PRESS RELEASE
USA. Fiorentino creates the first video
library for use of parachute sea anchor BMY
Industry Thursday, 08 October 2009
Fiorentino
has created a unique series of five
instructional videos aimed at eliminating
confusion surrounding parachute sea anchors. A
parachute anchor is an underwater parachute that
slows a boat’s drift and pulls the bow into
approaching waves, thus stabilizing any boat.
The videos, available free on its website at
www.para-anchor.com, are designed to clear-up
any misunderstanding about how to use these potentially life-saving devices.
Drag device inventor Zack Smith, a recognized
expert in the field, is the host for all five
videos, several of which were shot by Mike
Fowlkes from Fox Sports. Smith takes drag device
instruction to the next level by taking viewers
step-by-step through the best ways to deploy and
retrieve parachute sea anchors, including tips
on rode lengths and what to do in varying seas.
The videos provide clear, simple instructions
for use on trawlers, sport fishers, monohulls
and multihulls.
A key part of the videos is "Smith’s
Short Rode
Length Theory" which completely contradicts the
common belief that boaters should always pay out
all of their rode (10 to 15 feet for every foot
of boat). Smith maintains that rode tension is
the "Big Secret in
successfully using a parachute sea anchor."
“Rode naturally stretches under force until it
becomes taut,” says Smith. “As force is reduced,
rode becomes relaxed. What boaters want to avoid
is too long a period of rode slack that leaves a
vessel swinging beam-to where waves can heavily
roll the boat or in rare circumstance, cause it
to fall back on its rudder(s).”
According to Smith the only other options for
maintaining more rode tension are using larger
para-anchors, adding a small length of chain to
the parachute or flying a riding sail to
increase vessel windage. He notes that so far
independent research from the U.S. Navy and NASA
seems to indicate that his theory is on the
right track in regard to his rigging formulas
for drag devices.
Along with the new video library on its home
page, Fiorentino offers home videos from sailors
using parachute sea anchors and excerpts from
Smith’s 2003 DVD, “The Complete Para-Anchor
Set-up.” Video instructions and
photographs of the new Shark
Drogue being
deployed in gale force conditions are located in
the product section of the company’s website.
The company plans to expand its video series in
2010.
Zack Smith, a life-long sailor began sailing in his youth in the waters around
Olympia, Washington. A social science graduate
of Washington State University,
Smith set out to pursue a career in forensic investigation in government-related fields. In
1994, Smith took a huge side-step in career when
he was offered the opportunity to investigate
the use of drag devices in heavy weather. He
relocated to
California
and for the past 14 years has worked for
Fiorentino conducting extensive research with
drag devices on a vast range of boats, under
various conditions. As a result of his work, the
company has been awarded 14 patents for drag
devices, an industry record. Zack has designed
custom drag devices for the U.S. Navy, the U.S.
Coast Guard and NASA and designed the new Shark
drogue released in 2008 by Fiorentino. He
has written for publications including Sail
Magazine, Latitudes and Attitudes and Blue Water
Sailing. Today, when he’s not committed to
boat shows or lectures, you can often find Zack
on his Beneteau 35 cruising from
Newport Beach
to Mexico and back.
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