Sea anchor: What kind of sea anchor does the Portland Pudgy lifeboat use?
The sea anchors that come with most liferafts are notoriously flimsy and inadequate. The Pudgy uses a substantial and ruggedly-built Fiorentino sea anchor, made especially for the Portland Pudgy. The sea anchor attaches to the Pudgys rugged bridle, which in turn is hooked to two attachment points that are spaced on either side of the bow, for triangulation. The stainless steel attachment points are very solid and cannot tear off (as is possible on fabric liferafts, in which case they can rupture the raft). A Dutch crew from the magazine Zeilen tested the Portland Pudgy as a lifeboat last year in the treacherous waters of the North Sea (sailing it 20 miles to shore), and they make it a point in their article to talk about how pleased they were with the performance of the Pudgy with the sea anchor. The bow held firmly into the oncoming waves and wind, thus greatly reducing the risk of capsize. You can see the article here. (Unless you speak Dutch, it’s slow going, but the photos are grea
