To swing or not to swing

[Guest]

I have recently bought a Jaguar 21 having sailed dinghies for many years. I would be grateful if anyone could tell me if the principle of 'raising the centreboard going downwind' applies to swing-keels such as the Jaguar, as I'd hate to try it and end up capsizing on a broad- reach.

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[GrahamC]

Hi
I have recently bought a Jaguar 21 and on information from a past owner, do not even think about it. This is not a dinghy and is a lift keel, not a swing keel, you need the directional stability that the keel provides. You may notice that sailing under main alone in light conditions results in leeway as the waterflow over the keel produces little lift or resistance. Other than that they are very responsive and need to have a hand on the tiller at all times.
Regards
GrahamC

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[extravert]

My first boat was a 6.8m lift keel Extravert (deliberate mis-spelling), and the instructions that came with that were that the keel should be securely bolted down at all times while at sea.

The only time I lifted the keel when the boat was not at its berth was to dry out on a sheltered beach.

<hr width=100% size=1>Adventures of the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.xrayted.fsnet.co.uk>Teddy Bear Boat</A>

 

[jeanette]

I was once part of a crew for the skipper of a Jeanneau Sunshine 38. He ran his own sailing school and claimed to be a qualified YM Instructor, but he was also an ex-dinghy sailor.

While racing from Oban to Tobermory one fine August afternoon he thought it would be a good wheeze to haul up the lifting keel while flying the spinnaker.

We broached badly in 15-18 knots of wind and the boat went over in seconds, the spreaders hit the water and we would have kept on going if the halyard had not been released very quickly. Coming back up again was almost as fast as going over and just as dangerous.

It scared the hell out of me.


DON'T DO IT!


<hr width=100% size=1>Jeanette

 

[poggy]

Hi,

I have just bought a Gib'Sea 76 which has a swing keel rather than lift keel. Apparently with a swing keel, the weight is in the stub section under the hull and the swing keel is a lighter plate which drops out of it. In my case I think about 880kg of ballast is in the fixed stub section and 88kg in the swing keel. I have sailed with it up downwind and as most of the ballast is in the stub is seems OK. Although in practice it made no difference to performance. With a lift keel, I understand it lifts up all the ballast, which would make it pretty unstable in any wind.

Hope this helps.

Poggy

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[Guest]

Many thanks to those who replied to my query. I get the message loud and clear; sails up-KEEL DOWN! Your replies have saved me from possibly attempting what would have been at best an embarrassing and at worst a life threatening experiment. Thanks again.

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