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• Sailboat Reviews

Measuring Performance

What do the numbers tell us about seaworthiness, stability and speed.

All sailors are performance oriented. It’s only when we delve into the details that differences arise. One-design racers know that their place in the fleet hinges on tactics as well as boat speed. Those racing to Bermuda, Hawaii or even more distant landfalls, discover that a timely finish depends upon boat speed in the fog, in the middle-of-the-night and during light air interludes—not just when everyone is rolling along at hull speed.

A cruiser faces a different quest. Their perspective on performance is shaped by a smaller crew members, more reliance on self-steering gear and a propensity to enjoy the ride rather than shave seconds off each mile. So, when it comes to defining your performance perspective, make sure you and your crew agree on the traffic lane in which you prefer to sail and make sure your boat aids and abets that effort.

Race boat designers are innovators, and when it comes to an empirical approach to yacht design, they and their computers juggle a wide range of variables. Speed under sail isn’t the only frame of reference. At the same time they also have to contend with rating rules meant to penalize what makes a sailboat go fast. The goal is to come up with a design that favors boat speed, safety, sail-handling efficiency and creates a sailboat that’s minimally penalized by the rating rule. At times this “shaped to a rule” approach can lead to some unwanted attributes. In this overview, we will ignore the trend to design to a rating rule and look at the features that make some sailboats much better performers than others.

Our version of performance is more than a singular focus on polar diagrams and boat speed. We agree that good performance needs to be realized in a wide range of wind and sea states. But we also place considerable emphasis on seaworthiness, seakindliness, ease of boat handling and crew comfort. These can be contradictory elements, and which gets most emphasis helps to define the differences among the sailboats being built today.

Boat speed-related features are fairly easy to recognize. For example, most sailors have caught on to the idea that tall rigs, large sail plans and light displacement are more than a subtle promise of speed. Shorter rigs, sprouting from heavy displacement hulls are fine in windy parts of the world. But they don’t deliver much drive in light air. When a yacht broker mentions that, “you don’t need to tuck in a reef until it’s blowing over 25 knots,” take a close look at the rig and the vessels displacement. Then ask yourself if it’s not more likely that delayed sail shortening is really due to a shortfall in sail area? You can also answer the question by working out the sail-area to-displacement ratio following the details below or go online to www.tomdove.com/sailcalc/sailcalc.html . The answer gives you a good idea of the boat’s potential power under sail.

Decades ago, in the heyday of the cruiser/racer, a single design stereotype defined most of the fleet. In those days, the majority of sailboats on Long Island Sound, Tampa Bay or berthed in Marina del Rey slips were white hulled sloops sporting blue mainsail covers. This was an egalitarian era when cruisers raced and racers cruised. The net result was better seamanship. Cruisers could set spinnakers and racers knew how to anchor.  Today, sailboats have become more differentiated.  The fast, agile, nicely fitted out cruiser/race is still around by much less common. The result is even fewer racers are going cruising. Modern race boat deck layouts make anchoring  a gymnastic event and there’s little likelihood that there’s even a properly sized anchor on board. Cruisers are missing out on the seamanship development linked to racing and how it benefits sail handling while cruising.

Yacht design guru Bill Lee, coined the apt phrase “Fast is Fun.” He also recognizes that too fast can be trouble and what defines the latter is often determined by the skill set of the crew. Knowing when and how to shorten sail is a talent every sailor should cultivate. Some put that lesson on hold, and that’s OK as long as they master the art of avoiding challenging situations. This is hard to do and can lead to a lot of anxiety. Plus, it also takes much of the fun out of sailing. It’s better to prepare your boat and her crew to cope with the unexpected. This begins with developing an awareness of the boundary between being reasonably powered up versus being on the edge, about to lose control.  It’s not a situation enumerated by a specific boat speed, wind velocity or angle of heel.  But as one crusty old Maine coast cruiser put it, ”I can’t say exactly where trouble lies, but you’ll know when you get there.” The best solution is knowing how to depower in a hurry and safely cope with reductions in sail area.

