| Pacific drama
James Bradley sails a 37ft Searer, Hokulele, out of Kailua, Kona, Hawaii. He was on a passage from New Zealand to Rarotonga and deployed his Force 10 Para-Anchor in a gale. The winds ranged from 30-50 knots and the waves built up over 4 days to 20ft in height. The vessel yawed only 5 degrees from side to side and drifted 10 miles into the wind. James wrote to Para-Anchors Australia "Dear Alby, Thankyou for your very efficient and prompt help in getting our parachute sea anchor to us before we left New Zealand. We were becoming fatigued after 3-4 days of big seas so we decided to deploy our parachute sea anchor just to take a break and it worked very well. We were able to go below and relax, prepare some good meals and get some good sleep. We stayed on anchor for two days until conditions calmed to 20-25 knots then we retrieved the parachute sea anchor easily by motoring up on it and pulling it in. We did not use the trip line or float. It worked great and I won't go offshore without my parachute sea anchor."
"A small yacht, a big ocean and a wild storm.
The late Jack Earl is famous in Australian yachting. His suggestion in the bar of Sydney's Cruising Yacht Club of Australia to "have a little race down to Hobart", was the origin of the now world-renowned summit of ocean racing, the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. In the Kathleen Gillet now on display at the National Maritime Museum in Sydney, Jack was the first Australian to skipper a cruising yacht around the world. He was a renowned and highly skilled marine artist. A dream of Jack and his wife Kathleen was to sail his later yacht Smoky Cape, a 7.3m yawl, from Tahiti to Australia, but they never achieved their dream. Steve and Michaela Moss of Queensland Australia bought Smoky Cape and enacted Jack and Kathleen's dream. It was a 4500 nautical mile voyage and they write "We added a vital piece of equipment, the parachute sea anchor by Para-Anchors Australia". |
During the trip an unpredicted gale developed. Michaela wrote "We battled the building seas and increasing winds. The swell reached a height of 10 metres with a vicious cross swell racing through the troughs. Howling wind blew the tops of the waves through the spreaders of our little yacht. It was frightening, tiring, wet, uncomfortable and difficult to keep the boat safe. We tried many different storm tactics including running before it with warps, but the cross swell would push us around to a dangerous angle. "Four days later with fatigue setting in and conditions deteriorating, we decided to deploy the parachute sea anchor. Steve took the Coastal 9 Para-Anchor with line attached, up to the bow, leaving the remaining 100 metre coil of line in the cockpit with me. We had read and re-read the instruction booklet before going to sea and it deployed efficiently. We positioned pieces of hose on the secured line to minimise chafe, checked for wear frequently and stayed on the parachute sea anchor while the gale howled around us, waves broke over us. We drifted about 1 nautical mile per hour. We were able to cook and eat a large, hot meal and catch up on much needed sleep. After 6 days the gale warning was cancelled. The parachute sea anchor was easily retrieved, an exercise similar to pulling in Smoky Cape's MR anchor. "It is our belief that the Para-Anchor parachute sea anchor should be carried aboard every boat that is going offshore. The strongly built chute is lightweight and easy to store, its convenient deploying bag assisting in its use. It enables any small vessel to sit safely while a bad weather system passes. The comfort provided and the deserved confidence in the Para-Anchor parachute sea anchor also reduces the likelihood of injury to the crew and damage to the vessel. "In other circumstances, the ability to safely stop and hold a vessel in position, while miles offshore, has many benefits especially for short handed sailors in need of a rest or waiting a rendezvous with another vessel. Our gale lasted 4 to 5 days with estimated 50+ knot winds. To our knowledge we were the only vessel in this particular gale not to sustain any gear damage or crew injury. We believe that the Para-Anchor parachute sea anchor was our saving grace. And only in a 24 footer."
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