Listen to the old guys (and girls..) and the locals

An old saying, there bold sailors, and there are old sailors, but there are no old bold sailors comes to mind as I read Rod Stephens excellent manuscipt kindly provided by S&S and posted on the Dashews site. The manuscript shows every bit as much commonsense and good seamanship as you would expect from someone with Rods depth of experience, spanning 75 years or so. The lessons contained are hard earned ones, and timeless, and clearly shows why Sparkman and Stephens has such a great reputation.

I am always amazed at the amount of stuff I can learn by listening to experienced older seamen (and seawomen...). Some of what they say might not be in current fashion, or may not conform to the latest scientific ideas, but it often confirms to the hard rules of seamanship and commonsense. And many time quotes from old timers have come back to me in the light of some situation and suddenly make perfect sense. Of course make sure of the credentials of the person you are listening to, there are always plenty of armchair experts...

Also local knowledge is fantastic, I always try to ask the locals about their area, even the newbie boat owner knows much more about the area they sails in than I will. And it is a great way to meet local people. I have had alot of luck talking to the local fishermen, many are often surprised when I ask them about the area (being more used to yachties snubbing them) and their knowledge of the local coast and weather is often incredible. I take a pen and paper for drawing mud maps, and writing stuff down.

Of course I need to be careful of blindly accepting everything at face value, sometimes it is wrong, or more frequently the info is right but I may have interpreted it wrong, but I usually get some really good useful info, and make some friends as well.

Fair winds

Ben

A High Latitude Dodger.

The dome needs abit of "De-icing"

I was Lucky when I bought Reiger, Jim Dilly had already put a canvas spray dodger on her. If he hadn't it probably would have taken me a few years to work out how great they are. I am sure I would have maintained that I liked the taste of salt water and by not having a spray dodger it improved my "feel" for the boat or some other utter rubbish along those lines, so Jim did me a big favor...

Reigers dodger had a fantastic canvas flap that zipped onto the back of the dodger and bungeed down to the cockpit completely enclosing the whole area under the dodger. With this fitted I could actually cook standing up in the companionway, inside my little canvas tent, warm and dry, even with driving rain from astern. The steam from cooking would rise and condense inside the dodger and not the cabin. Wet weather gear could be stashed either side of the hatch, out of the cabin, and in cold weather it kept alot of the heat in the boat, like an airlock, but still provided ventilation.  I could even sail with the flap on. and of course the dodger kept me warm and dry at sea, all up it was brilliant...

My only complaints were that I couldn't work out how to fit a perspex dome to the hatch, and when I was sailing across the Tasman on my own I needed to climb right out into the cockpit to have a good lookaround, This required wet weather gear and a harness, and waking up properly - and I usually got at least a face full of salt water..

When it came time to fit a proper dodger to Snow Petrel I thought long and hard whether to put a canvas dodger or a hard dodger on the boat. We had built a series of hard dodgers for a few boats up at Launceston. The designer/artist was my friend Greg, he has a great eye for a nice looking dodger and after 3 builds we had worked out a quick strong method of building a hard dodger, But I was worried about how one might survive a southern ocean breaker landing smack bang ontop of it, at least with a canvas dodger I could just straighten the frame and stitch it back together, If I had been stupid enough not to fold it down...

The answer to building a stronger dodger came when I sailed on 2041, one of Chay Blyth's challenge 67's. The dodger onboard 2041 was maybe abit "practical" looking but had very strong knees at the after end that also doubled as somewhere to lean against. After seeing this I decided to go with a hard dodger, and as a bonus I could just squeeze a dome under the dodger on the main hatch and another on top of the dodger, above the hatch, meaning I would be able to have a look around without leaving the security of the main hatch.

It looks like this.

1 - 18 inch 6mm perspex dome, absolutely amazing view, doesn't steam up and can be used from inside the hatch or inside the cockpit. It is high enough to have a good view forward. It is a feature that I wouldn't be without. For tropical sailing I might fit it onto a hatch so it can be removed.

Little green hatted man is warm, dry and very happy!

2 - Hand rails set inboard to serve as longitudinal stringers, and gives a comfortable seat on the edge of the dodger roof. By setting them inboard the are easy to hold onto when on the lee deck.

3 - The dodger top is 2 layers of 6mm plywood laminated into a curve. It also has glass sheathing and non skid paint. This is more than strong enough to jump on. I intend to put a mainsheet traveller on top of it at some point...

