Let the Good Times Roll… and Roll

Southbound cruisers from Puget Sound or San Francisco Bay are spoiled by placid, lake-like anchorages. Even when ferries or ships throw wakes as they pass, any uncomfortable rolling quickly dissipates and you can get back to your game of Jenga. But as soon as you enter Southern California waters, you’d better be prepared to let the good times roll…and roll and roll and roll.

Don’t be lulled into thinking that, just because the wind has kept your bow to the swells during the day, it’s going to continue to be so generous all night. What’s more likely is that the wind will switch or die altogether, leaving you to roll gunwale to gunwale until either you can’t take it anymore and up anchor, or the breeze fills in the next morning. This also applies to every roadstead anchorage along the Pacific side of Baja — and more than a few in the Sea of Cortez.

Savvy sailors mitigate the rolling with flop-stoppers. These devices hang off the boat — typically from whisker poles — and use the force of the boat’s rolling against the water to minimize motion. While they don’t stop movement altogether, they make the ride noticeably more comfortable. So much so that, during a recent cruise-out to Santa Cruz Island, one friend threatened to stow away on our boat just so she could get a decent night’s sleep!

Flop-stoppers come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and price ranges, from plastic milk crates to $600 aluminum works of art. On our Wauquiez Centurion 47 Gazelle, we use the ‘traffic cone’-style Rocker Stoppers by Davis — eight per side, with a mushroom anchor at the end of each string — and have been pleased with their performance but frustrated by the amount of room they require to store. Before we take off for Baja, we’ll be looking at the FlopStopper, which has a high price point but looks very effective and has the added benefit of breaking down into a small package.

Of course there are many other types of ‘roll dampening’ devices in the world, and a quick Google search will turn up plenty of DIY options, but if you’re heading south, do yourself — and your crew — a favor by investing in whatever works for your boat and budget. Otherwise, you might just lose sleep over it.