The Unspoken Truth

Before we get started on our topic of how to fit out a yacht for ocean voyaging, I want to talk about two things that are very important topics to consider before you go out to buy the voyaging sailboat of your dreams. One is the type of yacht design you choose, and the other is what type of person you are. Both are interestingly important aspects of cruising, and should each be considered thoroughly.

The physical and mental demands of being offshore in a sailboat for extended periods of time can of course be challenging, exhausting, and extreme in many ways. They are probably most times quite benign, tranquil, peaceful, and perhaps tryingly boring. As they say, "Sailing is 99% joy, and 1% sheer terror!" And the design of your yacht will greatly enhance both the good and bad experiences you will inevitably encounter when offshore.

Secondly, it's not the physical and mental demands on an offshore voyager that I'm referring to when I say it depends on what kind of person you are, and I'm not necessarily talking about your disposition, your fitness, or your mental stamina here either, though those are important too. I'm referring to the more physical and mentally "able" side of a person. The side of a person that gives them the ability to have what it takes to own, operate, manage, maintain, and sail a boat across oceans, under any conditions, and it's something you may not be expecting.

Though your mental and physical stamina are necessary and important qualities to possess in order to cope with the rigors of an extended, offshore passage, I think it's more about what I consider to be the unspoken truth of what a person needs in order to own, fit out, manage, and maintain a sailboat intended for serious offshore voyaging, and then to undertake such voyages. It takes wherewithal. Noun: The money and means needed for a particular purpose. Let's put the "money" aspect of this aside and talk about the "means" needed for the purpose of ocean voyaging.

Voyaging, for all intents and purposes, means that for some of the time, we're at sea, and alone, even if one has crew. Meaning there's no one there that's going to come to our assistance. There are no materials or spare parts readily available, and if we are holed, or catch fire, and need to abandon ship, there's no one there to throw us a life-sling and haul us aboard their vessel. There may not be internet for you to quickly YouTube your particular scenario and be provided an instant solution, or a specialized mechanic at the other end of your phone to call for help. A voyaging sailor must be totally self-sufficient. And self-sufficient in this context means we must be highly capable of doing many things. It's not just having all the spare parts we need, or just being good with our hands, and it's not simply being able to rationally figure out what the problem is. We need to be able to engineer a solution to any and all problems, and then have the ability to execute that fix. A sailor needs to be quick on their feet. Meaning they need to be all of those things at once, and possibly very quickly. A mechanic, an engineer, an electrician, a plumber, a rigger, a MacGyver of all things, and most of all, a great troubleshooter.

Troubleshooting is a very important and often overlooked aspect of owning any sailboat, and a skill not everyone possesses. But without good troubleshooting skills, you won't be able to find where the problem lies, and that's the first and most imperative step needed to work towards any solution. Sailors also need to have very good organizational skills, and be able to plan ahead. They need to be practical, and uncomplicated.

Be it a voyaging sailboat, a coastal cruiser, a racer, or even a small daysailer, things break on boats all the time. You could be 100 meters off the shore of a lake in a Laser, and if your halyard severs, or a pintle shears, you need to be able to quickly troubleshoot the problem, come up with a solution, and get sailing again. In a real blow, and you're needing to claw off a lee shore when something necessary to the situation at hand breaks, the severity of that situation is many fold more dangerous, and this is where the three most important facets come together: fatigue, panic, and the ability to troubleshoot any situation. Unfortunately, not everyone has the ability to troubleshoot well, or remain calm in the midst of a dangerous situation. But I think that most that are interested in the undertaking of preparing a vessel for offshore voyaging and then tossing the lines, have the ability to first prepare their yacht to the condition that it will considerably reduce the risk of creating fatigue. And we can prepare to our best ability, to have everything we need at our disposal that will enable us to do our best to save our boat and ourselves. And that preparation and familiarity, in turn, can relieve panic. It's a beautiful circle of inevitable situations, solutions, and preparedness, that when adequately and comprehensively strung together, can lead to many successful ocean passages.

However, for any given situation, the ability to remain calm, to never panic, can be the biggest safety attribute of all. My feelings are that panic is the second worst thing to the safety of any passage, but we can do our best, with thorough preparation to instill the peace of mind needed to alleviate panic. But all the preparation in the world might not be enough to alleviate fatigue, and this is where we come to the boats themselves. Because a boat solely by its design can be the cause of fatigue, and there may be nothing, no matter how much one prepares, to alleviate it.

BOAT DESIGN

Let's start with a simple explanation of yacht designs for ocean voyaging. There are several different types of "sailing" and boats that correspond to those types of sailing. Then, within the boats built specifically for a "type" of sailing, there are many designs, shapes, eras, and opinions for each. Here, I'm only going to address voyaging sailboats. Boats designed and intended for crossing oceans. I think within this criteria we are going to find the most varying designs, combined with the most varying if not adamant opinions. The opinions expressed here will be mine, though corroborated by many and argued by many as well.

Let's look at the designs considered by many to be the best designs for ocean passage making: the full keel, and three types of full keels within this design group.

Let's start with the full keel sailboat. A true full keel boat is where the keel starts just forward of the rudder, and continues along the bottom of the boat all the way through to the waterline at the bow, having a deep underwater section all the way forward, curving upwards as it moves forward to the point where the waterline intersects with the stem. That line would continue, though it wouldn't be "the keel" anymore, as a fair curve on to the very top of the bow, the pointy end if you will, or where the bow roller is for the anchor. I think the term "stem" would have been used only for wooden boats in the day, but would still be in the same "place" on today's boats built with other materials.

The second is a cutaway forefoot. In this example a portion of the leading or forward section of the keel is cut away, or removed, and the forward, upward curve of the keel is further aft, and leads to the hull aft of where the waterline and the bow meet. This design came about when designers were looking for a faster, more maneuverable boat by reducing the wetted surface area, and loosening the forward sections of the boat by eliminating that deeper, forward section of keel.