4 - At the aft edge of the top and the sides is an external laminated beam. Inside this is an aluminium boltrope extrusion to take the canvas flap, to close in the dodger. This Beam stiffens and strengthens the top. It also stops water blowing back from the dodger top into the cockpit. And It forms a good handhold, hence burying the aluminium track inside the wood to stop my fingers getting cold.

5 - Big plywood and glass knees strengthen the aft end of the dodger, they also have handholds and make a nice backrest, or place to lean against. They also give the canvas flap something to overlap to stop rain driving in. They are tied with several heavy layers of unidirectional glass onto the top of the dodger, and bolted to stainless tangs on the coamings.

6 - Cabin top is used as a step to get onto the dodger, it also makes the dodger look better to set it slightly inside the cabin edge, and it is easier to build.

7 - Windows are 4 mm perspex, designed to break before the dodger does...

8 - Dodger sides are 9mm ply, doubled in high load areas, with heavy biaxial fibreglass tape in all the corners. They are bolted through welded stainless steel tabs on the cabin top. a Sikaflex fillet seals it to the deck.

From Astern, a bit of food on the wharf to store somewhere...

I spent alot of time looking at the ergonomics, mocking stuff up and trying to balance looks with functionality. I am happy with the results. There is room to sit in the cockpit completely under the dodger totally out of rain, snow or spray, and I can steer from this position, peering out the dome for a good look around. I need to add a few small windows to the top of the dodger so I can see the jib luff from this position.

I shifted the main winches aft 6 inches or so so I had space to sit on the cockpit coaming alongside the dodger steering with the tiller extension. This is very comfortable and gives a great view.

The dodger got its test on the way down to Antarctica, It copped a big southern ocean breaker, landed right on top of it, knocked us down and got some water below. I was sure it must have broken a window in the dodger but they survived. At some point I can imagine a storm bad enough to destroy the dodger, but if I survive I will just build another one, If I built it strong enough to survive anything it would be far two heavy, instead it is designed so that it cannot damage the watertight integrity of the boat.

One big advantage of having a dodger is that you can dress lighter, meaning when deck work needs doing you don't overheat, sweat and then get very cold as can happen if you are dressed very warmly for a windy cockpit watch with no shelter.

I think the dome/dodger combination is a big safety factor in cold water, keeping crew dry and warm, but some experienced sailors like Rolf and Deborah off Northern light don't have one, using the dome on the main hatch and an effective windvane instead. And I must say that if I got a bigger boat I would probably have more of a pilothouse setup, but with a sheltered area off the back.

I have sailed on a few boats that have a dodger sheltering the crew at the front of the cockpit but not the helmsman at the back of the cockpit. In my opinion this is stupid, the helmsman should be able to get their body out of the worst of the wind and spray, and ideally duck and get their eyes away from a dollop of spray. I have had my eyes get so much salt water driven into them that I could hardly see, A sensible dodger would have solved that problem.

On Blizzard we really wished we had at least a half dodger over the exposed wheel to keep at least our hands dry (or a good autopilot...), but instead we had numb fingers and could only manage half hour tricks in bad weather. Spirit of Sydney had a big lexan dodger, covering most of the cockpit and giving the wheel some shelter, this worked well, and I could hand steer for hours in the worst weather. A big safety plus.

Now thats a dodger! All Polycarbonate on alloy frames, it goes right back to the helm, ideally the helm needs raising slightly for better visibility, but you can stand to the side and steer with you foot for excellant vis. Note the clutter on deck...

 My father got home from the trip on snowpetrel and quickly fitted a spray dodger and roller furling to their 45 foot gaff ketch, after the 30 years that we had to put up with being wet and cold, so at least he was convinced of the benefits. But he couldn't quite bring himself to add a dome. Saying it just wouldn't look right...

The original dodger that spawned provided the pattern for mine, Looks much sleeker on a 38 footer, Nice work Wayne, Greg and Grant. 

Gosh Dad a spray dodger sure would be nice.... Note the Reefed Staysail on a boom.

Note the slightly raked angle of the dodger, this helps remove the illusion of the dodger being droopy, very important as a level dodger top will often result in the side panels looking slightly droopy due to the camber and fact that the sides are narrower at the forward edge. 

Here you can see the lip at the aft end and the radius of the top. The inboard handrails are very good, providing a comfortable seat on the dodger. 

 Under construction, note the annex track buried all around the aft edge.

Another Sister dodger. 

Plenty of room under the dodger, just enough headroom, and your whole body is out of spray and rain.

The dome was fantastic, here I am still inside the hatch with the door closed, perfect 360 view and safely wedged in place. 

