Why skeptics think a South Carolina sailor lied about being lost at sea for 66 days

[lumberjack_jeff]

78. Too much ignorance.

This diagram shows the cross section of three differently-shaped cruising sailboats. "CG" represents center of gravity. "CB" represents center of buoyancy. "M" is the moment arm of the flotation acting on the boat to return it to an upright condition.

Based on the photo and description of his boat, it was probably closest in design to the moderate displacement style of boat, not the traditional cruiser on the top, nor the race-style boat on the bottom. When pretty much any enclosed sailboat is knocked horizontally flat (or "capsized&quot The buoyancy of the hull and cabin work to return the boat upright.



As the boat goes past 90° due to the action of waves it eventually reaches a position in which the buoyancy moment works to cause the boat to invert completely. Cruising boats of this vintage tended to reach this point at about 120° or 30° past capsize. At this point, the boat will roll until the mast is straight down. If 0° (upright) to 120° is the range of positive stability, 121°-180° is the range of inverted stability.
... But the boat is not especially stable in this position. Waves that can make a boat roll 120° can easily make it roll the >60° required to allow the boat to return itself upright.

Good monohull cruising designs can easily survive a rollover or even a pitchpole (flipping stern over bow). They are designed so that they are stable upright, and not very stable inverted.

Yes, I've designed boats. Yes, I've done similar longhand hydrostatic calculation and yes, they are a drag.

This was not a fabrication. Some of the details reported are inaccurate and subject to embellishment, but I believe that the fundamentals of the story are true. The main evidence to the contrary appears to be "He doesn't look very much like Tom Hanks in Castaway" and "I paddled a canoe once - the water was cold".