High freeboard improves buoyancy with no decrease in hull speed. Sailboats at rest with low freeboard only look faster than many of their high freeboard counterparts. Unless the boat has the general shape of a log, the heel of the vessel increases the freeboard presented to the wind. High freeboard presented to the wind when…
US Sailors who cruise are different than those who just race. A US pure racing sailor views sailing as a competition between human athletes with the vessel being equipment. A US cruising sailor views the crew as components of the vessel required to make it seaworthy. These views have implications in crew selection and training.…
James Boyd in his April 2005 Sailing World article (page 45) notes that the Vende Globe machines with canting keels also have water ballast. The question as to which is the primary ballast system on boats that have both may have been answered in that article. Vincent Riou, who is kind of a McGyver (technically…
The Inner Harbor Boat Basin at Crescent City, CA was extensively damaged by the March 11, 2011 earthquake off Sendai, Japan. Several dozen vessels and many docks were destroyed by wave cycles related to the earthquake-caused tsunami. These exceeded 8 feet (2.4 m). See the video below. May 2014 We visited the Crescent City Harbor District during a road…
Time to wake up! This happens all the time I’ve seen people discussing liferafts and such, but for me this big issue here is keels. The four crew on Cheeki died because the boat’s keel fell off, probably very suddenly, and this is not, as some have suggested, an unusual occurrence. It is frighteningly common. Modern fin…
According to Sailing Today, September 2000 page 83, Van de Stadt’s Dehler 25 sloop bested MacGregor Yachts by a year or so in the use of water ballast. The German Dehler 25s were produced from 1984 to 1991 and water ballast was reported in the US to be used for trailering reasons and cost savings. With the Van…