The only shot with the canvas closure flap at over the back of the dodger, Two bungees held it down so it was easy to lift and get out.It really kept in the heat, and kept out snow ,rain and spray.

Berserk... Lost in the Ross Sea?

Just got a call from my folks, sounds like the yacht Berserk is missing in the Ross Sea. At this stage things don't look good for the three sailors onboard, with The liferaft found empty and damaged and the EPIRB signal dead, Sounds like it was very bad weather... Lets hope for a miracle.

The movie "Berserk in Antarctica" was shown at our local midwinter film festival, It blew me away, watching Jarle take a 27 foot Alban Vega to the Antarctic Peninsula and was the biggest spur for me to sail to Antarctica. At the time I was at a bit of a loose end, and the movie gave me the motivation I needed to get things happening... And a couple of years later my brothers movie "Snow Petrel Down Under" was shown in the same festival... I have been following Jarle's adventures on and off ever since.

The combination of ice and very bad weather is a difficult one. My plan on Snow Petrel was to try to find a decent Iceberg and sit in it's lee (unfortunately also with the ice field that accumulates in this spot). But if that wasn't an option either motor directly to windward at slow speed, Heave to or drop the Series Drogue and drift, being ready to cut it to dodge any ice. I have no idea if these would have worked, maybe a sea anchor would be good in this scenario. Thankfully I had good weather while in the ice, Berserk was not so lucky.

A link to Berserk's Site Wild Vikings is in my blogroll. I will hope for the best for the crew of Berserk.

Slab reefing...Scratching the Surface.

See how the top batten can get caught...

I reef and unreef alot, too much some people say, often a couple of times an hour.. but I hate the boat slopping around and I hate pushing too hard, Snow Petrel carries abit to much weather helm at times (I have ideas to fix this...) so getting the mains'l area right is important.

I have dealt with a lot of mains, from the 1500 square foot gaff main on Soren Larsen (putting a third reef in with 40-50 knots needs about 12 people and half an hour..) to a fully battened, fully batcared, all lines led to the cockpit setup on the ex open 60 "Spirit of Sydney" so I have a good idea of what I like...(this really just means I am obnoxiously opinionated)

I find reefing and unreefing my main a fairly painless process,  alot of this is because the boat and sail is small. Another reason is that it is moderately well set up. I am always amazed at the processes and stuffing around many people seem to go through to reef the main.

First thing, you can reef while sailing down wind if the system is set up well. In fact I think you must be able to reef down wind. In a decent sea with a Genoa poled out the last thing you want to do is have to come into the wind. In flat water coming onto the wind can work fine, BUT do not come completely head to wind, keep the jib slightly luffing, and the main just out to leeward - heading right into the wind is the mark of a novice, as the sail slats around over the deck and the slack reefing pendants sweep the cockpit, upsetting the shouting and gesticulating skippers beer, and then tangling in the engine controls.Much better to have it safely out to leeward, where it can be seen and at least the cockpit and the windward side deck are clear.

To reef down wind I slack the halyard abit, pull down the luff abit, pull in the reef pendants (including the other reefs) abit, then repeat until the sail is reefed, having a removable tackle on the luff is really helpful. The main point is to never drop the halyard too far (mark it at the reef points), because it can be a devil to get back up, especially if the headboard or a batten gets caught under a spreader or shroud. The sail should be designed to reef well clear of a spreader. If your sail has battens watch them carefully, they can blow through the shrouds and get caught, or bend too much and snap (ideally design the sail so the top batten is too long to blow through the shrouds, and with no headboard). Keep the leech as tight as possible with the reefing pendant. I have had problems doing this when using single line reefing, so don't much like it for this reason.. but I must admit it was a poor setup and, any feedback on this would be appreciated.

A dodgy trick I have found on bigger boats is that sometimes I can just luff up enough with a poled out Genoa to backwind the main slightly making reefing really easy - BUT you are a hairsbreadth away from getting the Genoa caught aback on the pole (this can snap a pole or worse). Having a staysail or something set to leeward can also help backwind the main. Also Rolling away some genoa, or easing the pole forward can help. But try it in flat water with a light breeze first.

I got a two year old to draw it...

