific cruise.

          In 1997, while preparing for our next offshore cruise, we began reading more and more about sea anchors in such publications as Drag Device Data and the  Pardey’s Storm Tactics.  We had known about “heaving to” and had even done it on a couple brief occasions, but the idea of actually setting an anchor at sea was new to us.  It did, however, seem like a good, sound idea; a sea anchor was added to our list of cruising necessities for our next offshore venture.  We realized it was a lot of expense and would take valuable stowage room to accommodate the anchor and accompanying line, but we viewed it like the life raft -- something you must have, yet hope to never use -- just another form of insurance.

          In July of 1998 we began the first leg of our next cruise south.  This year we’d only be sailing as far south as San Francisco Bay -- a mere 650 offshore miles south from our home in Gig Harbor, Washington.  Our previous experience and the experiences of friends that have made this trip down the coast, prepared us in accepting that this would not be a “fun” trip.  The Washington/Oregon/Northern California coast can be, and usually is,  a difficult trip.  This is due to the variable weather conditions, lack of easily accessible ports of refuge, and the fact, that for most, making this trip it is their first offshore experience.  Luckily we came prepared with experienced crew and all the safety devices we could buy -- including a sea anchor.

          Since this was anticipated to be a difficult trip, we opted to have our 11 year old daughter stay with her aunt and go to camp instead of taking this arduous journey.  Plus that made more room on our 35’ boat for our good friends, Tina and Dennis Thweatt, to accompany us on this leg.  Four able bodied sailors would make a difficult trip less so.     

           Terry and I had sailed without crew for much longer offshore passages, but that was in tropical waters with the  trade winds pushing us along.  We weren’t sure what we’d encounter on this trip and we were happy to have a strong experienced crew.  Dennis had logged many offshore miles with Terry on our boat Cassiopeia when they sailed her to Hawaii in 1992.  Tina was the only one without offshore experience, and what better way to gain that experience than with three blue water sailors.

          Our first day out in the Pacific was much as the name implies, but after two days of motoring into the light southerly wind, the wind and seas began to intensify.  By 10:00 am on the third day we were faced with 20 knot winds and 15 - 18 foot seas coming directly at us!  It was tough going into such large seas so we decided to heave to and take a break from the difficult conditions -- for in addition to the wind and seas we had fog that had been with us for a couple days now.

          Due to the sail configuration we had out at the time, the boat didn’t want to point into the wind as much as we’d like in our hove to position, and we ended up lying ahull.  To remedy this situation, Terry and Dennis set about putting out the “never have to use” sea anchor.

          After much preparation they let out the sea anchor (parachute) and the 300’ of line we had purchased for just this purpose, followed by approximately 25’ - 50’ of chain (right out of our 2nd anchor locker).  It was marked and buoyed by a 15” diameter round fender attached to the  dome of the parachute itself.  We’d discussed whether we should deploy it offset as the Pardey’s describe in their book, but decided it would be simplest to just send it off the bow this time.

          Both Terry and Dennis were struck by the powerful force exerted by the sea anchor as they were putting it out and realized how dangerous it could be if not properly handled. Putting it out was not an easy task and may have been impossible had we not had crew to help us in this first attempt.

          When it was finally deployed, we did in fact ride comfortably behind it -- just like the books had said we would!  How nice to take a ‘break’ from the rigors of fighting the rough seas and be able to rest with only one person on “anchor watch” as we waited for the weather to calm.  Here we were, anchored out at sea, just like all those non-sailors always thought we did!

          By 6:00 pm that day the seas had lessened considerably. We were anxious to be on our way, so the guys went forward to retrieve the sea anchor while I motored up to the bright orange ball that marked it’s position so well.  It took a bit of time to get it all in, the most difficult part being collapsing the parachute itself.  We hadn’t installed a ‘trip line’ as we’d read that this line could cause problems if it tangled around the rest of the line.  Terry finally snagged it just right with the boat hook, got it up on deck and we were on our way.  In the future we think we will rig a trip line to aid in retrieval.

          The sea anchor we used was one manufactured by Paratech Marine.  We had also brought along Tina and Dennis’ sea anchor which was a ribbon parachute used by race car drivers and had been adapted by Paratech.  We’d brought it along with plans to try it out to see how well it performed, but after our one sea anchor experience we were ready to get down the coast as quickly as possible and abandoned the idea of just trying it out.  Little did we know we’d be using our sea anchor again in just a few days.

          Winds finally turned and we were happily sailing with a Northwesterly wind pushing us along -- the kind of weather we’d hoped for from the beginning.  As the days went by the wind and seas kept building.  We were rounding Cape Mendicino which is noted for such conditions, but we were happy to finally be rid of the fog and engine noise  and excited to be making such good southerly progress. 

          As the seas and winds continued to build, we were soon running under our storm trysail alone.  The winds were at about 25-30 knots and the seas were 15 - 18 feet when Tina and Dennis went down for a two hour rest before taking over for their watch at midnight.  With the reduced sail and the windvane doing the steering we were under good control. 

