[mmccoy]

I have neither a sea anchor or drogue but I''ve researched them thinking it might be a good thing to have.

A drogue and sea anchor are two different things and have completely different uses.

Sea anchors (i.e. parachutes) are used off the bow. They essentially hold a boat in place while keeping her ''hove to'', bow into the wind. Useful if (for example) you''ve lost power, wind too high for sails/dismasted, etc. and find yourself on a lee shore. While it is a sort of ''brake'' it will NOT eliminate any drift (due to tide/current, etc.). As large as they need to be, as you might imagine if they aren''t rigged right they are extremly difficult to recover.

Drogues on the other hand are used off the stern. They slow a boat so as to maintain steerage, keep pace with wind/waves, etc.. Think of it like the ''chute'' on back of a drag racing car. As Paul says, a similar effect would be towing the longest, largest rode you have with each end tied to the stern cleats (forming a large ''U'' behing the boat), streaming anchors aft, anything to create ''excessive'' drag.