Re: [Paddlewise] Sea anchor to prevent boat blowing away?

At 11:08 AM 4/11/02 -0400, FoldingBoats_at_aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 4/11/2002 9:20:57 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>niels.blaauw_at_wanadoo.nl writes:
>
> > ... The release mechanism is a problem in itself. A sure release system 
> that
> > only releases when the boat is upside down, full of water and no kayakker
> > in the cockpit ...
>
>This thread has grown on me!

Yes, these kinds of threads can be fun.



>The idea of the auto-release sea anchor sounds like a potentially very useful
>safety device in conditions so severe, relative to the paddler's skill and
>emotional or physical state at the time, that they could force her or him
>actually to exit accidentally.
>
>
>The anchor should be released as soon as the spray skirt pops, in my view.
>This would cut down on the amount of drifting the empty boat could
>potentially do before the anchor is fully deployed and able to hold the boat
>back effectively. A simple pull-pin "velcroed" to the spray skirt might do
>that job in combination with a "Drift Stopper" (anchor-in-a-bag) type set-up
>for the anchor. Will have to work on that idea a little ... Keep It Simple,
>Stupid comes to mind ...

I was thinking of something that attached to a loop on a PFD but attaching 
to a spray skirt would works as well.  As I thought about this, I thought 
that this is essentially a temporary boat tether (since, even if it were 
attached to the spray skirt, the paddler is also attached to the spray 
skirt) with an auto-disconnect.  Boat tethers have been discussed often 
here with the recurring concerns about entanglement.  So, I was thinking if 
you're in open water conditions,  you've exited the boat, it's about to 
drift away from you, a simple boat tether solves that problem.  When boat 
tethers have been discussed in the past the importance of some kind of 
release mechanism in the even of an entanglement has been emphasized.  If 
there is no potential for entanglement it would be nice if you could just 
pull on the line to bring yourself back to the boat.  If a pull-pin were 
used it should require quite a bit of force to get it to release.  For 
example, in very rough conditions with breaking waves, a simple boat tether 
could drag a paddler through the water pretty hard if a large wave comes 
between the paddler and the boat. At that point it could release the pull 
pin, which would deploy the sea anchor, but there is no point in deploying 
a sea anchor if staying tethered to the boat isn't going to cause any harm.
***************************************************************************
PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed
here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire
responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author.
Submissions:     PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net
Subscriptions:   PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net
Website:         http://www.paddlewise.net/
***************************************************************************