How far can i heel in a 26 M before I should worry.

[Doupirate]

I do not know if your boat is equipped for solo sailing.

If so, do not hesitate to go out alone. I always leave my dock with the second reef secured.

Get yourself a harness. Wear it. And try stuff.

Your passengers feeling of safety, depends 80% on your attitude. Animals can easily feel it too. It is basic survival animal skills.

With 20 degrees heel, have the kid steering on your knees, with Dad helping once in a while... and finding it full....wooooooouuuuuuiiiiii!

 

[doehunter]

Like the others have said, assuming the ballast is full if you have WB, and keel locked down if you have one of those instead of WB, the boats are self righting. They won't just fall over. ( you can just fall out though!).
As the heel angle increases, the rudder does too. I think it eventually comes out of the water on most boats, but even if it didn't, as the boat heels more and more, it becomes less and less of a rudder and more and more of an elevator like on an airplane. Eventually the transition gets to the point where the rudder just can't control left and right any more, and the boat will turn up wind when it gets to that point.
I tailor my piloting style according to my passengers comfort level. When my boys are aboard, we sometimes push the envelope for a little fun. Sometimes heeling way more than necessary.
Not with the admiral or my daughter. Then I keep it as flat as I can and don't worry about trying go go fast.
Also, I have learned after having the clinometer on board that the boat heels more in my imagination than it actually does. An actual 15-20 degrees feels like a lot more than it really is. 10-15 is pretty comfortable.

 

[timebandit]

A good read

http://www.eskimo.com/~mighetto/p06.htm

 

[Sail123]

You will not know how far, till you go too far. In a Mac, too far should not hurt anyone or harm anything, but you will get the feeling of that balance, and when that balance has gone too far. But you will never feel that feeling until you step on and over the edge.

 

[monkeybars]

not sure what you have to "worry" about,in AZ and MX we don't have to worry about getting wet or cold as water temps are usually 80-90 degrees, I usually trail a fifty foot line with a small boat fender attached at the end so if i am successful at launching someone overboard they can grab the drag line and pull themselves back to the boat without me having to stop and hassle with turning around for a pick-up.also when water temps fall below 70 degrees try putting your boat on jacks for the winter and just do maintenance on it untill spring time.also i have never had my 26M touch sails to water it always has rounded up regardless of how bad my sailing skills were.

 

[timebandit]

Better be fast grabbing that line.

5mph = 7.33 feet per second

or

About 7 seconds for 50 feet.

1 second from the boat to the water.

3 seconds to pop you head up.

2 seconds to realise where you are.

2 seconds to swim to the line? or wave bye bye.

not sure what you have to "worry" about,in AZ and MX we don't have to worry about getting wet or cold as water temps are usually 80-90 degrees, I usually trail a fifty foot line with a small boat fender attached at the end so if i am successful at launching someone overboard they can grab the drag line and pull themselves back to the boat without me having to stop and hassle with turning around for a pick-up.also when water temps fall below 70 degrees try putting your boat on jacks for the winter and just do maintenance on it untill spring time.also i have never had my 26M touch sails to water it always has rounded up regardless of how bad my sailing skills were.

 

[rgranger]

FWIW: A boat will sail faster when it is flatter. Heeling is a lot of fun but when you get past a modest heel, you actually go slower through the water. Play with your reefing systems and trim and keep the boat at a modest heel and you will go faster. And a boat that is going faster has a smoother ride, takes the waves better and the crew's moral stays up. I'm not a racer... but I do like a comfortable ride. And then sometimes I like to heel her over just for an adrenaline rush.

 

[walt]

I like the way the Mac 26S sails and generally keep it under 20 degrees but have taken it past 45 intentionally (crazy sailing buddy) and way past this unintentially (close to a knock down - boat just took care of everything itself).

I have a little flat bottom planeing sailing dingy (C15) and after turtling it a couple years ago, its value was such that I felt comfortable doing an experiment with it and added about 160 pounds of concrete just below the mast and as low as possible. I.e., the boats ballast and CG is unusually high. The water ballast boats still have a lower CG but there is some similarity. This did wonderful things for improving the stability when the boat is flat and since I’m single handed, this ended up being a good thing to do (in my mind of course). But what I also noticed about this boat was that when I got the heeling angle very high, the stability would degrade somewhat and in fact my C15 is not self righting if it gets knocked over (and no problem in this case, I have a Hobie float at the top of the mast and overall the boat is way more stable than it was before I added the concrete - just in case I get quizzed, I also added a bunch of foam floation at the same time).

Hopefully the attached drawing somewhat shows something interesting but if a boat has a high CG, it gets its maximum "righting moment" per ballast weight for low heel angles. I.e., at low heel angles, any change in angle results in the maximum upwards movement of the ballast. However, as the CG gets deeper, the boat needs more heel before the ballast become more effective.

More ballast has a drag penalty so it would seem to be a positive thing to maximize the righting moment of the ballast. This would imply that a water ballast boat is better sailed at low heel angles and a deep keel boat is better sailed at a little higher heel angle..

 

[timebandit]

Sometimes it is just as fun to open the sails and fall of on a broad reach and pick up some speed and not pinch so much.

The ride is smother and flater and although you may have to tack a little more you might get there a little faster.

Speed is more about water line and as you heel the water line increases and then you reach a point where you have so much wetted surface in the water it slows you down.