OceanBrake

OceanBrake Ltd manufactures the Series Drogue, an ocean safety device designed to protect both monohull and multihull sailing yachts from capsizing or sustaining damage during a breaking wave strike.

The system works by improving vessel motion in heavy storm waves and reducing drift. It can be launched with one hand from the cockpit under storm conditions, and the design ensures it will not foul even when the vessel is rolling or yawing.

For deployment, the drogue is flaked down in its bag with the weight at the top and the bridle legs led up the sides to fasten onto the transom corners. Dropping the chain overboard allows the device to feed out and take hold within a few minutes without abrupt deceleration.

Because once deployed the bridle is under load, the manufacturer advises planning for chafe in advance by using sacrificial materials like webbing, tubing, or leather where lines run over fairleads or chocks.

While some accounts suggest that series drogues are exceptionally difficult to retrieve, the device can be recovered safely and straightforwardly, especially if waiting until the weather abates and resistance decreases.

The multiple cone design ensures that loads diminish as the line comes in, unlike single-cone systems that can develop high loads near the vessel. Trip lines are explicitly discouraged by the company, as they tend to foul the cones and reduce effectiveness.

Standard retrieval involves a two-line winching method from the cockpit using a rolling hitch or loop to bring the drogue in increments of about eight feet while keeping the line secured to a cleat.

An alternative light-weather strategy, adapted from sailor Hal Roth, involves rigging a dedicated recovery line from the start. This allows the crew to transfer the load to the bow roller and windlass, turning the vessel into the wind to winch the drogue in from the bow.