Hi James,
I had my drogue bridles made with large loops spliced into the bitter ends.
When I had Kimberlite made I had Amel add strong backing under the stern cleats. I rig the drogue attached to these cleats with the loops.
If you did not get yours with loops spliced in, I would call Dave and ask if he will swap out the bridles with you.

After the cleats the bridle runs through the fairleads with leather chafe gear attached and tied in place with a number of zip ties. They then run between the backstays with chafe gear attached where the bridle runs past the backstays..

The boat might set at an angle to the waves, but the bridles cannot be adjusted with rolling hitches.
This is because the bridle start bending the backstays.
I am working on some way to pull the bridles more inboard.
I run the bridles there as I do not want the bridle to take out the SB antenna.
I was thinking of moving the ssb antenna.

Before deploying , I attach the bridles to the cleats and fairleads with chafe gear attached.. I flake out the entire drogue on the aft cabin top and make sure that there is no kink or overlap . I then ask the crew if everything looks ok.
I then drop the chain over the side between the backstays and feed out a few feet of the drogue. It then self deploys. Once the drogue is set , I then attach chafe gear to the bridle at the backstays. From memory my chafe gear is about 20 inches long.

I also fabricated a rounded box that fits over one fairlead. It is made out of wood and bolts through the
fairlead. When retrieving the drogue, the fairlead will tear up the parachutes. The drogue wants to get in the fairlead no matter what I do. You only need one as when it is time to bring the drogue on board, you tie a rolling hitch to remove the bridle. You tighten the hitch with a winch and release it from the cleat. Once it is off you walk to the stern and bring the loose bridle over to the working bridle with the rolling hitch line and bring it on board.

The primary winch will bring the drogue on board. However you have to run it for a minute or so then stop and allow the motor to cool for a minute or two. Otherwise, the motor will overheat and the motors thermal overload switch will shut it down. You then will need to wait till the motor  cools off  .

Bringing the drogue on board is a 3 person job. One to guide the drogue on board. One to tail the winch, and one to press the winch button. Be very careful with the winch's tailing horn. It will tear up the parachutes.

If the boat is rolling port to starboard you can bring the drogue in without using the electric part of the winch. When the boat rolls, hand tighten the drogue on the winch. When the boat rolls back, and you have slack, pull
it in again. If the boat is rolling this works very quickly.

Fair Winds
Eric
Kimberlite Amel Super Maramu #376

-----Original Message-----
From: James Cromie [mailto:jamescromie@...]
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2018 10:16 PM
To: eric
Subject: rigging the jordan series drogue

Eric - Considering that you have deployed your Jordan drogue a few times on your Amel in heavy weather, I’m interested to know the rigging system that you’ve found to work best.
I’m eager to hear of any tips or advice you might have. I know that one of the biggest causes of failure would be chafe.

Best,
James