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Originally Posted by Giulietta
The drogue I mention is not a bucket, its a "macramé" (right word??) of tied rope, tied with two cables in a "V" shape, where the drogue stays in the corner of the "V".
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I understand what you mean. Now it’s a case of different ships, different long splices. In the case of the powerboat a bucket was an instant solution and I needed a fast way to steer. As far as sailing offshore goes your method does work and it’s worthwhile describing it so people have the greatest range of options and ideas when they most need it.
But I stand by my advice which is based on my own experience offshore. If you can’t balance the boat then other ways such as your drag may be the only option but trying to learn to get the best out of your boat and learning to balance the boat is worthwhile and if you have a suitable boat and the skill then the safer, simpler way is avoiding
lines with the chafe, exposed crew and other problems that come from towing things. Given a choice I will almost always pick the simplest most robust way to get the job done.
Please don’t take this as criticism because there is more then one way to get the job done and the skipper at the time is the one to decide on a course of action and what he decides to do is often part of an overall plan. I can easily see a set of circumstance where the skipper has decided on a choice of sails forced on him by gear breakage or damaged sails. Balancing the boat may not be an option and your method might be the best choice so it’s worth discussing and planning for.
All the best,
Robert Gainer