Catamaran abandoned on the way from Queensland to New Caledonia

[Fore and Aft]

I surveyed Ramtha back in 2022 when Robyn finally decided to sell her. She was still in good condition for a 37-year-old catamaran. There was plenty of memorabilia onboard from the storm.
Cheers

[catsketcher]

The Forbes' did try to get the parachute back after the first gale. The problem was that the fender they used did not keep it at a depth of about 20ft. It sank (or it was lost). In the end they had the issue of a parachute sea anchor way down deep in the ocean. They tried to winch it up but it wouldn't come up quickly and I can surmise that it would eventually force the swells to wash over the bows as you ever so slowly pulled it up.

So ensure your parachute hardware is up to spec.

Great story and great boat.

[5BTM]

Originally Posted by catsketcher

......

So ensure your parachute hardware is up to spec.

Great story and great boat.

And carry a spare..

[Kettlewell]

I've used a parachute a few times offshore and one of its biggest problems is retrieval even if everything is still intact. The loads are such that it is very difficult to winch in, and if you have 400 feet of rode out it takes a very long time. I found it exhausting back when I was much younger and much more fit. Not sure many crews could even do it.

[KTP]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

I've used a parachute a few times offshore and one of its biggest problems is retrieval even if everything is still intact. The loads are such that it is very difficult to winch in, and if you have 400 feet of rode out it takes a very long time. I found it exhausting back when I was much younger and much more fit. Not sure many crews could even do it.

I have never used one. Do they have a separate line for retrieval that somehow pulls from the center to collapse the parachutes?

[cdocsail]

@TAN98 did you write up your experience and publish on Amazon?

[Kettlewell]

I have never used one. Do they have a separate line for retrieval that somehow pulls from the center to collapse the parachutes?

Some people rig them with trip lines, but we did not because I find that anything that can tangle in a storm does. Theoretically, we could have motored up on the chute and tripped it with the float line, but on that cat with a 9.9HP outboard motoring up in near-gale conditions offshore wasn't easy. In the end we just waited until the wind dropped enough that we could winch it in, but it was still very hard work. Check out the description of one of our parachute episodes in the DragDeviceDatabase, which is an invaluable read on this equipment. https://dragdevicedb.com/drogues-on-...maran-rifflart