— DROWNING WORMS center of the arc of the rockers." "Ah ha!" said the tactician. "You said the metacenter is this distance above the vertical center of buoyancy. That's going to be lower for the heavy boat." "'Zactly," confir med Lee. "That makes the metacenter even lower for the heavy boat, and a lower metacenter means less righting moment, so the heavy boat is actually a little easier to heel over than the light boat. Of course, at high heel angles it all goes non-linear and all bets are off, but for the initial few degrees of heel, heavy does not mean more
B
up, then move crew aft to break it free. Fortunately, this boat is surprisingly agile sailing under main alone, and we were able to tack up the center of the channel and into our berth, fouled prop and all. Lee and her friend followed us in with their kayaks, although we weren't sure if they were standing by to help, or to watch another maritime disaster unfold. In the rocking chair analogy for transverse stability, the metacenter is at the center of the arc of the rockers. This point defines how the center of buoyancy moves as the boat heels through small angles. The distance between the center of buoyancy and the metacenter is equal to the transverse moment of inertia of the waterplane (in feet to the fourth power) divided by volumetric displacement (in feet cubed).
stable."
y this time we were working on getting the big anchor up and raising
the main so we could maneuver under sail. But it was set very solidly, and we finally had to move crew forward, snub
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"S
o do you think it's time to upgrade your program, Max?" asked Lee before she paddled away. "Your boat was built before most of your crew were born." "Maybe when sea level rises about three feet," I answered. — max ebb
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