Unlike the Great Lakes or coastal bays, at sea the wind doesn't neccessarily die & water calm just because the storm or squall has passed. Wind may drop from fifty to twenty knots, then stay there for five days -- and you ain't winching that drogue aboard in twenty. There's also a limit to how much time you want to spend dragging a sea anchor -- there may be shoals to leeward, or you may wish to stop drifting off course and start making miles to your destination again. Ability to retrieve
easily and
at will is critical to a finished design.
The JSD improves motion, but it won't magically cancel all effects of a confused sea, or spare you the fatigue of sitting 4-hour watches in cold, pelting rain. Cause you still have to watch, right? Just the
noise of a bad storm can wear down a crew, and so can anxiety. We used to practise really clever and efficient rappelling techniques at our local crag, so if we had to bail off a big mountain in a hurry we could do so safely, with minimal loss of gear. It was invaluable training but conducted at 8000' in the sunshine, on good solid granite. Turns out those techniques work a bit less effectively at 14000 feet, with exhausted climbers & "rock" made of cat litter. When the sleet is horizontal and night is coming fast, you plug in two eighty-dollar cams and kiss them goodbye.
