Drift chute for a TI - drift speed vs size?

I've been scouring the net and can't get a firm answer, just vague generalities like "really slows me down".

I have the Hobie drift chute, which is about 16" diameter. Tried it on my TI (sail furled) the other day in 12-15 MPH winds. Without the chute the GPS said I was drifting at 2.5-3 MPH, with the chute it said 0.8 MPH. That's pretty good, but I'm wondering how much better can that get?

It's a tradeoff, of course. I'm sure if I got a real behemoth chute I could practically stand still on the water but it'd be a mess to manage on the TI. How much slower can I get the drift with smaller increases in chute size? If I can cut the speed in half with just a modest increase in size that might be worthwhile. (I did find Cabela's has a range of reasonable sizes to choose from.)

You may have to become the expert on drift chutes as I suspect not many use them.
I used one, home made, about 3 foot diameter if I remember correctly.
We just deployed it while we stopped for lunch, some distance from shore.
But again, all I could say is that it almost stopped the drift.

When you try out chutes of different size, let us know the results.

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Cheers, Brian in South Australia
Tandem Island -

I have a military sea anchor that is about 6 ft in diameter. I still drift at 1/2 mph with it. I gather thats as good as it gets. I have a drift sock (about 24 in diameter) and I drift at about 2-3 mph with it. All this depends on the wind speed to some degree. I have an AI. I use the drift sock for surf re-entry and the sea anchor for emergency use during storms.

Vetgam

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Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

Were you drifting directly downwind/downcurrent?

You might try playing with where the chute comes of the boat if you have an anchor trolley or a bridle setup. Also, the rudder position might be something that affects your drift speed. Finally, not sure this is practical for your use, but unreefing a little bit of sail may affect drift as well.

When I first tried it I just tossed it toward the front and tied to the front aka brace. Due to wind on the mast that put me more or less perpendicular to the waves which wasn't too fun. I pulled it back in and dropped it toward the rear tied to the rear aka brace and the TI wound up pretty close to straight downwind. Much more comfortable ride, and is when I took the speed measurements.

Last week I went out for a sunset sail and tried the drift chute again. This time I tried to stay pointed into the wind by adding a traveler line to get the chute pulling straight off the bow. The TI *still* turned sideways, the force of the wind on the mast is really something.

I was drifting faster than I wanted (losing my "sweet spot" for sunset pictures) so I wound up trying an anchor - the Hobie four-leg claw anchor (all my kayak shop had at the time). It - eh - mostly worked. During the steadier breezes it would grab and hold but every little gust of wind would uproot it and move me a little more each time. Even when it held I noticed the TI swayed side to side quite a bit. Maybe that's normal when on an anchor? Or maybe that's the wind on the mast again - I was facing into the wind. I need to try facing downwind, see how that does...

A friend has a 30" drift chute, I'm going to borrow it and compare the two chutes, try them both together, get an idea how much (if any) difference there is. He also has a couple different anchors I'm going to try, one of the Coopers many here seem to like (he said he couldn't get it to hold) and an aluminum one favored by some on the Watertribe forum. (Can't remember the brand/model right now.)

The key to making a drift sock or sea anchor maintain you pointed into the waves is two fold. release from the mast forward and just as important , PULL UP THE RUDDER AND DAGGERBOARD. Took me a while to figure this out. As you drift backwards, the daggerboard and rudder create resistance which turns the boat sideways everytime. Give it another try and I bet you will be supprised.

Vetgam

_________________
Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

Oops, yeah, I never thought about those...

With the claw anchor out it sound like you just didn't have enough line out. 5-7:1 seems to work best for me when anchoring for sturgeon. That's in strong current and typically some wind. Yes the boat still moves around if you have swells or wind coming at an angle.

I don't have a drift chute but am thinking about getting one specifically for use during surf entry. Off both Key West and Sarasota we have pretty nasty surf most if the time when there is onshore wind and have had quite a few times where it didn't go so well, usually resulting in broken AKA braces and a bruised ego. I'm thinking deploying the drift chute from the stern as we are coming in might help us keep straight thru the danger zone.
I'll get or make one and try it out, to see if it helps. Have no idea what else I would ever use it for though (lol).
FE

FE,

Let me know how that experiment goes. The best salmon launches around here all involve a surf entry/exit. I'm good with them in a normal kayak, but the exit spooks me in an AI so I've skipped those launches.

I know folks use anchors and socks for this...but...well...I'm chicken.

I keep thinking that a drift sock would just get caught in the surf and ride along with you, rather than stay behind the surf and keep you straight?

Yea I've thrown my anchor out before and let the line feed out the stern to keep the boat straight the last fifty feet or so, but the problem with the anchor trick is you now have to go out and get the darn thing. After reading about the drift chutes, thought it might be a cool solution, once safe you just drag it in. I've also jumped out of the boat and tried to guide it in by holding the stern and walking the boat in, not a real good idea, when the stern rolls over the wave, it's taller than me and rips the boat from my hand or lifts me up, as the boat go sideways into the shore dragging me hangin onto that handle (at least i'm not in front of it lol). On those days we usually try to launch and retrieve on the inter coastal side if we can, and fortunately it doesn't happen very often.

In my case I only seem to get in trouble the last 50 ft or so, where the boat wants to go sideways on me and a lot is going on trying to get the sail furled, the darn mirage drives out, get the rudder released, and get the centerboard up all at the same time. Fortunately here we have nice soft sugar sand so I sometimes come in at ramming speed. I don't even look at the bottom of the hull for scratches except annually when I flip the boat over and clean it all up, I notice most don't feel the same way and get very concerned about scratching the hull bottom (I'm too busy just havin fun LOL).
Going out for me seems easier, I usually have the sail furled walk the boat out a ways (to waste deep water, around here that can be 300 feet to a 1/4 mile out in some places), then jump in and pedal like crazy till I get past the surf zone. It only gets hard around here when we get onshore wind and we are facing the gulf (nothing like Hawaii or the California coast). I don't know much about the atlantic side (never been there with my boat)
FE