Singlehanders, along with most shorthanded crews, really value the uptick in performance they get from the right gear. It improves efficiency in reefing, setting and dousing sails.  Cruisers with an aversion to performance sailing have usually been through too many fire drills.  Their version of how much sail area to set is often based upon bad experiences with less than adequate gear. Today’s sailing hardware and furling systems are rugged and reliable, but they still need to be carefully maintained. The crew must also know how to operate the gear in all kinds of conditions—from a midday thunderstorm to a midnight gale.

What to look for

The next time you go to a local boat show, do a little DIY performance profiling. At most shows, you’re likely to run into a full spectrum of sailboat designs. Start with the speedsters and tally up the go fast features. Sail area leads the list and with it comes lower windage, lighter weight rigging and spars—all have benefitted from better engineering and higher modulus materials.

A GZ curve illustrates righting lever. The high peak represents a boat’s maximum righting arm, which is only a part of the overall stability picture.

An offshore sailboat should have a limit of positive stability (LPS) (also known as the angle of vanishing stability- AVS) of 120 degrees or more. It is this ability to recover from a deep capsize that’s like money in the bank to every offshore passagemaker.  

• The area under the positive portion of the GZ curve should be compared with the area under the negative portion. The higher the ratio between the two, the more seaworthy and less likely a monohull is to capsize and the more likely it will recover from a deep knock down.
• Lowering ballast lowers the CG and increases a vessel’s limit of positive stability. In these examples, three identical 30 footers with the same amount of ballast, but differing keel stub depths, alter their draft and GZ curves. Boat 1 (5’ draft), Boat 2 (6’ draft) and Boat 3 (4’ draft). Note that Boat 3, the shoal draft option, has the lowest LPS and Boat 2, has the deepest draft, highest LPS and will sail to windward better than the other two boats.

A growing concern among many offshore cruisers has been a trend toward increased beam, diminished draft and a reduction in ballast. Sailing a reach makes these design changes less noticeable, but as soon as you harden up, a performance shortfall comes into play. With less ballast and no one perched on the rail, excessive heel necessitates a reef. In many cases, the shallow draft keel is almost completely hidden as the leeward portion of the hull submerges. This causes the sailboat to slide sideways and every beat to windward becomes a lesson in leeway.

The preference for deep draft is one thing that hasn’t changed too much among race boat designers.  Centerboards, dagger boards, drop keels and can’ting keels are also in the mix.  And it’s clear that there’s been a downward trend in displacement that fits into the performance-enhancing puzzle. Today, the “less is more” rule prevails. In the 1980s, a race-winning, IMS 40-footer weighed around 18,000 pounds. Now many 40 footers tip the scale at around 10,000 pounds and carry more sail area than their predecessor. The trend flips, however, when it comes to the price tags and sticker shock. It gets quite expensive to shave weight and add speed due to the need for more esoteric materials and aerospace construction skills. The bottom line is how much is it worth to you to add a few tenths of a knot?

Multihull aficionados continue to assail the logic of lead.  Monohull designers are using less but locating it more strategically at the tip of a high aspect ratio foil. This lowers the CG, increasing the righting moment but greatly adds to the stress focused at the keel to hull junction. Keel failures have become enough of an issue that the ISAF Technical Committee has been looking into the problem and they are favoring recommendations that builders increase the hull laminate thickness in the area around the keel attachment. This is a good example of how performance-enhancing features must be considered in the greater context of overall vessel design and construction. Good performance is desirable, staying afloat is essential.

Stability Examined

Righting moment and buoyancy are forces that work together to resist the heel induced by wind pressure on the sail plan. The more sail area, the greater the heeling moment. Multihulls have very high initial stability that’s derived from their wide beam. Monohulls have less initial stability, so when sailing to windward they soon begin to heel over. However, their “ace in the hole” is a highly appreciated attribute called secondary righting moment. It’s derived from ballast and keel geometry.