          Just before we were to be relieved for our two hour rest, the winds started gusting even stronger hitting over 40 knots!  With the strong gusts the windvane was less able to maintain our course. Terry began augmenting the windvane to steer a course away from shore, as we were only 9 miles offshore at this point.  Finally the gusts got so strong we disengaged the windvane and began to handsteer.  We’d decided, with the worsening conditions, to have Terry and Dennis handsteer while Tina and I would keep our course plotted and watch the radar.  It would be a long night. 

          Suddenly there was a large klunk from the wheel which began to spin freely!  We’d lost our steering in 40+ knot winds and 15 foot seas only 9 miles from shore!  Simultaneously Terry and I shouted “the emergency tiller!”   I flew down the companionway pushing Tina and Dennis aside, rushed to the Vberth where we kept the assorted pieces of the emergency tiller and, after tossing everything else out of the locker,  I handed the components to Tina & Dennis who passed them up to Terry.  We had that emergency tiller on in about 10 minutes!

          The emergency tiller didn’t give the same control as the regular steering system, plus we would need time to assess and repair the damage.  It was once again determined that we should put out the sea anchor.  Two times in 6 days to use something that you may never use in a lifetime!

          As I held the tiller in position, Tina manned the radar and apprised the Coast Guard of our position and that we were deploying a sea anchor  and Terry and Dennis ventured forward to once again put out the sea anchor.  This time would be much more  difficult due to the conditions and the fact that they would have to do it in the dark.  We turned on the spreader lights to aid them the best we could, but it was still a difficult task -- luckily they had had a recent drill!  Had this been the first attempt, I don’t know if they would have been able to do it. Since they couldn’t see the parachute in the night waters, they could not feed out the correct amount of line to allow the boat to ride the  waves properly.  It was not as comfortable as our first experience with the sea anchor, but it did give us all a chance for some rest so we could start fresh in the coming daylight.  We did drag a bit that night, but it was along the course we intended to sail! 

          The steering wasn’t broken after all, it had somehow just jammed and gotten off it’s track, then settled back in, so they didn’t have to worry about that repair.  At least we’d learned how to put on the emergency tiller and would be prepared to do so if ever such  a situation arises again.  Another lesson learned.

          With daylight we prepared to leave, but unfortunately the winds and the waves hadn’t settled much which would make it difficult to retrieve the sea anchor.  I tried to motor up on it, but the engine kept dying from  fuel filters clogging from dirty fuel that was brought up from the bottom of the tank in the rough conditions.  Terry got the engine running again, but we were afraid someone was going to get hurt working on the bow in such terrible conditions trying to control the powerful sea anchor.  We decided that for safety’s sake we should just cut the anchor loose and be on our way.

          Terry went forward with our heavy duty bolt cutters that we carry  in case we ever have to cut the rigging loose in a dismasting, and we sadly turned away from our costly piece of safety equipment bobbing under it’s orange buoy.  Dennis was tempted to try to go retrieve it still, but the danger of getting the line caught in the prop was too great and the seas were just too big.  Ideally we should have waited on anchor until the seas subsided and retrieved it in the normal manner, but we were anxious to get in to shore before nightfall and the weather reports didn’t offer any hope that the conditions would improve.  So we  sailed the short 25 miles to Bodega Bay for a much needed shower, meal and rest.

          Such were our first experiences with using a sea anchor.  We had prepared for the event by reading all the available literature, but nothing is like first hand experience, and this is what we learned:

          1. Practice deploying the sea anchor at least once before setting offshore.  We had thought it through, but there is nothing, nothing, like actual hands on experience for getting a procedure down -- or finding out it’s flaws.

          2. It would be advantageous to use a spool to feed the line out, or at least have it coiled into an anchor rode bag that it can feed out of smoothly.  We  just had the line stowed as we would any other line -- we didn’t really expect to be using it! and 300’ of 5/8” line is not only heavy and awkward, but it can tangle when bound the way we had it.

          3. Deploy the parachute first, then the line and finally the chain (preferably right out of you chain locker -- even with the anchor still attached).  The chain weighs the line down to hold the chute properly and helps to absorb the tremendous shock load. You also don’t have to worry about the chafe at the attachment points to the boat.  We tied two lines through the chain and back to the cleats on the boat.

          4. Use a large enough parachute.  We had a 15’ Paratech anchor for our 35’, 25000 lb. boat, and we did drift back at about 1 knot. This may have been due to the strong current we were in, but we will replace it with the 18’ model to give us greater holding ability.

          5. Due to the tremendous force on the line and chain as you deploy the sea anchor, utmost caution must be used to avoid getting a finger, hand or any other body part or clothing caught in it.  Serious or fatal injury could result.        It may be helpful to slowly motor towards the anchor as you’re letting out the line and chain to ease some of the tension.

          After returning home to Puget Sound, Tina and Dennis were able to go out and deploy their converted parachute anchor and test it by using reverse power on the test boat.  It held well, which supports using a converted parachute as a sea anchor, plus they have the added experience of testing it out in calm waters.

          Our experiences have made us true believers in sea anchors.  I’m certain that in our future cruising we will not only use it in dire emergencies, but as a way to take a break during a long  offshore passage.  Now we will be able to anchor and rest out at sea, just as so many always assumed we did.

By Terry Kotas

Cetus Hull # 71