If the boat is bow or stern onto the wave, the chances of being rolled are greatly reduced. The more a boat moves from being perpendicular to a wave, the greater the chance of a knock down.
The boat is broadside or oblique to the wave. At this point the wave becomes dangerous and contains enough energy to overcome a boat’s righting moment.Ģ. Wave height must exceed a certain percentage of the boat’s length. When is your boat in danger of being knocked down or rolled by a wave? A study conducted by the University of Southampton’s Department of Ship Science and a similar study by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) along with the United States Yacht Racing Union (now US Sailing) have shown that three conditions usually have to exist:ġ. This is not about heavy weather sailing techniques, but knowing which waves caused by heavy weather may be dangerous.
But some storms do and a prudent sailor has to ask: Do I know what wave heights are dangerous to my boat? Do I know when breaking waves can occur? Do I know when these conditions might occur where I am sailing? One of the greatest concerns a sailor may have is that he or she will be caught in a situation where his boat may be knocked down or rolled by a wave.ĭespite being frightened by stories about exceptionally dangerous storms, such as those that wreaked havoc on the 1979 Fastnet or 1998 Sydney to Hobart races, not all storms create dangerous breaking waves. And you are sailing a long way from land. The waves, when you can see them, look large.
At what size do waves get big enough to cause real trouble for your boat?
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