Lift Keel, partly raised or fully down?

[jwilson]

Many years ago I was crewing a 23 ft Hunter 701 with lift keel in a (very) windy horrible weather inter-club race against other boats including a Nic 35 and several other 30 ft plus cruisers and cruiser-racers. We went to windward past one much bigger boat that had decided to heave to, at which point it started sailing again!.

A few hours later we got to the down tide windward mark, and turned for home, close behind many bigger and should-have-been-faster boats. No thoughts of spinnakers, but I was sure that if we 2/3 lifted the keel we'd plane even with jib and reefed main, and no-one else would plane, and we could take line honours in a tiny boat. The owner (who was not much of a helm) was terrified of the idea, and me and another dinghy-sailer crew had to do it surrepticiously and very slowly when he wasn't looking and when the other one of us was on the tiller - difficult on a 23 ft boat. We crossed the line 2nd overall. We'd have been first if the keel had been raised earlier, as towards the end with it about half-raised we were getting really long surf-planes.

In any planing dinghy in serious wind when you can't hold it upright you part-raise the board even to windward, and you never have it fully down on a reach or run unless you're keen on swimming.

 

[UK-WOOZY]

my boat model (a sundream 28) is based on the fantasia i believe. so has the same stub keel. i feel that gives enough grip when the centreboard is up. but i generally sail with the board down and raise is for more shallow stretches of the Medway river or places like Conyer or if I want to motor back quickly without any faff i have it raised so i can cut corners more tightly. Jeanneau used the same stub and centreboard of all boats of that era I think but know of a bigger lift keel Jeanneau at the club of the same era which is 34ft has exactly the same size stub and centreboard but sailed it in all weathers with the centreboard up all the time
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