Using a Drogue or Anchor with the Tow Loop
In a recent regatta, the wind increased from 5-15 knots over a series of starts and I wanted to adjust the battens but there was no beach nearby to go to and the water was too deep for my tiny nylon Copper Anchor.
However, a recent incident when I had to deploy mooring lines and fenders in wind gusts of 34 knots made me think there must be a better solution – as I was still moving quite fast even when hove-too.
So hence my purchase of a 500mm drogue (or sea anchor) from eBay.
Drogue/Anchor Deployment
Obviously if using an anchor the line from the tow loop to the anchor will need to be much longer than for the drogue but the principal is the same:
- Tie the anchor or drogue line to a shackle or high strength carabiner using a bowline.
- Attach a 4m retrieval line to the shackle and tie the other end around the forward ama arm.
- Then attach the shackle/carabineer to the tow loop and unclip the shock cord retainer from the deck to deploy the tow loop.
- Deploy the anchor/drogue and allow the shackle/carabineer to reach the centre of the tow loop in front of the bow so the boat is head to wind.
- To retrieve the anchor/drogue. Pull the retrieval line to allow you to reach the shackle/carabiner and then retrieve the anchor/drogue.
- Reattach the shockcord to pull the tow loop under the bow and onto the deck.