If I see people fiddling with slides I know they haven't got a good system. There should never be a need to remove slides from the track unless the boat is very poorly set up. I use a lacing system to slacken of any slides that would otherwise need removal. Most of the slides can be fixed, just the awkward ones near the luff cringle need a jackline lacing (I use 3mm spectra) that slackens off when the sail is dropped. The sailtrack should go as close as possible to the gooseneck. If you have a clever sailmaker this may only be needed on the third reef, because they can space the slides to not need a lacing for the lower reefs. I also like a webbing loop (or spectra lashing) with two rings (one on each side) sewn through the tack cringle, this clips onto a horn on the goosneck that I have made from a big welded on Stainless Steel clip.This stops the luff ring dropping off the horn if the luff goes slack.

I am not enormously fond of leading all the lines to the cockpit, but some people I respect swear by it... make up your own mind. I can't be bothered with all the extra friction when I want to shake out a reef, and usually have to run forward to clear a tangle anyway, or overhaul some lines. And all the extra lines make my cockpit even messier, with them at the mast I can kind of spread the mess around abit. I also find going forward to reef gets me out of the cockpit, looking at stuff, and while I'm at it I like to go around the boat and check everything is Ok, If all my lines where led to the cockpit I probably wouldn't bother until it was to late...  But then saying all this one day I may change my mind and lead all my lines from my junkrigged boat into a nice warm pilothouse with carpet...

Also I don't normally bother tying any reef points, or putting a lacing around the bunt of the sail, unless the weather forecast is looking really bad. If I do I use one long lacing and I tie It around the reefing pendant cleat, and also the tack ring horn so that there is absolutely no possibility of forgetting this line, unreefing and ripping the sail at the reef points... I usually put reefs in sequentally, Ie if I go straight to the third reef I make sure I put in no's 1 and 2, even if I have to finish it after I have put in the third reef. I also make sure I pull in the slack reefing pendants as I go, otherwise they can get tangled.

Make sure the reef pendants stretch the foot of the reefed sail tightly, I like belly bands (or reef bands) through the sail for this reason (they control the stretch), although I note that most sailmakers don't.... If the foot is not reasonably firm you end up with two much shape in the sail, and to much power. In a strong wind the main should be flat.

So basically If reefing the main seems like a big deal that you tend to put off, and need to wake extra crew for you may need either a smaller boat or a better system. I have really only scratched the surface of all the options or ideas, and each boat and sail setup is so different. But make sure your system is effective.

Fair winds

Ben

Snow Petrel... The boring details

A few keen observant and possibly quite bored people have noticed the extra page added to the blog.. well done! It's next to the videos page on the top of my latest rambling blog if you aren't one of those observant ones..  I kind of slipped it up there to see what would happen. I wrote this a few years ago to go in the back of a book my old man was writing, Its incomplete, caustic and a few things have changed since then, but if you have nothing more important to do, and are curious it is up there... I plan to slowly add stuff to it, but may well not get around to doing so, maybe this blog is my attempt to add to it... Any comments on the page can be posted here.

Cheers

Ben

Roller reefing, and misguided mascochism

When I was young and full of misguided masochism I used to sneer at Roller Reefers - They ruin your sail shape I would say, and they can fail, and anyway I like to go forward and change sails, makes me feel like I'm alive... The truth of it was Reiger had a nice big sail locker and a heap of hank on sails, and to change to a roller reefing system would have meant a heap of redundant expensive stuff. I learnt to live with the sail changes - even got quite good at it - and to be honest sometimes I even enjoyed the process. 

But I remember one dark stormy night coming across Bass Straight, with a quickly rising head wind, wishing I didn't have to go forward and change down to the spitfire jib... Wishing I could pull on a magic piece of rope and magically make that sail smaller... wishing I hadn't been such a masochist..

All that wishing didn't work and I eventually had to go forward and change down , and all that salt water down my neck sure did make me feel alive - also made me feel bloody cold, wet and miserable, The old no 3 tucked under my arm was quickly stuffed down the cockpit locker, and the little spitfire jib had settled Reiger back into the groove.... Until the wind (as quickly as it had appeared) died away to nothing.. where's that magic rope? 

The next boat definitely had to have a Roller Reefer, I had also realised that carrying 5 or so soggy wet mildewy lumps of poorly folded sailcloth around was a bit dumb, tramping all that salt into the boat was bad for everything. Rinsing them with fresh water, drying and folding them up properly took the best part of a day, and the amount of space dedicated to them could be much better used.

