See full version: How to Deploy and Use a Sea Anchor or Drogue
Drogues are deployed off the stern. You would use a Drogue to stay stern to the waves and to keep your boat from surfing, therefore reducing the chances of broaching or pitchpoling. A Drogue can also be used as a steering assist in case of power and/or rudder problems. As well, fishers use Drogues to slow their drift for trolling without a motor. Drogues are generally smaller than Sea Anchors and cone shaped. [links]
Sea Anchors are set off the bow. You would use a Sea Anchor in open seas where ground tackle is not possible or practical and you want to hold position in moderate to high winds and seas. They are often deployed to wait out a storm, or in emergencies when there is a loss of power and you need to keep the boat from turning beam to the waves or drifting into obstacles such as shoals. Sea Anchors are generally larger than Drogues, and parachute shaped. more
This illustration highlights the main differences between Sea Anchors and Drogues. More detail follows below.
A Drogue on the other hand, is used to slow down rather that stop a vessel in following seas. here
First, ensure none of your rode is tangled and that it is ready to pay out from coil. Make sure everyone is standing clear so that legs won’t get caught in lines. All line segments should be secured with shackles or swivels and seizing wire should be used for added safety. [links]
The first step in anchoring your boat is to find a suitable anchorage spot, especially if anchoring overnight. One of the first mistakes new boaters make when anchoring a boat is to choose an inadequate anchorage.
Ideally, you want an anchorage that is protected from the wind in all directions. Often complete protection is not always possible and you'll be exposed to wind directions in at least one direction. Below is one of my favorite anchorages, Clam Bay. It is protected from all wind directions except the North. Thankfully, in the Gulf Islands, southerly winds are the most predominant. Simply check your weather forecast to see what direction the wind is blowing from and ensure you pick an anchorage that is protected from that direction.
Avoid areas where the bottom is awash with debris such as stumps, boulders, etc. These will snag your anchor and possibly mean that you have to cut your line (a good portion of our customers come to us because of this!). Admittedly, this is often hard to tell above waterbut the shore often reveals some good clues. A beach at low tide abound with stumps rocks and other debris probably looks the same way several hundred feet out. Again, referring to a local book detailing the best anchorages can warn you of such dangers. more
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Anchor, device, usually of metal, attached to a ship or boat by a cable or chain and lowered to the seabed to hold the vessel in a particular place by means of a fluke or pointed projection that digs into the sea bottom.
Curved arms began to replace straight arms in anchors early in the 19th century. This type of anchor, which is still used for light work and for boats, is shown in Figure 1 . The ring (or shackle) is the part of the anchor where the chain or cable is attached. By removing the keep pin, the stock can be removed from the head so that the anchor can be stowed flat on an anchor bed in the ship. The stock must then be folded out again (i.e., stocked) before letting go, to ensure that one of the flukes digs into the ground. The vertical shaft of an anchor is called a shank; it contains a balancing band fitted at the anchor’s centre of gravity so that the anchor balances horizontally when lifted. The shank is joined to each arm at the crown. At the end of each arm is a fluke, which consists of a triangular flat face (i.e., a palm) with a pointed bill that digs into the ground. more
There are crucial operational and design aspects introduced by mooring installation and anchor descent to the seabed. You may see considerable tensions during initial anchor release and from snapback after the anchor lands on the seabed. Operationally, the lateral drift of the mooring is critical to understand where the anchor will actually land. You should check the acoustic release clearance from the seabed, too, and be aware of snapback loads because you’re in for big headaches on mooring recovery if it gets damaged.
However, once the anchor hits the seabed, there’s ideally enough holding capacity to resist lateral loads on the mooring system from any prevailing currents. You may think deployment dynamics are over once the anchor lands, but there’s one more critical stage to check. This brings us to the last point on the effects of the acoustic release. here
Thanks to Brian Hogue at the WHOI FIXIT Lab for providing feedback and discussion on the article.
3) acoustic release effects
There’s typically only a short line between the acoustic release and the anchor. If this line is a stiff material like chain, there isn’t a lot of compliance. This means the snapback forces can be very high. If the snapback load is high, it means there’s a chance it can damage components, including the acoustic release – again risking the ability to release and recover the mooring. [links]
The entire mooring has built up momentum as it descends through the water. After the anchor impacts the seabed, it will take time for the mooring to slow down. The time it takes to slow down and the distance the mooring covers in this time are critical to the acoustic release. It is not a lot of distance, but it’s not zero. here