[Paddlewise] Sea anchor to prevent boat blowing away?

As I was reading through the very interesting (to me, a relative newbie)
paddle tether thread (yes, still trying to catch up from an earlier break from
digest-land), a thought struck me.  It seems the major reason the boat runs
away from the person is due to wind - it blown away.  I would expect current
forces to act somewhat similarly upon man and boat, so you would be able to
swim and catch up in a current-only situation (but I could be incorrect here).
Anyway, the question that arose in my mind was this - would a sea anchor /
drogue sufficiently slow down the egress of the boat?  If so, could it be
rigged such that if one wet-exited, the sea anchor would then deploy?  The
idea being that the sea anchor would present a lower chance of entanglement
than a person-boat tether.


 


I'm sure this idea is full of holes, but thought it might be a basis for an
interesting discussion thread.


 


I must admit the idea was given form through a comment Matt Broze made about
snow ski safety straps - now skis have brakes on the bindings to prevent them
from running away after a fall, the sea anchor was the closest parallel I
could draw for a kayak being able to arrest itself in windy conditions.


 


--Jason Pringle



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