my new boat

Capsizing Big Sailboats

The article about our January capsize in the Cape to Rio Race is now in print in Professional Boatbuilder magazine. It is also available in digital form to print subscribers. This publication is free but is only available to members of the boating industry. Click to see the contents of the current issue.

Graphic from Professional Boatbuilder magazine of the start of the capsize.

In retrospect, the thing that amazes me most about this event is this. I was upright, walking through the boat at the time, heading for the cockpit. I was unaware that we were being capsized until the cabin roof hit the water at the bottom of the wave, with the boat well rotated toward upside-down. It happened very fast, with the boat moving through an arc that must have applied large centrifugal forces, enough for me to be well past horizontal and still walking on the cabin sole. Everything else in the boat stayed in place through that process as well, only becoming dislodged when we impacted the bottom of the wave.

Those who don't have access to the magazine can read about our capsize in my January posts on this blog.

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