Conference unifix::sailing

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                                     Sailing
Created: 12-MAR-1986 08:48         953 topics         Updated: 18-AUG-1988 09:36
                       -< wanted/for sale: use note 263 >-
 Topic  Author               Date         Repl  Title
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   953  LAGUNA::MILLMAN_JA   17-AUG-1988     0  Sea Anchors & Drogues
   655  MENTOR::REG          28-SEP-1987     0  PEKNY Anchors
   607  SSGVAX::SAVIERS      28-JUL-1987    23  Setting an anchor
   580  TALLIS::KLOTZ        24-JUN-1987     7  Anchor Windlass - Request fo Info
   532    ISBG::KIMBALL      22-APR-1987     6  Sizing an Anchor Line
   398  BIGMAC::TELSEY        3-SEP-1986     6  Sea Anchors
   373  PULSAR::BERENS       31-JUL-1986    26  Anchors and Anchoring
   343  USMRM2::JONES        24-JUN-1986    11  ANCHOR SELECTION
   148  EXODUS::HARROW       18-JUL-1985     1  Reasonable Anchorages in S. NH?
   146  USMRW1::BRYAN        16-JUL-1985    13  Anchoring Advice Sought
    69  MOTHER::BERENS       12-DEC-1984     1  anchoring trick
    42  MOTHER::BERENS        6-AUG-1984     5  anchoring story
    

    Thanks, for the ref. but it seems as if 398 died in Dec '86.  No
    one mentioned any experiences and that's what I'm looking for.
    
Has anyone out there used a sea anchor or drogue?    

    Yes I have used a sea anchor ('chute type).  What do you want to
    know.  I'm still alive, what more do you want?  Used when sleep
    was the only priority and heaving to would have caused too much
    variable wave action to allow any rest, and it was there alone in
    its bag and it was time for it to earn its keep.

    RE .3
    
    Thanks for replying.  What size boat, sea anchor did you use?  Approx.
    where was it tied offand what angle did it hold you to the wind?
    What were the sea conditions and wind strength?  How long was it
    used and do you know how much you drifted? Any other details would
    be appreciated.
    
    Thanks,
    
    jay 

    1965 Islander 32 custom yawl.  8' Dia nylon 'chute type with trip
    line.  Secured through bow fairlead to mast at cabin top...97 half
    hitches.  Longest use approx 4 hours...wind at 20knts...sea 8-10' 
    swells at 50+ yds pitch...some chop mixed in.  Mizzen sail raised
    for wind vane effect.  Somewhere around 2 miles drift but current
    was unknown factor.  Wind and wave action in same direction and
    boat kept perpendicular to waves...ideal conditions.    
               
    merrill

>>> ...97 half hitches [to mast]...

A good knot for this particular application would be an anchor bend with
the bitter end tied in an overhand keeper on the standing part.  At least
as secure with less chafe, and much easier to untie. 

;-),  J.

    I often tend to overstate.  I used only ninety-one half hitches.
    Normally I would have used the Kribnitz over-the-toe mast hitch
    which has been proven effective in similar circumstances.  Discovered
    by the archaeologist Grenelda Kribnitz on the shores of Gitchie
    Goomie, it took the yachting world by storm in the late fifties.
    At three o'clock in the morning, I tie half hitches.   

This note as well as note 398 have been dormant for some time.  This note
requested experience with drogues and sea anchors, and my request is similar.

I�'ve been thinking about getting a drogue or sea anchor for my J/40, Hidden 
Valley, a 40ft, 17000lb, fin keel, spade rudder, sloop.  I'�ve read a several 
useful references [see below], but remain perplexed.

How does one select such a device which is appropriate for one�s boat, 
itineraries, crew, and budget?  In particular, how does one even choose 
between a drogue (deployed from the stern) and a sea anchor (deployed from 
the bow)?  When and how should they be deployed as opposed to using 
classical techniques [1,3,4,8,9,13] such as running before the wind (towing 
warps), heaving-to, lying-ahull, and even dumping oil to calm the seas?  For 
light to medium weight boats like mine, should one prefer drogues to sea 
anchors to protect the rudder, or should one just use a larger parachute?   
Should short-handed crews prefer sea anchors, since they are basically passive 
devices?  Earl Hinz [6a] recommends having *both* aboard and points out that 
the combination is still less than a new 406 Mhz EPIRB that �can only pinpoint 
the location of your demise and will not help prevent the disaster.�  Hmmm.

