[sailingdog]

Bob—

The people who usually cut the JSD free are trying to get back underway before the storm that they were dealing with and had to use the JSD for, has really ended, often before they were rested sufficiently as well.

The whole point of deploying the JSD is so that the captain and crew can get some decent rest and recharge themselves. Almost every user of the JSD has reported that the boat felt like it was in a harbor and the motion of the boat had gentled significantly—so the statement about being pounded senseless really doesn't make much sense. Using the JSD is supposed to prevent that from happening.

If there is no strong winds and waves driving the boat, the JSD is actually relatively easy to retrieve—since it will be hanging almost vertically directly beneath the boat as designed.

On my boat, the JSD design length is 270' or so, with a bridle that is about 35' long. That means that I've got to retrieve 300' of rode effectively. If I can retrieve 40' at a time by running the two lines forward to the bow pulpit, I only have to do the whole running back and forth bit EIGHT times all told, and tie/untie 16 knots.

If you want a guinea pig to test your new designs, I'd love to see them. Improving upon Don Jordan's design would be a good thing, especially if we can come up with one that works as effectively, but is far easier to retrieve.

Originally Posted by bobmcgov

Agree we need to simplify retrieval. Then the design will become standard. ALL sea anchors or drogues are hard to recover -- they are made to resist pulling! People cut JSDs loose because they are tired, seasick, drenched, and can't muster the energy to winch the bastard back on board. They'll regret it later, but it's the sort of decision you make when you've been pounded senseless for three days.

SD's method of running forward and aft with nippers works fine on multis, in decent conditions, or with multiple crew; but I could see that sort of muscle-work being functionally impossible for me (140 lbs) after a blow, and possibly dangerous when the wind has dropped but the sea is still cutting up, the boat is heaving every which way, and you can't put up sail to steady it because (because why?) you're trying to winch the damn JSD aboard.

I'm going to make a couple prototypes this summer and troll them around, see if we can sort out a trip line scheme for these things. They really are a great development in storm tactics and people will be less hesitant to use a JSD if they know getting it back aboard isn't a nightmare.