Have been reading all I can find on this topic. Why ? Well maybe because I have been fortunate enough not to encounter extreme conditions, so I'm not sure how I (or the crew) would handle such conditions. There are several good books on heavy-weather sailing, and they argue the merits or disadvantages of sea-anchors and drogues, but mostly for monohulls. Not much literature exists discussing the best strategies for multihulls.

My goal here is to bring together here as much information and debate that I can find and a list of references, and manufacturers so you can do your own evaluation.

My own bias on sea drogues

Based on what I have read (as opposed to experienced), the best strategy in heavy weather is to stream out drogues and lines, or whatever will slow the boat down as you are running from the storm. Of course this assumes you have sea room to work with. It is said that the to be effective, the drogues need to span at least one wave length or more, so that as the boat is pushed by one wave, it is been slowed by the drogue behind the next wave front.

Of the different products, I find the small series drogue to be the most attractive. This is not based on any factual experience, but I would rather handle and depend on several smaller components than on one large drogue. I just get the sense that the serial drogue would be easier to deploy (and adjustable) and easier to retrieve than the others. But I'm open for debate on this.

"Heavy Weather Sailing" I have found to be very good reading, though sometimes a little dated, but has a good discussion on sea anchors and drogues.

CeBe WebDesign November 12, 2007