Steering Drogue and Jordan Series Drogue

In preparation for an around-the-world sailing adventure, it seemed wise to test Indigo Wave’s emergency steering drogue and our Jordan series drogue. Thus, after the official departure, which included a tot of fine rum for Neptune and crew, we hauled out this important safety gear when we neared Cordova Bay. Although the conditions were hardly what one would see in a big storm, the light winds did allow us to work through the steps safely. We used the engine to drive us forward as if we had strong following seas.

Steering Drogue

The emergency steering drogue (left side of lead photo) is intended to allow us to steer the boat during a passage should we lose the rudder. To deploy, we connected the bridle at the midship cleats, close to the fulcrum of the boat, where it will have the desired effect. We looped a length of line around the bridle from the aft cleats so that it wouldn’t go into the rudder or prop area. There is about 60’ of line from the bridle to the drogue and there is 20’ of 3/8’ chain on the end of the drogue to keep it down in the water. The drogue is sturdy and well-made and is about 18” across and 30” long. It was quite easy to deploy and very effective. Running the test at ¾ throttle allowed us to simulate a sailing speed in moderate conditions but we have a slightly larger steering drogue we could deploy if conditions are a little more sporty. By varying the length of each leg of the bridle, we could turn the boat 10 degrees every three minutes or so, and it was not difficult to make the adjustments by hand. This was a big success; we can manage the steering for long periods during a passage if we need to. It was also not very difficult to retrieve.

Top left: Here is the bag for the steering drogue and a separate bag for the chain which I store in the bilge; Bottom left: It is important to connect the bridle for the steering drogue to the midship cleats for it to be effective; Right: A loop of line prevents the drogue from getting into the prop and rudder area

Jordan Series Drogue

The Jordan series drogue is designed to manage the boat if the wind and sea conditions become too much or we are exhausted. It was originally designed at the request of the US Coastguard following the Queen’s Birthday Storm north of New Zealand and the Fastnet Storm south of England. Both storms resulted in a loss of life and a loss of several boats. The US Coast Guard ran a number of tests off the Columbia River Bar and concluded that the Jordan Series Drogue was the best drogue or parachute device out there. The main problem with either a traditional drogue or a parachute is the forces they exert on the boat when they pop out of a wave and then load up as they grab hold again. The parachute deployed from the bow has the added risk of the boat speeding up dangerously in reverse as the parachute pops out of a wave. The steering on any sailing vessel is designed to go forward and when in reverse there is a large load that often results in a failed rudder jammed to one side or broken steering. The boat is then out of control and too often results in an abandoned ship or worse.

The Jordan series drogue that I have (see right side of lead image) is based on the original design and has a bridle that is attached to the aft cleats before it’s deployed. Then 300’ of drogue is released by dropping a 40’ length of 3/8” chain attached at the drogue’s tail end, and standing clear as the line and cones peel out. There are 149 mini drogues or cones every 18”, each about 8” diameter and 16” long, with the rope threaded down the center. The first 100’ of line after the bridle has no cones. The lines have some stretch and this reduces the shock loading. Also, because there are 149 cones there will never be a time where more than 10 or 12 pull out of a wave so there is never a severe shock load on the system. The chain at the end helps to keep the cones in the water but also sinks the end of the drogue when mounting a wave and the boat slows – that prevents a slack in the system after cresting the wave and no sharp pulls develop. It is important to have cleats with good backing plates, but I didn’t have to go crazy on the reinforcing. Once the cones were out, there was no doubt about their effect – the boat slowed from 6 knots to about 2 knots with the engine at 2000 rpm.

Left: Tail end of series drogue has a 20’ length of 7/16” chain, which is the first thing to go into the water once the bridle is secured;  Top right: first step is to attach the bridle to both aft cleats (green line goes to starboard cleat, blue to port, red is the 100′ lead line to which cones are attached; Bottom right: Showing the bridle and the tail end of the series drogue – cones are contained in their bag out of the photo.

Retrieving the Jordan series drogue is not terribly complicated. With my crew, Barb and Bjarne, we started by tying a rolling hitch as far aft as possible on one of the bridles using a thinner line, or strop, which I then took to a genoa winch. It is worth considering (and testing) what type of line to use for the strops. The first line we tried was very slippery making it hard for the rolling hitch to catch, and even the improved line required us to modify the hitch with some extra loops. I am thankful for the power winch but I’ve done it on a standard winch and it works as well although it takes a lot more effort. After bringing in the first length of line, I took a second strop and, again, tied it as far back as possible on the bridle. I then brought the strop around a second winch and ground it in. I have a second winch on the coaming but the main sheet winch would work as well. Once one side of the bridle was most of the way in, I moved the other end of the bridle and tied it off on the cleat as a safety. We were able to take the bridle and the first 100’ of line straight onto the winch but once we got to the cones we went back to using the strops. Barb says she has never tied so many rolling hitches in her life. It took us at least 30 minutes to retrieve the entire drogue while running at ¾ throttle to simulate the conditions we might encounter after the storm has past but the wind might still be blowing at 20 knots.

Left: The rolling hitch is a common knot used to retrieve the drogue as it’s pulled toward the winch; Right: The large bag containing the Jordon series drogue; to make it more compact, we have also packed the drogue in a vacuum bag.

We all felt pretty pleased with results of our testing on both drogues and I will not hesitate to use either if the need arises. Each is packed in a separate bag and is stored in the aft locker ready to go.