Last year I bought a parachute from an 'old wares' place. I didn't know how big it was nor how big I needed. It was around 14 foot diameter and I reckon (based on others' experiences) that I need something around 24 foot for a 31 footer.

Anyway, had a lovely sail with a friend and his little girls today and it was a good chance to try hoisting and dowsing the chute. Went without a hitch. BOM says 12 knots gusting 14 on the Harbour at 2pm when this was taken. Boat speed 3 knots. Easy to hoist, easy to dowse. Will be a bit more difficult with a bigger chute but attaching a light line to the centre of the chute should collapse it completely.

Biggest surprise was the large angle you can sail with a chute; broad reach to broad reach. Admittedly boat speed slowed but the sail is very forgiving and you have an unimpeded 360 degree view. Loved it.

Nice one Dr Rog,
We have one as well ,flown it a couple of times , cheap and easy down wind sail that lifts the nose and not bury it..

DAMA said..
Nice one Dr Rog,
We have one as well ,flown it a couple of times , cheap and easy down wind sail that lifts the nose and not bury it..

Good to hear. I expect cats will have different requirements but what diameter / area are you using and how well suited to your cat of ? length do you think it is.

I suppose buying a parachute (by diameter ) is just a matter of taking area of what would be a normal spinnaker for your boat and applying ... what was it they called it in school? Mathetics? Methametrics?

Normal cruising spinnaker area for a 31 footer? = J x I x 1.65? = 12m x 3.5m x 1.65 = 67.2?

Area of a circle = PI x radius squared. So radius = square root of the area divided by Pi = 4.6 metres. Diameter = 9.2 metres

However, that's about 30 feet which is larger than what the author of this article (ww1.sailinginbrunei.com) state was right: "After getting his hands on a couple of different sized parachutes he found the parachute that was the right size for our 11m wooden yacht ‘Petima’. Our parachute has an 8m (26 feet) diameter and would be suitable for yachts between 10 to 13m."

You would think an Adams 31 would require a 7 metre / 23 foot chute from this. Any thoughts?

They also state, "You can fly the parachute ... wind speeds of 5 to 35 knots." 35 knots? What the? Maybe that indicates that their parachute is optimised for higher winds? Any thoughts? Or experiences, DAMA or others?

Yes, I could just buy a few and try them all then on-sell the others. But money. :)

looks great Dr Rog