There are distinct
advantages in having a PARA-TECH Sea Anchor On Board...
SELF SUFFICIENCY
GOOD SEAMANSHIP being THE ESSENCE OF PREPAREDNESS,
no small, independent craft should venture offshore
without the tremendous confidence, security/insurance
- and peace of mind - afforded by a PARA-TECH Sea
Anchor. A Sea Anchor will go a long way toward enabling
a skipper to limit contingencies at sea and dispose
of them early. Self sufficiency is the trend of the
day and a Sea Anchor will contribute greatly to self
sufficiency on the oft hostile interface between sea
and sky, with all the uncertainties - and challenges
- that they hold for the contemporary sailor.
SAFETY VALVE AT SEA
For shorthanded sailors, hopeless exhaustion is just
as dangerous as the sudden gale. Brain numb from fatigue
the shorthanded sailor will soon cross the dangerous
threshold beyond which all is error and wrong decision.
It is precisely at this point that a Sea Anchor is
worth its weight in gold. Set the Sea Anchor, get
some rest, and THEN get up to fight again, with your
brain back in working order.
"PRECIOUS MILES"
Sometimes it doesn?t pay to beat into heavy seas.
The wear and tear on the crew and boat do not justify
the handful of miles gained upwind. It may be wiser
to lay-to a Sea Anchor and wait for better conditions.
To heave-to without one may mean losing in a few hours
what you have spent days gaining.
DRIFT CONTROL
Many boats are lost annually when - initially disabled
- they drift out of control and run aground. A Sea
Anchor will enable you to hold your position and keep
your boat off the rocks long enough for help to arrive.
ATTITUDE STABILIZATION
With sails down or engine out your boat will become
unstable - SIDEWAYS - rolling sickeningly, rails buried
in the troughs. A Sea Anchor will force the bow back
into the seas and restore stability allowing you to
go about the business of pumping out, making repairs,
or going up the mast if necessary.
MAKING LANDFALL SAFELY
"Land is a mixed blessing," to quote Webb
Chiles, and Lord knows how many boats have arrived
at night and gone belly-up on reefs because the skipper
couldn?t wait set foot on dry land. If you make the
landfall at night and the entry is a difficult one
... Lay off a safe distance and lay-to your Sea Anchor
until daybreak. Better late than never.
MULTIHULLS
U.S. Sailing has recognized the value of a true Sea
Anchor aboard multihulls ... in Appendix VII of ?RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR OFFSHORE SAILING." One multihull builder
has stated that the introduction of large diameter
parachute type Sea Anchors has made it safer for muiatihulls
to cruise blue water.
Design & Construction of PARA-TECH® Sea Anchors
PARA-TECH Sea Anchors are made from
high strength NYLON fabric having weight and strength
more than four times that of surplus parachutes which
have been used as Sea Anchors for many years. Seams
are reinforced with Nylon webbing. Nylon lines with
a minimum strength of 1,500# are joined at the rode
end to a shackle with a strength of from 17,000# to
52,000#. A correctly sized PARA-TECH Sea Anchor will
likely never experience the loads it is capable of
taking.
PARA-TECH Sea Anchors are designed to
be "failure tolerant." If the full system
is over stressed the Sea Anchor is designed to blow
a panel before anything else fails. The Sea Anchor
will still hold the boat but with increased drift.
It will function properly even with some broken or
damaged lines.
When PARA-TECH entered the Sea
Anchor business, over 25 years ago, we supplied surplus
personnel parachutes to the sportfishing industry
in San Diego, CA. Those parachutes failed within one
season, which prompted us to make our own, durable
Sea Anchors. By contrast, in 1996, we received a 5-year
old Sea Anchor which was worn out. The skipper reported
that it had spent the equivalent of ONE YEAR in the
water.
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