Multihulls might have been a side show a few decades ago, but they now hold a mainstream role in the sailboat marketplace. Like cruising monohulls, they range from comfortable houseboat like cruisers to absolute speedsters. The latter features more sail area, lighter displacement and much more clearance between the sea surface and the underside of the bridge deck.

Fixed wing masts, C and T foils and all carbon construction can help to juice up the ride. However, the downside to state-of-the-art, aircraft quality carbon fiber construction, seen aboard $7.8 million Fast Forward Composites Eagle 53, can result in serious sticker shock. But the ride says it all, acceleration with the fixed-wing spar is near instantaneous. Time will tell if it’s all just too radical or a full-scale glimpse of what lies ahead.

Displacement/length ratio

I prefer to preview a sail in a new boat by tallying up the numbers.  For example, the J/99 is a 32’ J/Boats, Inc racer/cruiser with enough Spartan accommodations below to do some fast passage making. She looked like a double-hander’s delight and with an ISO Cat A rating and the following vital signs, the performance potential is clear:

8,900 lbs. displacement

6.5 ft. draft

11.2 ft. beam

137 limit of positive stability

37 percent ballast ratio

170 D/L ratio

24.1 SA/D ratio

The data indicated an excellent performer in a wide range of wind speeds and the boat lived up to expectations.

For decades, naval architects and yacht designers have been putting complex as well as simple equations to good use. We’ll take a look at a few of the latter and see how they can help to put a more definitive label on specific sailboats.

Displacement length ratio is a comparative tool that allows us to group sailboats into five different performance categories.  The ratio itself is a non-dimensional number that defines the relationship between weight and length of a vessel. Most sailboats fall between 100 and 400 on this rating scale. At the low end reside light weight speedsters and at the high end are heavy vessels that need a lot more sail area to attain the performance of vessels toward the lower end of the scale. The D/L ratio is a handy way to empirically make boat-to-boat comparisons.

The equation used in this calculation is based on a vessel weight expressed in long tons (2,240 pounds) and the load waterline length (LWL) measured in feet. Don’t let the math bother you. It can be followed like a recipe and a calculator will insure the accuracy of your arithmetic. D/L = DLT ÷ (0.01 X LWL)3

So, let’s assume we are calculating the D/L ratio of a sailboat with a 32’LWL and 18,000 pounds of displacement:

• Convert displacement (D) in pounds to D in long tons (18,000 ÷ 2,240 = 8.0357)
• Multiply the constant 0.01 times the 32’ LWL (0.01 x 32 = .32)
•  Cube the result (.323 = .0328)
•  Divide displacement (in long tons) by the modified LWL (8.0357 ÷ .0328 = 245)
• The displacement length ratio is 245 , it lies in the upper half of the moderate category, a highly populated portion of the scale and a region representative of many offshore cruising boats. (Ultralight <90, Light 90 – 180, Moderate 180 – 270, Heavy 270 – 360, Ultraheavy > 360)

When looking at D/L ratios, it’s important to know the trim state of the vessel when it was measured. The weight of fuel, water and a cruising payload will affect the trim. Brochures often provide “light trim” statistics, but “half trim” status is used by most designers and presents a more realistic profile.

Whatever the case, make sure that the boats you compare are all in the same state of trim. The lighter the vessel, the more of an impact a sizeable payload will have. Also recognize that sailboats with no overhang and those with long overhangs skew the ratios in opposite directions. Plumb bowed, long LWL vessels earn lower ratios while long overhangs contribute to higher ratios.

Sail Area/displacement ratio

Sail-area/displacement ratio is a performance-linked statistic that defines potential power under sail.  The comparative metrics are vessel displacement and sail area—a sailor’s rendition of an automotive horsepower-to-weight ratio. In this case, sail area is measured in square feet or meters. No attention is given to how efficient or inefficient the hull shape happens to be. In other words, it doesn’t matter if the hull shape looks like the city dock or the underbody of the first to finish in the Newport-to-Bermuda Race. As long as their displacements and working sail area are the same, so will their SA/D ratios. The value of this metric lies in its ability to depict potential power for a given displacement—another useful tool in boat-to-boat evaluations. Solving the equation does involve changing vessel weight into the volume of water it displaces.