Apparently boats over 60�' rarely capsize due to breaking waves off shore and 
boats under 45'� have a significant chance of it in a sustained gale or worse 
storm.  Various studies [10] have been done to examine the dynamics of such 
capsizes and conclusions have been drawn as to tactics to deal with �heavy 
weather� and subsequent capsize.  They have indicated that a properly sized 
and deployed drogue or sea anchor is far more effective in really heavy seas 
than any of the classical techniques.  Such devices are available commercially, 
but comparative data seems scanty at best and prejudiced at worse [6a,11].

As far as I can tell from [2], none of the boats in the infamous �79 Fastnet race 
carried a drogue or sea anchor, although there were a couple which were jury 
rigged.  Nor have I heard of the Whitbread or BOC boats (ever?) carrying one.  
The ORC 1991 offshore racing rules do not mention drogues or sea anchors, 
but the 1994 edition devotes 4 pages (out of 37) to the parachute sea anchor, 
and for yachts 70'� LOA or less, a sea anchor of diameter at least 35% of LOA 
is required for off-shore races (categories 0 and 1) [12].  Does anyone have 
more details on offshore racing or cruising rules?

I�'ve never seen any requirements for rallies.  Some of the several dozen boats 
caught in the force 12 storm last June off of New Zealand did carry one, 
including 5 of the 7 abandoned boats, but I have yet to find any usage study 
from this storm.  The Cruising World articles [7], while commendable for 
covering a cruising disaster, aren'�t much for detail.  Has anyone seen other 
coverage?

Has anyone carried a particular type of drogue or sea anchor?  How was it 
chosen,  and what  experiences using them have you had - even just testing 
them in moderate conditions?

Finally, summaries and references to studies, articles, and books on this topic 
would be welcome.  The following (surely incomplete set of ) references have 
brief personal annotations with respect to drogue and sea anchor information.  
Some of my books are older editions, and maybe newer ones have relevant 
information which is more current.  Curiously I can�'t recall Practical Sailor or 
Ocean Navigator discussing drogues or sea anchors (although the latter carries 
ads for them.)

-gayn

1. Chapman, �Piloting ...� 58th ed. by E. Maloney, 1987,  has just a couple 
paragraphs on heaving-to, sea anchors, drogues, and a 10 point guide to 
the use of oil.  Nothing on parachute sea anchors or modern drogues. 
Perhaps newer editions...
2. J. Roumaniere, �Fastnet Force 10�, 1980 has an index pointing to a couple 
uses of makeshift drogues in that storm.
3. J. Roumaniere, �Annapolis Guide to Seamanship� 1st ed. 1983, describes 
the technique of lying ahull using a sea anchor, a tactic favored by the 
Pardey�s.  There is a new edition ...
4. J. Roumaniere, �Annapolis Guide to Seamanship� videos
5. Technical Committee of the CCA, �Desirable and Undesirable 
Characteristics of Offshore Yachts�, 1987, mentions the Galerider and the 
series drogue, but does not include them in the offshore gear checklist.
6. Cruising World, Safety at Sea issues, December 1990 (a) through 1994 (e).  
The 1990 issue has a survey article by Earl Hinz which reads a bit like 
summaries from the literature of the 6 companies he lists.  On the other 
hand, there are two interesting references which I have yet to acquire:  
Hinz� �Understanding Sea Anchors and Drogues�, Cornell Maritime Press, 
and Shewmon�s �Sea Anchor & Drogue Handbook� available from 
Shewman, Inc. 1000 Harbor Lake Dr., Safety Harbor FL 34695 - a maker 
of a �variable pull� drogue.
7. Cruising World, Sept. and Dec. 1994, features on June 1994 force 12 
storm off New Zealand.  The Dec. issue hardly mentions drogues or sea 
anchors.
8. K.A. Cole, �Heavy Weather Sailing�, 3rd revised ed., 1981 (reprinted 
1989) has no descriptions of parachute sea anchors used and favors 
drogues to (the now recognised as undersized) sea anchors.  
9. T. Cunliffe, �Heavy Weather Cruising�, 1988.  While this little book has 
some useful advice, it�s thin on storm tactics. It�s the only place I�ve seen 
which recommends sailing or powering into the storm as a viable tactic.
10. D. Jordan, �Investigation of the use of drogues to improve the safety of 
sailing yachts and life rafts� USCG report CG-D-37-84, Dec. 1984 and 
�Investigation of the use of drogues to improve the safety of sailing yachts� 
with C. Hervey, USCG report CG-D-20-87, May 1987.  Both available 
from the National Technical Information Service; call 703/487-4650 for a 
catalog.  These provide good information and some models on drogue and 
sea anchor use.  The series drogue is championed and preferred.  Worth 
studying.  Good bibliography containing many articles I have not had time 
to chase down.  This appears to be the same Jordan mentioned in note 398.
11. V. Shane, �The Drag Device Data Base�, 3rd ed., 1990.   Not only a 
collection of storm incidents using drogues and sea anchors, but a 
commentary by a strong and commercially biased advocate of parachute 
sea anchors (Shane sells them.)  Shane is also a multihull devotee, and this 
collection has much data about them.  Apparently this booklet has been 
influential, and is well worth studying.
12. Offshore Racing Council, �Special Regulations Governing Offshore 
Racing�, 1991 and 1994, revised annually.  These are the only two issues I 
could find in my files with nothing required in 1991 and a sea anchor 
required in 1994.  Does anyone know when and why they switched?
13. R. Henderson, �Sea Sense�, 3rd ed., 1991, has a long discussion of 
drogues and sea anchors as well as techniques for using both them and the 
classical techniques.  Worth reading.
14. Ocean Voyager, 1989,  E. Hinz, �Riding It Out�, a summary article with 
less content than [6a].  From 1988 to 1994, this is the only article on 
drogues or sea anchors in this annual series published by the Ocean 
Navigator group.

