Help In Selecting Your Sailboat

[el]

Go to:http://image-ination.com/sail.htm

Hope this helps

[Jeff_H]

While that is a useful site for looking at L/D and SA/D ratios, I want to reiterate that the Stability Index provides absolutely no useful information about stability and that the Motion Comfort rating tells provides absolutely no useful information about motion comfort. Both are surrogate formulas developed at a time when boats were a lot more similar than they are today. Neither formula includes any of the relevant data that are the real determinants of the stability and comfort of a boat such as the vertical center of gravity, bouyancy, weight and buoyancy distribution, etc. These formulas are so inaccurate that I suggest that any reliance on them in any shape or form is dangerous.

The example that I routinely give is the example of two identical boats but one has a 1000 lb weight at its masthead (and yes I know that no would put a 1000 lb weight on their masthead). In real life the 1000 lb weight would raise the vertical center of gravity, decreasing stability and increasing the roll angle, yet the added displacement would suggest that the boat with the weight up its mast would be more stable and have a more comfortable motion.

Respectfully,
Jeff