Re: terrifying the uninitiated...

From: Lars S. Mulford (mulford@bellatlantic.net)
Date: Wed Feb 16 2000 - 18:43:28 PST


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Judith Franklin Blumhorst wrote:

> In a keel boat, you depend on waves to roll the boat
> over enough so that the keel weight does the job of righting the boat. The
> heavier the keel and the narrower the hull, the less wave action you need to
> perform the task.

Judy:

This isn't necessarily true and I don't think you can hold all blue water
cruising designs to this. The 38' Hans Christian owned by friends of ours who
cruise the coast and points beyond disagree, saying that the sheer weight of the
keel is what has recovered them from situations like this. Wave action can
help, but it can also hinder. Making a blanket statement that keel boats depend
on waves to right the boat is not altogether accurate.

> If I recall correctly, the theory is that Fitzgerald rose up on a wave, dove
> down the backside, poked her nose through the front of the next wacve and
> hit her bottom, smashing her hull to pieces. Lake Erie is very shallow in
> places, causing huge waves when gale winds are blowing across an open fetch.
> A very dangerous place to be in a storm. .

A couple of problems with this. First, the EF went down on Lake Superior, not
Lake Erie. There are several theories as to her demise, with one of the most
accepted being:

She had bottomed out and was taking on water gradually, losing buoyancy
throughout the storm. And then as she crested one wave and the stern lifted,
her bow dug into the next and she suffered a catastrophic lose of bouyancy by
hatchway failures and she went straight to the bottom, breaking in half when she
hit the bottom from extreme force.

The EF does not sit in shallow water.

--
"Sea" ya!

--Lars S. Mulford, President East Coast Potter Association (ECPA) Come visit us at http://members.tripod.com/~SpeedSailor s/v Always P15 #2125, lateen rig, sailing greater Chesapeake region "Forgive, and live. Life is worth the challenge of living." --LSSM "Love is good; Love hurts; Love sustains; Love remains." --LSSM



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