Heel angle

[Clydo]

Someone on this list had a knockdown and boat came upright fairly quickly. My days of
rail - or more - in the water are long past but idle question what angle puts rail in water
and maybe little more on our C310? Sails best at around 15 - 20 degrees. Have been
30 plus some but sail singlehanded most of time and like to keep dry.

Clyde Thorington
C310 # 245
ILEAN TOO
San Jose, CA

 

[JoeWhite]

In most cases sailboats do not capsize due to strong wind. Strong wind will cause round up, the rudder will not be in the water and you will loose control of its direction and it will point into no-go zone and come to a complete stop. Capsize is caused by large waves. To find out what size wave your sailboat can handle divide its length by 3 - in your case that would be 10 feet. Also the angle that will make your sailboat capsize would be about 140 degrees from the vertical - that puts the mast 50 degrees below water level. That is you are safe in most windy conditions. If you are heeling over 20 degrees that means that you are not sailing efficiently and are sliding sideways. The mast and the standing rigging are put in a tremendous stress and the hull has been squeezed out of shape. Some sailor like the excitement. I would not want to do that.

 

[Alansails]

That is Great information, especially to those who are interested in how safe Our Boats REALLY are!

 

[JK_Boston_Catalina310]

I find the C310 sails fastest around 10 degrees of heel.

As far as how far, I did have a copy of the inversion curve once. I will try to find it. But with most well designed modern hulls you can't get them over on just wind alone. You need wave action as well.

My personal best heel in the C310 was 35-40 degrees. It was blowing 35 kts with steep 8 footers. We had the mainsail with the first reef and about 75% of the genny up. Never felt unsafe.