A big enough anchor to work effectivly in a real squall would be pretty heavy , bulky, and difficult to store on a small cat; these problems would be compounded by the need to keep on board enough rhode and maybe chain to allow an anchor to be effective and not just drag. However, a sea anchor might work quite well. The advantages of the sea anchor is it's very light, folds fairly small and can be lashed to a trap. I could be used out in the middle of the lake and doesn't require a long rhode or chain. You would drift some but in your typical 10-20 min squall that may not be far enough to worry about (if you were that close to shore you'd just head in instead). In the scenario above, you might just drop all sails, lash them to the tramp, and deploy a sea anchor from a bow bridle.

A sea anchor would also be a useful thing to have on board for regular capsizes in higher winds when you're having trouble keeping the bows into the wind to right the boat (could come in real handy if you capsize on the coast and want some time before being blown onto a rocky shore or in the even you capsize in offshore winds and are having trouble righting the boat). To work properly you'd need to run it off a bridle between the bows. I don't know if you could run it off a spi pole - anyone ever try that? They come in a wide range of sizes and you need to size it for the size of the craft and the amount of drift you're willing to tolerate. The only downside I know of is that they're actually fairly expensive. The inexpensive drogues used by fishermen to drift fish are NOT suitable.

How many people out there have a sea anchor on board and have any experience using it on small cats?

Jerry