Headsail area in the formulae below refers to the working sail area or more specifically (J x I) ÷ 2 = SA (headsail). The mainsail area has become the actual square footage because the large roach (race boats) or the hollow leech (associated with in-mast furling systems) cause simple triangle area calculations to be too inaccurate.

In the following calculation we look at a sailboat that displaces 18,000 pounds and has a working sail area of 750 square feet.

• Convert water volume to weight one cubic foot of salt water = 64 pounds (18,000 ÷ 64 = 281.25)
• Calculate the sail-area displacement using (SA/D = SA sq.ft. ÷ (D cu.ft. ÷ 64)2/3) ( 750 ÷ (281.25)2/3 = 17.44)
• So our SA/D is 17.44, which puts it near the top of good performance. ( <15 under-canvased, 15-18 good performance, 18-20 excellent performance, 20< a handful)

Ballast ratio

Ballast Ratio—is a quick and easy calculation that doesn’t involve long tons or a weight-to-water volume conversion. It’s a simple comparison of weight of ballast to weight of the entire boat calculation, expressed as a percentage. B ratio = (Bwt ÷ Disp) x 100.

Assume an 18,000 pound sailboat has 7,200 pounds of ballast.

B#ratio = (8200 ÷ 18000) x 100 = .40

A 40 percent ballast ratio contributes to a sailboat’s secondary righting moment. How much it contributes,depends on how deep the ballast is placed. The big plus behind a substantial secondary righting moment is that it results in a very small negative portion to the boat’s stability curve. This means that the vessel is much less likely to capsize and quite able to quickly recover from a deep knock down.

Many naval architects consider a 120°-130° limit of positive (LPS) a minimum for smaller to mid-sized offshore  cruising sailboats. This can be accomplished with a high ballast ratio and less draft or a lower ballast ratio and deeper draft. The latter often entails a fin and bulb or anvil shape at the very tip of the keel.

These numbers aren’t SAT scores and higher isn’t better. They should be thought of as a sequel to a compass heading rather than a patient’s vital signs. For those targeting a specific type of sailing—a high latitude ocean crossing, for example—it makes sense to favor a mid-range D/L ratio and the “good performance” range of the SA/D ratio. It’s also important to take a close look at the ballast ratio in conjunction with the boat’s LPS.

Those cruising summer weekends, exploring anchorages close to home, don’t need to lug along as much lead or iron and can look favorably at ballast ratios around 30 percent. However, if it’s a light to ultra-light displacement, a beamy boat with a high SA/D ratio and a shoal-draft keel, beware of a low ballast ratio. This combination means you’ll need lots of friends on the rail when it starts to blow and if you heel beyond the initial righting moment’s sweet spot (around 40-60 degrees) there’s very little secondary righting moment to prevent a knock down.

Multihull sailors put all their eggs in one basket, but it’s a big basket. Extreme beam delivers immense initial stability that peaks around 10-15 degrees of heel. With this powerful heel stopping ability there’s an assumption the secondary righting moment will never be needed. Sailed appropriately, and never caught over canvassed, the initial stability does its job.

However, no multihull designer or builder offers a “can’t be capsized” warranty. Avoiding that outcome is the job of the skipper and crew who must keep careful track of the sail area set, the sea state being encountered and the potential for major fluctuations in wind velocity. Wave face geometry and a changing water plane also affect capsize avoidance. It’s no surprise that the SA/D and D/L ratios of the multihulls in the charter trade are very different than the same ratios calculated for the multihulls that race to Bermuda.

Sailboats, like automobiles, are designed to excel at specific jobs. Just as a Ford F-150 and a Ferrari 488 Spider have decidedly different missions, so does an Island Packet 42 Motor Sailor and a Farr 400. In between these two specialty boats lies a wide range of other sailboats that target a compromise between the two. Sailors, like the boats available, range significantly in how they prefer to spend time on the water.