So Snow Petrel has a "furler" (yes I know it's really a "reefer" but from now on I will call it a furler) and I am happy, whenever I wish I can pull on that magic rope and the sail magically disappears, Its all rather wonderful, and I wonder what ever possessed me to sneer at such a device... However some of my scepticism remains, so my furler is a simple time tested reefurl with a halyard return, and absolutely no roller bearings, swivels or anything to that can readily fail. It is a marvel of minimalist engineering, the only bearings are about $18 worth of orange PVC electrical conduit. I also put a really heavy 10mm 1X19 SS forestay inside it (I don't much like SS but needed something smooth) , with toggles top and bottom. For another similar unit see Alado

Mine has a massive welded aluminium drum that can fit a huge amount of 10mm double braid (big enough to hold and pull on, and strong enough to keep the wimp happy). I like to know I have enough rope on there to never run out of turns, even when I have rolled the sail real tight. I have had this happen on delivery's, Its a real problem, the corner of the sail is hanging out and there's no more rope to pull... the only option is to lash it up and try to dismantle the complex guards and then add a few more wraps, or run off and blanket it behind the main and quickly unroll and then re-roll it abit looser before the wind flogs it to pieces (neither option is even slightly fun... unless you really are a masochist)

I was lucky enough to get a really good furling headsail with Snow Petrel, It is radial cut, with a high enough clew to enable deep reefing without having to change the sheet lead. The high clew also keeps the sail driving well on a reach (look at a blast reacher on a racing boat), gives visibility and keeps it out of the bow wave. Low cut roller reefing sails are terrible things..

This sail also has a foam pad in the luff and still sets and drives quite well to windward in 30+ knots with the sail reefed well down to spitfire size, I have a solent stay that can be rigged just behind the furler, with a nice hank on spitfire jib but I don't use it, the furler works fine...  And when the wind eases I can quickly ease that magic rope and keep her moving at her best. I can set a small storm jib of the baby stay to help in stronger winds, but this sail is not essential. In a real blow I am quite happy to use just a corner of my furled genoa.

I suppose there are tradeoff's. I make sure the sail is in good condition, and fit a strong spectra leach cord to hold the sail together if It ever rips, at least until I can get it unrolled and down. A shredded sail streaming off a furler in a blow is not a good look.... Once that leach line goes you are abit stuffed.

Also the sail adds alot of windage forward that needs to be considered, and alot of weight aloft. The windage forward is useful in a blow with a drogue out, holding the bow downwind, but can be a pain at anchor, or when manoeuvring under motor. I wonder how some of these boats with twin furlers manage in strong winds, although I can see the advantages.

I use my furler like a throttle, tweaking it frequently to keep the boat sailing at her happiest speed. To reef the sail I now prefer to run off for a split second and blanket the sail behind the main, it means I can pull it in by hand easily and safely. I just have to make sure the sail is rolled evenly and tightly. If I can't do this I luff the sail just enough to take the weight out of it and winch it in. I don't like to let the sail flog to roll it up unless the wind is light, and then I normally need some weight on the sheet to get a nice tidy stow.

I am abit paranoid about the furling line being let go by mistake, and always lock it in the clutch and on the self tailing winch. When I leave the boat I tie the furler up with a separate piece of line around the drum (which I normally then forget to untie when I go sailing..). The only other problem I have had is the turns being thrown off the drum if I let it go to quickly, or let the sail collapse and fill with a slack furling line. At least with my open drum it is easy to fix.

I Now take some more care, and always keep half a turn on the sail, with a tight furling line. I also check it well before I need to roll the sail up. I have had turns get jambed inside fancy expensive units for the same reasons, and it can be hard to see, and even harder to fix, so if you have a covered drum I suggest you follow the same procedures, and also keep the fiddly cover guard removal tools handy...

So as you can see I am a pretty happy about it all, although  do have some ideas for improvements to the unit (I always have ideas for improvements....) and for the next boat I would consider a complete change of tack by going for a junk rig... But more on that one later.

Cheers

Ben

PS I had to buy my roller reefing unit so the praise is earned, I don't think I'd have a fancy one onboard even if they gave it to me... But saying that the good quality modern units do seem to be very well made and reliable. I just prefer my simple system.

Storm Tactics Part 2 Before the blow

Yes this is a lame picture,about 35 knots so get some sleep now.

The answer to the Blizzard question from part 1, We were kind of reverse hove to with just a backed storm jib and the helm down, this steadied us up somewhat but we were still lying more or less beam on, or maybe the bow was abit down, perhaps 110 degrees relative. The wind was touching 50 in the gusts so probably about 35-40 knots of real wind, and the seas were still pretty low, no more than 3 meters? We were really just taking a break, it not being worth bashing into for the miserable progress we would have made. The wave that came over was definitely a rogue wave, and much bigger than the normal. I sensed it just in time to swing the camera around.

