NOTES ON THE USE OF A JORDAN DROGUE
In 2015 I bought a Jordan-type series drogue
for my 35ft gaff cutter Iron Bark II. She displaces 11 tonnes fully
loaded so the drogue was 97m long with 124 cones. The leader and first section
of drogue was 19mm double-braid nylon and the tail section 14mm double braid.
In the following three years I sailed from
Scotland to Labrador and did a circumnavigation via the southern capes with
stops in Western Australia, New Zealand, the Antarctic Peninsula, Falkland
Islands and Ireland. I deployed the
drogue a total of 11 times on this voyage, all in the Southern Ocean. Here is what I learned along the way.
Deployment
The Jordan series drogue is attached to the
boat by a bridle that is led to either strong posts well aft or chain plates
attached to the stern quarters. These attachment points need to be able to take
a strain equal to about half the vessel's displacement. Iron Bark II is
steel so providing adequate strong posts on the stern quarters was simple. A
GRP vessel will probably use chain plates, which will be of similar dimensions
to the shroud chainplates. Any shackles need to be able to take strain equal to
about half of the vessel's displacement.
Initially I stowed the drogue in a large
sail bag, with its weighted outboard end on top and the eyes of the bridle led
to the top of the bag and thus accessible. When the time came to deploy the
drogue, I hauled the bag into the cockpit, lashed it down and pulled the eyes
at the end of the bridle out of the bag and looped them over the strong posts
on the quarters with one leg of the bridle led around the stern, clear of
rudder and self-steering gear. At this stage the boat was running at 4-6 knots
under bare poles with the Aries servo-pendulum gear steering.
Having checked there nothing was likely to
foul, I threw the weighted outer end of the drogue overboard and leapt clear.
The drogue ran out very rapidly. Any snarl at this stage would be a serious
matter as there is a lot of strain on it.
Getting a hand or foot caught in a loop as the drogue ran out could be
life threatening.
Ideally the drogue runs through some sort of
fair lead to prevent it flicking around the cockpit as it pays out, reducing
the chances of it fouling on a winch or something similar. I ran it between two
closely-spaced stanchions on Iron Bark II's stern, which worked
well as they are strong and well attached. A GRP vessel’s stanchions are seldom
strong enough for this and some other method will need to be devised to control
the drogue as it runs out.
A much better arrangement is for the drogue
to have a dedicated deck locker that feeds the drogue out cleanly. On arrival
in Australia, having at that stage used the drogue three times, I built a such
a locker. The new locker let the drogue run out in a manner that was unlikely
to foul anything. It also made easier to flake it down out neatly so that there
were unlikely to be snarls when it was next used. Another benefit was that it
eliminated the need to manhandle a bag filled with about 100 metres of rope
further weighed down with over 100 cones. Getting that bag up the companionway
when the drogue was dry was hard work; it was near the limits of my strength to
do it when the nylon double braid was sodden.
I have seen specially made holders
consisting of a sheet of canvas with loops to hold the drogue. Doubtless they
work and ensure the drogue runs out cleanly, but replacing the drogue into its
holder in the confines of a small vessel is likely to be difficult. This means
the drogue will not be ready for another deployment. This sort of holder is
probably unsuitable for longer, rougher voyages, especially those in the
Southern Ocean, where multiple deployments are likely.
Running with the drogue
The drogue ran out cleanly and immediately
pulled the stern into the wind. Iron Bark II ran steadily downwind
making about 1-1/4 knots through the water with no hint of broaching. Although
she shipped a few wave tops, no heavy water came aboard. The strain on the
drogue was considerable, but steady with no abrupt shocks. It was akin to being
on a bungy cord. I concluded that I should have had this bit of equipment years
ago and nothing in my subsequent experiences using the Jordan drogue has made
me revise that opinion.
Before
deploying the drogue, I tied a stout rope to the junction of the bridle legs
and the drogue leader. This third leg to the bridle is a lazy line that I kept
under just enough tension to stop it fouling on anything without taking any
strain. The line makes it easier to get in the first few metres of the drogue
on retrieval, but its chief function is to allow me to steer across the wind by
up to 30°.
Drogue deployed with lazy line to the bridle junction. The lazy line is
used for both steering and retrieval
To steer across the wind, I took tension on the lazy
line, slightly shortened the bridle on the side that I want to turn towards.