    The following is part of a letter from Christopher D. Barry,
    Alexandria, Virginia to Boatbuilder Magazine January/February 1995
    -reproduced without their permission.
    
    "I thought your readers might be interested to know that the Coast
    Guard Research and Development Center did two reports on research into
    the use of drogues to prevent sailing yacht capsizes.  These reports
    are by Jordan, "Investigation of the Use of Drogues to improve the
    safety of sailing yachts and life rafts," 1984 report CG-D-84 and by
    Jordan and Hervey, "Investigating the use of drogues to improve the
    safety of sailing yachts", 1987 Number CG-D-20-87.  These reports are
    available from the NTIS, Springfield VA 22161 as accession numbers ADA
    158 907 and ADA 188 598.  The researchers tested various designs of
    monohulls and multihulls.
    
    This research resulted in several conclusions:
    
    ..If a wave breaks, a jet of water comes down the front face.  This jet
    of water causes the boat to suddenly sway sideways.  The underbody
    catches and the boat suddenly rotates downwave.  At this point the boat
    may capsize...
    
    Keeping the mast up reduces the chance of a capsize.  A long range of
    stability contributes to recover from the roll.  However it appears
    that only a small increase in wave height seems sufficient to overcome
    boats with these elements favorable and capsize these boats as well. 
    Another possibility is that the boat will be caught by the jet, surf
    and dive into the wave crest, then pitchpole.....
    
    It appears that boats dont capsize in non-breaking waves and [in
    breaking waves] if it doesn't come broadside or surf into the trough
    and pitchpole it will avoid capsize.  This implies that drogues have
    a significant place in survival in storm seas...
    
    Various drogues were tried. The parachute drogue seemed to prevent
    capsize in most cases, but put enormous shock loads on the boat.  Also,
    in the orbital motion of the wave, the drogue would occasionally turn
    inside out, go slack and not give sufficient force to the boat to
    prevent capsize until too late.  As a result of this a device called a
    series drogue was developed.  It is a series of conical nylon buckets
    strung along a rope.  The buckets are typically  5 inches in diameter
    by 6 inces long and as many as 90 of them are strung along 200 or more
    feet of 3/4 inch nylon braid with a weight, such as an anchor at the
    far end.  The fact that the individual drogues are strung over a long
    rope means that they are in different parts of a wave and wont go slack
    or turn inside out.  They also do not produce high shock loads and are
    easy to handle.....
    
    The report concludes:
    1. In many and possibly most cases, a properly engineered drogue can
    prevent breaking-wave capsize.
    2.For fin-keel sailing yachts the drogue should be deployed from the
    stern, not the bow.
    3. A series-type drogue provides significant advantages over a cone or
    parachute type drogue.
    4. A full-scale series drogue demonstrated satisfactory handling and
    durability characteristics under simulated storm conditions and actual
    braking-wave conditions.
    