Hopefully, those seeking to make fast passages end up aboard a boat that can perform up to those standards. And likewise, those out to savor slower meandering and enjoy a comfortable life aboard won’t step below into a cabin lacking head room, festooned with pipe berths, and accessorized with a  two burner camping stove and an unenclosed head. The same goes for performance upgrades and making decisions as to whether to invest in light wind sails or add another fuel tank to bump up range under power. Perhaps both.

Contributing Editor Ralph Naranjo is the author of The Art of Seamanship . He is an adjunct lecturer at the Annapolis School of Seamanship.

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

Thanks Ralph a well put together article with very little bias. Very impressive.

Likewise to above. I’ve tried many times to lay this information out for relatively new sailboat buyers and I wish I could do it half as well as Ralph did in this article. Bravo, Matey

Ralph – recheck your math and formula for SA/D…

Not clear if you multiply the entire formula by 2/3 or juts the denominator – either way it does not seem to come out as you show.

Last year, due to delamination and lots of water intrusion, I replaced the ‘barn door’ rudder on my ‘83 Cal 35 with a slightly shorter and more elliptically shaped rudder. There was a noticeable difference in performance and I moved up more than several places in the one race I enter every year.

D/L is not a dimensionless number (it’s dimensions are are long ton / ft3), neither is SA/D (ft2/ton). Nevertheless, the numbers can be useful at least when comparing boats with similar hull shapes.

Some more discussion of the impact of hull shape (i.e. impact of hard chines, impact of location of max beam, amount of buoyancy in bow & stern, etc.) would be meaningful, as (esp the french) modern cruisers and races have dramatically different shapes than 1970s or 80s cruisers and behave quite differently when compared at similar ratios.

Very nice article. I think the confusion about the 2/3 factor is that the denominator is taken to the 2/3 power. So the equation for denominator is (D in pounds / 64)**2/3. I believe the ** or ^ symbol is missing. Again, good overview with excellent examples. Jim

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Sailboat Race Analysis – Improve Performance with Data

Ever get the feeling that the casual post-race conversation doesn’t tell the whole story about race performance? Ever wished you had solid data to focus your improvement plan? Race analysis may be part of the solution. In this article we review the benefits and costs of race analysis and recommend a tool for sailing schools, smaller yacht clubs, and amateur fleets.

Race Analysis – Worth the Effort and Cost

Few yacht clubs or sailing schools have made a sustained effort to reap the benefits of race analysis. Companies like Kattack and RaceQs have started up but are not growing. Does this mean that the benefits aren’t worth the effort and cost? We believe the benefits of race analysis ARE worth the effort and cost for anyone moderately serious about improvement.

Clearly, race analysis data is valuable, since Olympic sailors use it regularly in training. With raw data alone, you can compare distance sailed, boat speed, velocity made good (VMG), and sailing angles. With a little further analysis, you can evaluate boat handling and strategy, including starting performance, tacking efficiency, time on the lifted tack, and time spent sailing in more breeze. Imagine the benefit of knowing how your tacks measure up to others or how much less distance the race winner sailed. 

Effort and Cost

We shy away from many tasks because we think they will be too hard. You can’t do race analysis without some effort, but the effort is manageable. The key is to use a central support person, who can develop an efficient process to collect and analyze the data. While not free, the cost for our recommended race analysis tool is quite reasonable. With the right choices, we think many organizations will find the benefits are well worth the effort and cost.

Race Analysis Tools

We found nine online services that host your GPS tracks, display the race, and crunch data for post-race analysis. We did not include on-board devices or apps for use during the race. We then narrowed the list based on the following criteria:

• Cost. We looked for low-cost or free tools suitable for local sailing schools, smaller yacht clubs, or amateur fleets.
• Capability. We looked for tools that provide enough data to be useful, including boat speed, VMG, distance sailed, and headings for each boat throughout the race.
• Viability. Since many tools spring up and then wither away, we looked for current users and technical support, as evidenced by recent races posted and recent software updates.