But to move on, I made a mistake in Part 1 Did any of you notice? See I knew you weren't paying attention.... (mind you I didn't notice it either) The caption on the first picture reads "Careless is the ass, who sleeps with a low and falling glass" when in fact this is probably exactly what you should be doing.

Rolf and Deborah from "Northern Light" drummed this into me as a kid when I spent hours reading my grandfather's copy of their excellent book "Northern light". They have a term called the sleep bank, you put hours into it and you take hours out. simple, and you do have an overdraft facility, but go to far into debt and you are in serious strife... It is scary how quickly your decision making part of the brain gets defective with lack of sleep. You start doing really stupid things... Like writing blogs..

So Number 1, get some sleep. Also:

• If you haven't already (and you really should have been..), get the best weather info you can and work out if you can set a course to clear the worst areas.
• Study the chart, make sure you are no where near a seamount, edge of a steep continental shelf, or fractured zone these may cause upwellings or somesuch that can make the sea state horrendous. Two deep sea fishermen I have talked to like to get 30 or 40 miles clear of even very deep seamounts if there is any bad weather forecast. They also report 3+ knots of subsurface current at times near these areas. These fishermen are the only good source of info I can find on this, so don't take it as gospel. Here is an interesting link about the schooner "Orbit" capsizing, make sure you also check out the technical notes at the bottom of his page.
• Start logging weather info as often as possible. Then you can possibly track the low center. If the storm force winds aren't forecast you have an obligation to let the nearest met office know, and broadcast it to other vessels.
• Cook up a feed, eat and drink lots of water, organize some snacks.
• Tidy up all that mess that always accumulates (on my boat anyway, maybe you are a tidy person)
• Secure boat (ie lash down that heavy sextant box)
• Get storm gear ready
• Make sure batteries are topped up
• Lash spinnaker pole down well (it is your emergency mast). I must set mine up to store below.
• Put clothes, computers and stuff in dry bags
• Get crap off the deck (fold and stow sails) 
• Top up any day tanks, empty all bilges, and make sure they are clean and the pumps work.
• Put the small vane on the wind vane
• maybe consider seasick tablet if you are so inclined
• I put extra lashings on my liferaft, to disable the hydrostatic release. You can make up your own mind about this.. BUT definitely make sure a sharp knife is handy...

But also SLEEP.

I'm sure there are many points I've missed. This list is not definitive, let me know if you think of any others and I'll include them.

You are allowed a moment of panic, abit of fear, and quite alot of worry,(unless you really are a robot) but try not to let it stop any of the above. And if you have crew, don't let it show to much...

I will try to write something on sleep patterns latter, but for now I will just note that kind of meditating and relaxing in my bunk seems to work almost as well as sleeping, so now I just get my head down and relax, rather than trying to force myself to sleep. Even 20 minutes of not quite asleep refreshes me alot. You shouldn't be in nasty stuff in the first few days (if you are you need to learn to read a forecast..). So at least  you should be in sea sleeping mode (It takes me a few days).

At this stage the boat should be making its way out of the path of the worst weather and hopefully towards your destination. You may have some great sailing, as the winds and sea build, slowly reducing canvas. I don't push the boat hard at this point unless I really need to get out of the way of something very nasty.

I like to study the sea, Especially the swell directions - there will be two or even three swell patterns overlaid, and of course the wind-driven sea on top of this. Getting this info may prove vital later, because this will give you some idea of the direction of any rogue waves, and may give you some idea which is the best tack or gybe be on latter if things start to get really nasty. Rogue waves tend to come in the average direction of the swells and seas - ie a NW swell with a SW sea will likely give a rogue wave from the west, It also may not, but on probability it is more likely, so if running it would be better to be on the Starboard gybe heading east rather than on the port gybe heading north. Or if hove to, be on the port tack heading west, rather than south. You really want to minimise the chance of a rogue hitting you on the beam... So pay attention to the waves.

I think rogue waves are the big killer, and ultimately the best defence is a strong boat and a bit of luck -  the specific tactics have less to do with it, but certainly can help. That's why I like to prepare for the worst before leaving the wharf.

I have run with drogues in the past, With mixed results, and I would like to talk about this at some later point. But for now need to leave this topic a bit. There will be a part 3, or more, but for now this will have to do, I have already spent too much time deleting and rewriting sentences, and I am still not really happy with it...

All the best, and I hope you never need to use any of this stuff.

Ben