[blowinstink]

That's why I feel the only sensible way to deploy a drogue is by stopping the boat by heaving-to FIRST, then deploying the drogue, and then falling off... Much is also made of the difficulty of recovering a drogue, but it's not so bad if you stop the boat again by heaving-to... I'm always surprised how such an obvious solution seems to get overlooked when discussing the use of drogues, and the deployment and recovery of a drogue need not necessarily be as difficult or risky as Skip seemed to imply...

I don't get how this works Jon. You're running off under bare poles (*maybe* a scrap of headsail) and surfing waves (no need for a drogue if you still have main sail up, right?). So, how do you head up in those conditions, let alone heave-to? I don't see any option to setting the drogue while running off but maybe I am missing it.

 

[blowinstink]

I agree Bubblehead's post was a very nice statement of the sort of mindset an offshore sailor must have and I agree with the details right up to the point of deploying a drogue or warp in advance. I still can't picture the conditions and sailing characteristics which would both warrant and allow for heading up and deploying a drogue in that manner (and I have never read of it in practice either). Can you give me more detail?