    The report also notes that the series drogue and the information in the
    report are not proprietary or patented and gives sizing and design
    information for drogues...."
    

    Did that study compare running with a drogue and lying to a sea anchor?
    The Drag Device Data Base (Victor Shane) tends to lean towards sea
    anchors, but that's inevitable, because he makes 'em.
    
    However, as the DDDB grows, people can make assessments based on the
    size/type of their boat and other people's experiences.
    
    Ours is a 24 ton ketch, but with massive mooring bitts and plenty of
    canvas anti-chafing gear, we feel that lying to a nice big parachute
    would be safest, even in huge seas (as long as there is a strong swivel
    on 300-600 feet of nylon line with leading chain!)
    
    The boat is designed to take punishment from the bow rather than tons
    of hard water in the cockpit or smacked against the stern ...
    I'd rather have a big roller break over the bow than the stern, thank
    you very much....
    
    And with plenty of rode there will never be huge shock pulling the bow.
    As for the rudder, we have a barn door behind the full keel, supported
    from above and below, which is highly unlikely to suffer backing-down
    at the maximum few knots the parachute would allow! Others may have
    different mileage.
    
    Ashikin

    By the way, you can set your boat up for almost zero chafe if you
    shackle a good strong nylon mooring line to your bobstay attachment on
    the bow at the waterline, or have a big eye-bolt attached there, then
    you bend your sea anchor to that line, and it will pass over no
    rubrails, chocks etc.

re .9: 

An excellent summary of the Coast Guard report and its conclusions. 


re .8:

Indeed, from time to time I've asked the same questions you do. Part of
the difficulty in reaching satisfactory answers is the lack of
theoretical understanding, the lack of experimental data, and the lack
of engineering design rules. I don't have all of the references you
list, but I do have a copy of the Coast Guard report by Hervey and
Jordan. It has much data that have helped me make some decisions. 

I am most skeptical of sea anchors (meaning something deployed from the 
bow), for many reasons. 

It is my impression that sea anchors are mostly used in moderate
conditions by fishing boats to maintain position. Moderate conditions
imply, I think, non-breaking seas and less than gale force winds. If by
fishing boats is meant commercial trawlers or other, sea anchors are
probably used since these vessels already have heavy-duty ground tackle
handling equipment that could easily be used to handle a sea anchor. 
And, besides, a sea anchor wouldn't interfere with other work being done 
aft (hauling nets, whatever). If by fishing boats is meant pleasure,
sport-fishing boats, sea anchors are used since it would be folly to
expose their large, low cockpits to oncoming waves. 

I do not recall any accounts in the literature I have read of sea
anchors being used in very bad weather (breaking seas, gale force or
higher winds, or in survival conditions. I can think of some reasons why
they might not be so used. 

A boat left to drift will tend to drift with the bow downwind, which
makes sense since there is typically more windage forward for both wind
and waves. (This is also why, I think, boats sheer back and forth at
anchor. Sometime I must try anchoring by the stern.) This means that the
sea anchor has to resist the natural tendency of the boat to veer off
the wind and head downwind and downsea. 

The wind force on a boat 30 degrees off the wind is about three times
that with the boat headed into the wind (see William G Van Dorn,
"Oceanography and Seamanship", 2nd edition, Cornell Maritime Press,
1993). This rapid increase in wind force as the boat veers off the wind
will both cause the boat to roll to leeward and increase the loads on
the sea anchor. (The maximum wind force for a 17000 lb boat in a 60 kt
wind is on the order of 2200 pounds.) The force of waves trying to turn
the boat broadside will likely be even higher. Other than any pull from
the sea anchor, there is no force helping turn the boat back into the
wind and waves. Worse, in general, the wind and waves are not from the
same direction, nor is, especially, wave direction constant. 

Since the boat's natural tendency is to turn downwind, and since the
forces acting to turn it downwind are large, the sea anchor must
obviously exert a constant and equally large force on the boat to keep it
from turning broadside to the wind. It is unlikely that any sea anchor
can provide a constant force given the vagaries of wind and waves. I
would guess that if the sea anchor line goes slack, the boat will turn
broadside very quickly. Capsizing is most likely when the boat is
broadside to the waves. 