Another type of "full keel" sailboat is what is called a modified full keel, where the aft end of the keel has a cutaway or a bite out of it just forward of the skeg. This design is technically a "fin keel with a skeg hung rudder," but I wanted to highlight this keel type in this section, because "many" will often "consider" this type of keel very similar to a full keel boat because of its performance and handling characteristics under sail, or in the marina, as well as the protective aspect for the rudder. They will still track very well as a full keel boat would, perhaps point a bit higher than a full keel would, but might not point as high as a modern deep fin keel boat will. Slightly more maneuverable than either of the other types of full keel boats, especially going astern, slightly better windward performance, and often less leeway. They also have a cutaway forefoot which not only helps with maneuverability, and windward performance, but speed as they have less wetted surface area.

These keel types, and corresponding hull designs, in most cases lead to much more comfortable sailing yachts. Often these designs are more narrow, reducing flatter sections of the hull, or designed with deeper drafts to compensate for the beamier design, leading to a softer turn of the bilge, helping alleviate the flatter sections.

They also have a protected rudder which is one of the most important things to me a sailboat can have. Beyond being protected from the strike of an object in the water, the rudder is also protected from striking a reef should you find yourself in that situation.

They are generally more seakindly, meaning they have a more gentle motion in a seaway because of the aforementioned design attributes, and this more kindly motion of course leads to less fatigue.

And although a beamy yacht generally has a better Righting Moment than a more narrow boat, which can make a narrower beamed yacht more tender, meaning it can heel more with less force, a narrower yacht has a much better "Angle of Vanishing Stability." Meaning it is in a less stable position when it's upside down. These are terms beyond the purpose and scope of this manual, though they are important and would be beneficial to learn and understand. The rudimentary definitions are below for your reference.

Righting Moment: The force that tends to bring a yacht back to its upright position from a heeling position imposed by an external force (wind).

Point of Vanishing Stability: The point at which when a yacht is heeling, it becomes stable upside down.

Though these concepts might be foreign and seemingly unimportant to newer sailors, or even seasoned ones, once understood, they will not only make more applicable sense, but they'll lead to more confidence. Both when choosing a boat, and when sailing. But basically a beamier boat heels less, but it's happier upside down than a more narrow yacht. For my way of thinking, I know a yacht heels, and I know it resists being knocked down. So it's more important to me that my yacht rights itself more quickly if inverted, than heels a little more or is more tender than another yacht. Especially considering all the other attributes the more narrow, full keeled yacht has. It's a trade off, as yachts generally are, between comfort, and how long your yacht will stay upside down if inverted. It's a knowledge that if the worst case scenario happens and you are inverted, you're more protected in a yacht with a better Point of Vanishing Stability.

These, and other important ratios can be studied at Tom Dove's "Sail Calculator" website https://tomdove.com/sailcalc/sailcalc.html where you can enter the boat you're interested in or already own, and view all the ratios, important statistics and their definitions that are attributed to your specific yacht. Then you have to follow your nose, your heart and your intuition, and know what kind of sailing yacht best suits your sailing desires.

You can see keel examples here.

For me, I would not go to sea in a fin keel sailboat with a spade rudder, which hangs in the wind behind the keel with no protection forward of it. The danger is not only from "losing" the rudder and therefore steerage of the yacht, the danger is in the rudder being broken at the point where the rudder post passes through the hull, or, where the aft, top edge of the rudder, which is sharp in most cases, is pushed aft and up by the striking of an object. This can create a "can opener" effect as that aft, top, sharp, edge of the rudder pierces the hull behind the rudder post, opening up an enormous crease. This is a real danger, and one that actually happens—I've seen examples.

The other side of these keel types, is they are often conjoined in the design of a yacht that is more beamy. The more beamy the yacht, the more apt they are to have flat spots in the hull shape that are under the waterline. As the boat pitches, these flat spots do not provide a "soft" entry, instead creating a scenario where the yacht, upon re-entering the water when pitching, is abruptly stopped when the flat spot hits the water. This creates a jerky, pounding that is extremely uncomfortable and fatiguing. Both physically and mentally, as the sound from the pounding can be very alarming, and the sudden stop very jarring. Again, to me the most important aspect of safety in an ocean voyaging yacht is comfort that prevents fatigue. So one can easily see why, in my opinion, the more beamy, "fin keel, spade rudder" yacht is not ideal, or the safest choice for an ocean voyaging yacht.

Yet people will argue that the extra speed a fin keel, spade rudder yacht sometimes offers is safer because it enables you to "outrun" a storm. But I assure you, that scenario is not only unlikely, but to me an absurd gamble. Why buy a yacht that might, by some highly improbable chance, be able to outrun a storm, when you can buy a yacht that can sail more safely through that storm? Storms can travel at speeds from 12mph to 40-50mph and few voyaging sailboats can outrun a 12mph storm, let alone a 40 or 50 mph storm, even sailing perpendicular to it, which might afford you some relief from the storm. There's no saying speed can't help, it's just an absurd gamble. My suggestion, if cruising is what you're looking to do, is to buy a better sailing, more comfortable, more rugged, safer ocean yacht, that you know you can depend on when the sailing gets rough. And again, the confidence in your yacht's ability to handle anything mother nature can throw at her, is directly related to your peace of mind, which is directly related to reducing mental fatigue, which is directly related to reducing physical fatigue, which is directly related to safer, faster passages. And faster passages get you to safe harbor sooner.

You will find throughout this manual, a recurring theme, which is always first and foremost, behind all the reasoning of my concepts for fitting out a voyaging yacht: Safety First!