Sea Anchor Match-up

Sea anchors have evolved to become a vital component of the serious sailor's arsenal in heavy weather. We tested models from Para-Tech and Fiorentino, and favor Fiorentino's for their rugged construction.

One of the three sea anchors we deployed—Para-Tech's 9-foot model, above—took about 30 seconds to fully open. Thereafter, it quickly brought the bow of our test boat into line.

According to Earl Hinz, a veteran cruiser and a recognized expert on contending with heavy weather at sea, the concept of sea anchors can be traced back as far as 1200 AD when Polynesian mariners used stone ground anchors and lines fashioned from coconut fibers for the purpose of keeping their double-hulled canoes into the wind while at sea. (We extracted that nugget from Heavy Weather Tactics Using Sea Anchors and Drogues, Paradise Cay Publications 2000, one of several books Hinz has written.) …