Providing sailing news for sailors

Roger Long is a retired naval architect, and once testified as an expert witness in a case involving a ship that capsized and sank. In this report he offers an explanation of yacht stability:

Well, it’s more than upsetting when large vessels capsize, it is usually tragic. I was very involved with stability issues at the time of the two major sailing ship capsizes in the 80’s. Reporters sought me out and almost always asked the same question, “Was the ship unstable?”

It’s a hard question because, if you give the proper answer—”Of course not”—they will run back and file a story with a headline, “Naval architect says ship was safe.” That may not be the case at all. If you try to explain, the reporter’s eyes usually glaze over. 99.999 percent of the boats and ships in the world are stable.

The ones that aren’t fall right over at the dock as soon as the lines are untied. The lines probably don’t get untied because someone would notice that they are either leaning against the dock or pulling hard on their lines trying to lay down in the water. The real question is, “How stable?” – Full report