Well, yes, I have. It’s about my
least favorite motion aboard a yacht.
The fact is that a boat broadside on to steep seas is probably at
greater risk of being capsized when she is on top of a wave than at any other
time.
When she is lifted upward and then
quickly abandoned by a passing wave, she momentarily experiences a feeling of
weightlessness, or at least partial weightlessness. At that moment, with a
large area of her hull out of the water, she has practically no form stability.
In theory, a small puff of wind in
her sails could blow her over 90 degrees. In practice, the inertia of her mast
and rig slows down her response, and before she can heel too much she is once
again surrounded by water and experiencing an excess of buoyancy and righting
moments by being pressed down into the sea.
Nevertheless, it is a fascinating
exercise to sense those moments of instability in your own body when you’re
sailing on a beam reach in a lively sea. especially on a light-displacement
yacht or racing dinghy.
Today’s
Thought
If
the danger seems slight, then truly it is not slight.
-- Francis
Bacon, De Augmentis Scientiarum:
Principiis Obstare
Tailpiece
“So how did you kids enjoy Dad’s
cooking while I was away?
“We fought over it all the time, Mom.”
“Wow, was it that good?”
“No, the loser had to eat it.”
(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)
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