See page 48 in the Coast Guard report. For a 4' parachute drogue, 30'
boat, and 8' high waves (not even close to survival conditions), the
load on the towline will oscillate between zero and some 1000 pounds every
few seconds, and every few seconds there will be almost 10' of slack in
the towline. I would assume that the same would be true for a parachute
sea anchor. 

Very little slack is needed in the sea anchor line to allow the boat to
turn broadside. A boat turns about a vertical axis somewhere near
midships. If the sea anchor towline is 300' long, there needs to be only
a foot or two [!] of slack to allow the boat to turn broadside assuming
it simply turns about this vertical axis. 

The Coast Guard report estimates that a parachute sea anchor would have
to be on the order of 9 to 13.5 feet in diameter for a 20000 pound boat
with a design load of as much as 30000 pounds [!!!]. (This diameter 
is roughly the 0.35*LOA given in the offshore racing rules you mention. 
Do the rules allow a series drogue instead.) Such loads are extremely
dangerous to be around, so say nothing of designing and building a bow
structure able to withstand them. The sea anchor line would have to be
something like 1" diameter nylon. (For a 50000 lb boat, the design loads
would be about 60000 lbs.) 

Think of the practical difficulties of deploying a large sea anchor and 
several hundred feet of large line safely from the typically narrow and
cluttered confines of a wildly heaving foredeck. Your thoughts may
differ, but I can't imagine attempting it. 

Finally, the impact of a breaking wave on a boat depends on, inter alia, 
the relative speed between the boat and the wave. For a boat using a sea 
anchor, the relative speed will be near maximum since the boat speed 
will be very low or even zero. For a boat running downwind, the impact 
of a breaking wave may be reduced by 50% or more. True, boats differ, 
but one of the weakness of our boat is a large foredeck hatch. Since I 
would opt to run off in very bad conditions, I've made sure that our 
companionway washboards and cockpit locker lids (I hope, but more 
strength would be good) are as strong as the rest of the hull. 

The Coast Guard report says (page 61) "For these reasons [given in the
report] the use of a sea anchor from the bow is not recommended." I
won't argue. My conclusion is that, for serious storm conditions,
bow-deployed sea anchors are not the answer. 

Which means that either a drogue or running off before the wind is the 
answer (assuming that there is an answer). 

See chapter 16, "Survival Tactics", in C. A. Marchaj, "Seaworthiness, 
the forgotten factor", International Marine Publishing, 1986. Marchaj
points out that early in a bad gale or storm waves are quite steep and the
orbital velocity of the water in the wave crest may easily equal the
boat speed. There is then no water flow past the rudder, which means
no steering, which means no control, which likely means broaching, which
may mean being capsized by a large wave. Later, waves are less steep
(though higher) and the wave crest water velocity is higher than boat
speed. From this Marchaj offers the idea that a drogue is appropriate in
the early stages of a storm to keep the boat speed low and the boat
headed downwind/downsea. Actively sailing the boat (that is to say,
running off) is apropriate later as the storm develops. Makes sense to
me. But ..... 

There are a couple of problems here. First, how do you recover the 
drogue? Cutting the drogue away is expensive and means no drogue for the 
next storm. It would appear that tripping and recovering a large 
parachute or similar drogue would be difficult and problematic at best. 
Recovering a series drogue (see design in Coast Guard report) might be 
possible though no doubt difficult. (By the way, a kit to build a series 
drogue to the Coast Guard design is available. Price is something like 
$1100 for a 10000 to 30000 lb boat, rather more than the cost of a
406MHz EPIRB.) 

Second, is the crew able to sail the boat actively in a prolonged storm? 
Sure, Whitbread crews can, but they are much younger and more fit than 
I. And I tend to sail with a small crew -- two to four. So continual 
active sailing may not be possible for some boats/crew.

I'm tending to the view that what might work would be a series drogue 
that would slow the boat significantly, but not enough that all 
steering control would be lost. If the length (and hence drag) of the 
drogue could be varied, so much the better. Once I streamed the drogue, 
I wouldn't attempt to recover it until the weather moderated. 

We once unintentionally used a drogue in not too bad conditions (our 
dinghy swamped a few hours before dawn and we waited until sunrise to 
cope). The boat could be steered, but the drag was enough to keep the 
boat headed downwind with virtually no attention to the helm. Rather 
nice, I thought, since I was rather seasick and quite cold at the time.

Another aspect of the capsize question is that wide, light boats are 
much more likely to capsize than narrower, heavier boats (see Note 
193).

