What did you do to your sailing boat today ?

There's not that much wind there Andy to have your boat on it's beam you better make sure the keel is still bolted on

That is a massive job Andy but certainly a move in the right direction.

Does your boat have a bridge deck where you can put your traveller or will you have it on a beam across the rear of the cockpit??

I stole that picture and put it up on the Greenwell Point facebook page to stir up a mate. Normally his yacht which is a sistership to this one is on a mooring 100 metres to the West. It's up on the hard at the moment having some steel refurbishing.

Jolene, thanks for posting that, I have been wondering how the rudder comes off for about 12 months, probably wasted about 50 hours thinking about it .

Cisco I hear what you're saying, its very tempting, because a tube that totally encloses the rudder post by far the most fail proof solution. The only problem is I would have totally rethink my self steering options. Currently they are:
- use the Flemming wind vane most of the time;
- if the Flemming is damaged beyond repair, use the Raymarine ST 4000+ and set up a sheet to tiller self steer with surgical tube;
- in heavy weather and large seas use the Coursemaster with the strong hydraulic ram.
The Coursemaster uses a lot of power but might be the only option to steer a course when things get really rough so if I enclose the rudder tube I don't have a good option for self steering in storm conditions. The Coursemaster came with the boat and I already owned the Raymarine. I don't think there is an above deck tiller pilot strong enough to handle extreme conditions and sadly if there is I cant really afford another one.

Someday, i ordered the Flemming with a bracket so the option of buying a small tiller pilot is there if I have enough money before I leave. I haven't looked into using the below deck pilots with the windvane.

Don't feel silly mate, I'm nothing special when it comes to sailing experience anyway.A Jordan series drogue is definitely on the list to buy.
From all accounts they are the best drogue out there, as long as you have enough sea room

You would think intuitively that since the bow of the boat is designed for punching through waves that a drogue deployed from the bow might be better. There are other issues to consider though: will the bow actually be facing a breaking wave with a drogue deployed from the bow? Fin keeled sailboats like the S&S34 have a tendency to want to sail at anchor. With a parachute drogue at the bow the line may go slack at times.

p. 124-125 Hal Roth "Handling Storms at Sea":

In May 1987, the U.S. Coast Guard published Jordan’s engineering report (CG-D- 20-87) titled “Investigation of the Use of Drogues to Improve the Safety of Sailing Yachts.”

Here’s my summary of Jordan’s essential points as they apply to offshore sailors in monohull sailboats. Some of the conclusions are surprising:

...

6. If a drogue is used, it should be deployed from the stern rather than from the bow. With a drogue from the stern, a sailboat will lie stern-to the wind and sea. With the same drogue (or sea anchor) set forward, the bow of a modern monohull sailboat will turn away from the wind, sometimes up to 70 degrees. This may put the vessel in grave peril.

...

Ch 13 Hal Roth "Handling Storms at Sea":

Consider the following letter from circumnavigator Ed Arnold, who wrote me while heading for South Africa after rounding Cape Horn on a singlehanded voyage in his 35-foot aluminum-hulled boat Nomad.

February 3, 2002

Hal,

I have used the Jordan Series drogue many times both for safety in breaking seas and to hold position. Don Jordan estimated the forces on a boat in a breaking crest and designed the drogue to quickly establish the necessary restraining force to drag the boat through the crest. This resulted in a relatively short and stiff main line compared to many recommendations for parachute sea anchors. More or larger cones might be better if one were trying to hold position. My 20,000-pound boat required 117 cones.

I attach the bridle with shackles to tangs welded to the corners of my transom. Forces are large, and a chafe-free attachment is necessary. The drogue works well from the stern; I tried it from the bow and found it would not hold the bow closer than 70 degrees to the wind.

I have deployed it 3–4 times due to breaking seas. The first time in the N. Atlantic south of Iceland I had about F10 winds and seas of 25 feet or more. The boat was held within ±30 degrees from the wind. Most of the sluing was in the troughs where the wave back?ow reduced tension on the drogue and where the wind was momentarily less. Mary and I stayed below with periodic checks on the VHF for shipping. The cockpit would have been very wet and at times almost dangerous. Boarding seas filled the cockpit several times, but none broke directly on us. Drift was about 2.5 knots. Surface current is 1/40 th of the wind speed, so a knot of the drift was surface current.

I had similar results in the Gulf of Alaska and near Cape Horn during the present voyage: F9 or F10 winds with very high seas near Cape Horn. At all times I felt safe, although a full breaking sea on board might do real damage. The other 4–5 uses have been to hold position when I could no longer go upwind and I did not want to run downwind. A larger drogue would have helped. I have not had any tangles during deployment or use. I did have the bridle get under the windvane rudder, and now use a floating line for the bridle.

Retrieving is hard work, and I would appreciate knowing an easier way. I have a retrieval line to the head of the bridle, which I winch in. Then, with some danger to fingers, I can get the main line around a winch during a surge of the boat. This is winched to the first cone. I take one turn on the winch and manually snub during stress and take in during a back surge. The cones survive the snubbing around the winch. With patience and effort it all comes in.

The stern and companionway of my long-keeled aluminum boat were designed to take a breaking sea. Some boats would not be strong enough.

Ed

p. 143 Hal Roth "Handling Storms at Sea":

One user of both parachute sea anchors from the bow and the Jordan Series drogue from the stern is the veteran English sailor Noel Dilly, who campaigns a 28-foot Holman & Pye Twister design named Bits. Professor Dilly says that the series drogue has no give at all, “whereas with the para-anchor, it is like attaching the boat to a bungee cord that is being loaded and unloaded all the time.” He adds: “The series drogue acts faster than any other device, and it will align the stern to the wave direction soonest after a wave strike.”

Andy you might not realize but you have to wait till the tide turns to post photos on here
Chops bro sorted me out

Thanks HG now I understand

Its a steel hull and deck fully insulated internally.