My friend has a 1979 ODay 25 (I'm pretty sure that's the model) with a swing keel. Apparently she rarely uses it because she is quite scared if tipping it over. I went with her recently and she paniced as the boat would lean over as we got it moving. I'm not an expert sailor by any means but I have been sailing smaller boats (up to about a 20ft) since I was a kid. Any advice for helping her enjoy actually sailing her boat? She wants to sail it but I guess she thinks it will tip over easily. Any resources that cover what angle the boat would have to reach to actually capsize? Thanks for the help..
ODay 25 capsizing
- Thread starter ERJ_Pilot
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I think that your friend really has to get to know her boat and the only way she's going to do that is to sail it--a lot. Years ago I delivered a 1975 O'Day 25 keel/centerboard sloop from the Cape Cod Canal area to our club on the Taunton River about two miles from Battleship Cove Fall River Ma., and I had the gunwale practically in the water as we were beating toward Newport RI. The wind was piping that day at about 18 to 20 knots and she sailed beautiful. These boats including my O'Day 222, will sail very easy without having to constantly hold on to the mainsheet. If you're on a beat, just set the sheet and come up into the wind in the puffs. She'll level right out. It's very important for her to really get to know her boat and know it's limitations, I think. It's also important for her to know when and when not to reef.
Joe
I own an O'Day 25 centerboard sloop. It's a very stable boat. Sounds like more experience will dissipate your friend's fears. That's what happened to me. A suggestion: does the boat have an inclinometer (bubble level device in cockpit that measures how far over the boat is heeling/leaning)? If the boat leans more than 25 degrees, start worrying. Otherwise get your crew to sit on the high side of the boat and have fun! If it seems to be heeling too far too fast, ease/let out the mainsheet. Assuming that wind and waves are not excessive, she would have to work pretty hard to capsize this boat.
I suspect that much like the 222, this boat would round up before getting heeled over so far that it could come close to capsizing (plus the 1800+ lbs of keel weight). The 222 has about 800 lbs of lead in the keel and it is in my opinion not particularly tender. I suspect the 25 is even more stable. Your friend definitely needs to spend more time on her boat to get the feel for how stable this boat is. Get the sails set right and she can sail in even heavy winds with confidence.
Dave
O'Day 222
Dave
O'Day 222
When I bought my 1980 O'Day 25c/b, I called the original owner who bought it new. He said that he and his brothers tried many times to tip the boat over but they were never able to.
a plane can't turn without banking and a sailboat can't sail without leaning, it's the laws of physics. make sure she knows how to reef the sails and when. then have her go out in a breeze with sails reefed. it should help her gain her confidence knowing she has more control then she realizes.
I know this post is a bit old, but, to ease my wife's concerns on my O'Day 26 I took her out on several other boats in the club. We sailed on various sizes, up to a 30' and down to a 23' She liked the bigger boat feel best, and this did give her a range, as well as sailing with more experienced sailors. Before she would get over tense just healing up a tiny bit, but after she sailed with other boats her comfort level improved considerably.
She now sails with confidence on the 26. Only gets tense when the wind is really up and I reef for her comfort.
Hope this helps.
She now sails with confidence on the 26. Only gets tense when the wind is really up and I reef for her comfort.
Hope this helps.
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