With the strain on the lazy line, I took another turn or two around the bollard
with the bridle, then eased off the lazy line. The slightly asymmetrical bridle
legs now steered the boat across the wind.
In the southern hemisphere the wind shifts from
northwest to southwest on the passage of a cold front. Running before the new
southwest wind puts the old northwest sea abeam, which can be dangerous until
the northwest swell dies away. Turning 20° or 30° to starboard and taking the
old sea on the port quarter and the new sea on the starboard quarter is safer.
As the old NW sea decreases, course is altered to run downwind by lengthening
the shortened bridle leg, bringing the developing SW swell is more directly
astern.
Retrieval
Once the weather moderated, I set about
hauling the drogue back aboard. Ideally, I would wait until the wind was 15
knots or less, but deep in the Southern Ocean this could mean waiting a long
time. More typically it was still blowing 25 to 30 knots and quite rough when I
started to get the drogue back aboard. I used a 20-metre-long messenger line of
12mm diameter led forward from the cockpit, through a block attached to a
strong point on the foredeck then back to the stern. This line was tied to the
drogue on the stern quarter using a rolling hitch. I took a couple of turns
around a sheet winch with the tail of this messenger line and hauled away. This
immediately brought the drogue abeam, with the boat rolling heavily beam on to
the seas. To get the drogue in, I would have to pull the boat sideways against
wind and sea, which was clearly impossible. I changed the lead of the messenger
so that it led between the stanchions that I had used to keep the drogue under
control as it ran out. This kept the drogue over the stern as I hauled it in.
Retrieving the drogue using a stanchion as a fairlead keep the drogue streaming
aft.
Once I sorted that out, retrieving the
drogue was straightforward. I hauled on the retrieval line using a winch as a
snubber (no handle) and each time the stern dipped to a wave I got in half a
metre of slack. It was 7 metres from the winch to the turning block on the
foredeck. When I had hauled in that much drogue and the rolling hitch reached
the block at the bow, I belayed the drogue with a short length of line attached
to the stern quarter, again using a rolling hitch. With the weight off the
messenger line, I
could then haul the newly-retrieved length of drogue back
into the cockpit, undo the retrieval line and reattached it to the drogue close
to the belaying line. I then cast off the belaying line and repeated the
process, getting 7 metres of drogue in with each cycle. The amount retrieved on
each cycle of course depends on boat size and whether it has a centre cockpit.
Retrieving the drogue with a messenger line led through a turning block on
the foredeck then aft to a sheet winch
Unexpectedly, I found the only time that I
needed to use the winch handle was to haul in the last 20 metres of so of the
drogue. At this stage the drogue was hanging nearly straight down and I was
pulling the weighted end directly up with little help from the boat’s motion,
which I found to be hard work so I used the winch to wind it up, rather than
just using the winch for snubbing.
I used a messenger line as the drum on my
cockpit winch was not large enough to prevent the drogue slipping if I lead it
directly to the winch. The relatively large diameter drogue line did not grip
well when there was a drogue cone on the winch drum, hence the use of a
smaller-diameter messenger line. A vessel with larger winches could probably
lead the drogue directly to a suitably-sited winch. I am told by a very
experience friend that with two people to do the job, it goes much more quickly
when the lighter person tails on the winch and the heavier person sweats on the
drogue aft of the winch and no messenger line is necessary if the winch is
large enough.
The time taken to retrieve the drogue varied
with wind and sea state. In a rough sea and 25 knot wind, it takes me 2-1/2 to
3 hours to get the drogue back aboard, coiled down and the boat sailing again.
Hauling in the drogue requires a steady, sustained effort but no great feats
strength. I am neither young nor strong, being over 70 years old and weighing
less than 60kg, and can do it so the job should be within the capabilities of
any one who is moderately fit.
Different cockpit layouts will require
different ways of retrieval. If the method chosen is impossibly heavy (as mine
was initially when the drogue streamed abeam with the messenger led directly to
the winch), look to modify how things are being done. Retrieval is a matter
of technique and persistence rather than brute strength, the emphasis being on
persistence.
Problems, actual and potential
Fouling the self-steering gear.
