The para-anchor, aka the parachute anchor, sea anchor, drift anchor, or storm anchor. 🪂
Most of the time Annasley is able to continue rowing through whatever the Atlantic throws at her, but when the wind is blowing so hard in the wrong direction that she can no longer row against it, she needs to take action. 👍
If she allows the boat to drift, she could be blown tens of miles off course, so ideally she needs to anchor up. ⚓
Unfortunately she is in water that is around 5km deep, and so in absence of a 5,000+ metre anchor chain on board, she uses her para-anchor. 👌
As the image shows, this is a parachute that she chucks in the water – it’s attached to the front of the boat by a super long 70 metre (230 ft) line. Firstly of all, this turns the pointy end of the boat into the wind, which stops it being blown so much, but it also creates massive amounts of drag reducing the drift enormously. 🐌
When she wants to get moving again she can pull on a secondary, even longer 100 metre (328 ft) line which is attached to the crown of the canopy. This will collapse the canopy, allowing her to pull the anchor in easily, and can carry on her way. This secondary line is made out of a floating material, which helps reduce the chance of it becoming tangled with the main line. 🪢
