GOING, GOING…

How stable is your boat?

By the SAIL Staff

The question new sailors often ask when they first experience a sailboat heeling is “What stops it from going all the way over?” to which the usual answer is something like: “That big lump of lead underneath us.” Stability is at the very root of sailboat design, and ballast is only one of the many factors that influence it. A boat’s stability is contingent on the relationship between two key factors. One is the center of gravity (CG), through which gravity exerts a downward force equal to the weight of the boat, rig and contents. The other is the center of buoyancy (CB), the midpoint of the underwater volume of the boat, whose upward thrust counteracts the effect of the CG (see figure above). When a boat is at rest, the center…

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Sail - New Boat & Gear Review (Digital) - 1 Issue, 2019

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