In December 2016, I continued on from
Western Australia towards Cape Horn, making my easting in the west winds south
of 40°S. Predictably I encountered several gales/storms in which I used the
drogue. Much has been written about the seas that develop in those latitudes
and they really are huge, majestic and terrifying. Some were so large that Iron
Bark II was nearly becalmed in the troughs and the drogue went slack,
allowing a bight of the bridle to wash around the self steering gear. Twice I
managed to free it; the third time I was not quick enough and the drogue tore
off the whole lower leg of the self-steering gear when the boat surged forward
at the top of the next wave.
This problem is likely to occur on any yacht
that has a self-steering gear over the stern that does not have its bottom
end attached to the hull. A servo
pendulum gear or an auxiliary rudder type are the most likely to have this
issue. When I rebuilt the self-steering system in New Zealand, I changed it to
a trim tab on the main rudder, which eliminated the problem. A vessel with a
spade rudder well aft might consider running a deflector wire from the rudder
to the back of the keel to prevent the drogue from taking a turn around the
rudder with potentially catastrophic results.
Damage to the cones after multiple
deployments
Without a working self-steering gear, I was
unlikely to be able to get around Cape Horn before the onset of winter, so I
turned north towards New Zealand to refit. I used the drogue several more times
before I arrived in New Zealand. By the time I got there many of its cloth
cones were damaged and some were nearly demolished. At that stage I had used
the drogue six times for a total of 138 hours. About half of that time was in
gale or stronger conditions; the other half was waiting for the wind to ease
enough for me to retrieve the drogue.
The damage to the cones was due to the
fabric fraying in the same manner that a flag flogs itself to pieces. The
tapes, stitching and hemming was not damaged. On arrival in New Zealand, I
contacted OceanBrake, the supplier of this drogue and they immediately offered
to replace the cones at no charge. I thought this very generous and asked that,
once they had sourced a different material for the new cones, that they send me
replacement for half of them.
Cone element that disintegrated after multiple deployments
The cones that failed were made of woven
polyester with a rubber-like backing film. This backing film flaked off after
extensive use which then allowed the relatively loosely woven polyester to
shake itself to pieces. The new cones were beautifully made of heavy-duty woven
polyester cloth with no fill or backing material with heavy-duty tape tabling
at both ends of the cone. In the spirit of enquiry, I ordered a set of cones
from Ace Sailmakers, another major supplier of Jordan-type drogues. These cones
were made of heavy sailcloth and only hemmed at the big end.
When I refurbished my drogue, I alternated
cones from OceanBrake and Ace Sailmakers to compare their durability. On the
next leg of the voyage from New Zealand back into the Atlantic by way of the
Antarctic Peninsula and Cape Horn, I used this combination drogue five times
for a total of 5-1/4 days. At the end of it, the sailcloth cones from Ace
Sailmakers had minor fraying around the unhemmed small ends while the cones
from OceanBrake were in pristine condition. Either looked good for much more
hard usage. Both companies have had problems with the longevity of their cones
in the past and each has successfully addressed the issue. I believe that the
new-style cones supplied by OceanBrake and Ace Sailmakers are both fit for
purpose. I have a slight preference for those from OceanBrake, but either will
do.
OceanBrake and Ace Sailmakers cones alternated to replace those that failed
due to fatigue. The white cones with green tabling at each end are from
OceanBrake, the white cones with no tabling are from Ace Sailmakers. The yellow
cone is one of the original type that failed.
Cones made of rip stop nylon have been
supplied by some companies. It is reported that their life in heavy weather is
only a few hours. I have no experience with them but believe they are best
avoided.
Use of Dyneema in place of nylon double
braid
This seems to be a potentially valuable
improvement, dramatically reducing the bulk and weight of the drogue,
especially when it is wet. Dyneema is very slippery, which may complicate its
retrieval as it is likely to slip on a winch barrel, but this problem should be
solvable. I believe OceanBrake has done some research on this problem and
offers a solution to it.
Conclusions
The Jordan drogue is a valuable, potentially
life saving tool for managing small craft in heavy weather. Its worth is
greatest in small vessels with weak crews sailing in the high southern
latitudes. I would not make another long Southern Ocean voyage without one,
particularly in a vessel under 40ft.