Alan

PS Let me recommend the above Marchaj book in its entirety. It is well 
worth the time neded to read this somewhat difficult and technical book.

>> Very little slack is needed in the sea anchor line to allow the boat to
turn broadside. A boat turns about a vertical axis somewhere near
midships. If the sea anchor towline is 300' long, there needs to be only
a foot or two [!] of slack to allow the boat to turn broadside assuming
it simply turns about this vertical axis. <<

Alan, excelent observations, all. However, your comments about slack in 
the line assume that there is *no* exasticity in the line -- as if a 
chain with 0% stretch were used to deploy the sea anchor. If the sea
anchor were deployed with 3 strand nylon then you get the inherent 15% 
stretch. So a 300' warp will yield an additional 45' or so. Thus, as loads
decrease the boat must first move the 45' toward the sea anchor before 
the line goes totally slack -- the probability of the boat being forced
broadside to the waves increasing as the distance falls.  I'd suspect
though that by this time new loads be placed on the warp and that stretch
will occilate within some middle confines, say an additional 7% - 10% 
of the original warp length, and that the line would in fact never go 
totally slack. 

In closing, let me say that I agree with you that times will 
exist when she is more likely to be broadside to the waves than others.

Michael
"Latitude"
"Kahana"

re .13:

What you say regarding the stretch in the towline is correct. However, 
there is another consideration here. Even, and especially, in a storm, 
the sea surface and waves are not at all regular. There is a mix of 
wavelengths and wave heights that are best described statistically (see 
Van Dorn -- the wave height data in Note 2191 come from his statistical 
approach). 

The load on the towline will be reasonably constant as long as the sea
surface and waves are reasonably regular. What happens due to the
irregularity of the waves is that the boat and anchor get out of phase
with the waves. The boat may be in a deep trough just as the anchor is
pushed toward the boat by a wave crest. This could all too likely create
many, many feet of slack almost instantly. In fact, the Coast Guard
report mentions that there have been cases where the sea anchor has been
thrown astern of the boat. 

This problem or effect is easily observed when towing a dinghy. Just 
watch how the dinghy alternately rushes toward the towing boat and then 
falls back hard against the towline as the wave pattern and wavelengths 
change. 

Alan

Good observations. But when using a series drogue or sea 
anchor the resistance is spread over, possibly, several 
wave tops which then 'averages out' the effects of a single
wave. As I recall, this was one of the bigger advantages 
in using such a device.

Michael

re:  .13 and .14

One missing ingredient in this conversation is that a properly configured sea
anchor has a large weight (approx 1 lb per foot of boat length) attached to
the apex of the chute.  When the tension on the rode lessens, this weight
forces the chute to sink and increases the tension on the rode.

My reading of the coast guard report report (summarized in .9) is that their
testing used what Shane (of Para Anchors and the Drag Device Data Base) would
call undersized chutes AND undersized counter weights.  This balance, claims
Shane, keeps the tension on the rode even in irregular seas.

Again I emphasize I know of no hard data validating these theories.  The 
Coast Guard (via Jordan et al) weren't really trying to test a wide variety
of configurations of sea anchors (as they were for drogues), and I don't 
know of such a test.

-gayn

p.s.  further comments on .12 and extensions of the reference list of .8 
in another reply to 953.

    sea anchors used from the bow in serious storms.
    The Drag Device Data Base lists accounts of a
    
    Your note .12 does not take into account many factors, such as the fact
    ts
    that a boat genearlly has much more strength in is
    
    Damn this editor is causing problems, hoe this is readable
    
    A boat typically has more strength in its bow fittings than tstern,
    and of course many boats could not even attempt to lie to a sea 
    anchor delployed from the stern.
    
    But with a long, 1", elastic nylon line with a 28' chute would not
    generate the 60,000lb forces you list. Also, the bow is designed to
    take
    a wave. I'd dread it if a big wave mounted our stern, and she's a
    57' offshore cruiser!

The March/April 1995 issue of Ocean Navigator reports on the loss of a 
49-foot ketch in a storm with 50 to 60 knot winds last November off the
US east coast. The principal factor in the loss was the inability to
reef or lower the mainsail due to the failure of an automatic furling
device (not further identified). 

A crewmember said he "attempted to deploy a sea anchor from the boat's 
bow but was unable to control the device and eventually lost it overboard, 
along with all anchoring gear."

The crew was rescued by Coast Guard helicopter and the yacht was never 
seen again.