Tools Reviewed

• TackTracker . Australian company with nine years of history and a currently-active customer base with U.S. clients. The application is geared to support individual sailors, coaches, and clubs running regattas. Good capability and relatively low cost. This is our recommended service for local sailing schools, smaller yacht clubs, or amateur fleets.
• SAP Sailing Analytics . International company supporting large events. Capability id high. Cost is likely to be prohibitive for small organizations.
• RaceQs . Silicon Valley company with several years of history. High level of capability and low cost. However, there are very few recent races posted and the website’s forum has many requests for support that appear to have gone unanswered.
• Kattack  Minnesota company with 11 years of history. Capability adequate, although race reports can’t be downloaded. Its current user base has only three organizations uploading races in 2018. Last update to app was in 2015. Cost is relatively high.
• I-Sail . Netherlands company, with mostly Dutch users. Appears to be slightly lower quality than other sites.
• Map My Tracks . Supports a variety of sports. Recent sailing events are all overseas. Could not view race replays.
• GeoRacing . Supports a variety of sports. Focused on displays for events and does not appear to support analysis. Primarily used overseas. Cost is likely to be high.
• TracTrac . Has capability and is current. Primarily used overseas, with limited U.S. users. Appears to have been tried by U.S. Sailing Team in 2015-2016, with no recent use by them. Race replays would not load to our computer. Cost is likely to be high.
• SailRacer . Has capability and is current, but is primarily used in the UK and focuses on the larger goals of helping clubs manage events.  

Tack Tracker Review

Based on our criteria, we believe that TackTracker (TT) is the best service for local sailing schools, smaller yacht clubs, or amateur fleets.

TT accepts tracks from GPS data loggers, live GPS trackers (with SIM cards), and smartphones. The web or PC player displays the tracks with plenty of data, viewable in chart form or downloadable reports. The tool is easy to use, allowing a designated manager perform all functions. Cost is not free, but reasonable, especially using data loggers.

Tracking Devices

Logging trackers.

If you don’t need live tracking and don’t mind uploading the GPS tracks manually, this is the least expensive way to go. Using loggers makes it easy for the sailors, avoids using personal cell phones, and eliminates any questions about improper use of displays during races. Battery life is advertised at 40 hours. Drawbacks are initial cost and some hands-on involvement by the organizer to assign identification to each tracker, recover the devices following racing, and manually upload data.

Live Trackers

TT supports GPS trackers that upload data automatically using a SIM card and data plan. Live trackers eliminate manual uploading and allow users to view races live in the cloud. Battery life is advertised at about 20 hours.

Smart Phones

TT supports Android and iOS smartphones with a free app. The phone user can delegate management of the tracking for account and race setup. Smartphones reduce initial cost, require less hands-on management, and allow you to view races and data live in the cloud. However, battery life may be an issue for longer events, along with concern about using personal phones and possible misuse of displays during races.   

• Distance sailed
• Speed over ground (avg, max, min)
• Deviation from course bearing on each tack
• VMG to course and wind
• Number of tacks
• TT reports include all the analytical data in both table and chart format. Chart format is useful for comparing time and speed loss during tacks. Reports can be downloaded to spreadsheets for further analysis and dissemination.

Ease of use

To track races a manager performs the following tasks. A current TT user reports that these tasks are not difficult or time-consuming.

• Tracker setup: One-time task to input sailor name and other simple information.  
• Tracker start: Done by manager before going on the water or delegated to the sailor.
• Upload tracks: Manager or assistant uploads logger data manually following racing. Live tracker and smartphone upload data automatically.
• Race analysis: Reports and charts are easy to obtain and manipulate in spreadsheets.

Organizing, viewing and sharing data

The TT cloud allows you to manage your races and view races from other users. Functions include:

• Watch online races published by you or others
• Watch live track in the web player
• Set up and manage a home page
• Manage who can watch your races

Users can view races by the following methods, without an account or password.

• View live locally, via a PC using the TT software. This requires that the sailors use live trackers or smart phones with internet connections.
• View recorded races on the cloud or directly from a PC.  The cloud player requires no software installation. The PC player or mobile device players use a free download and provide more sophisticated analytics.

TT also offers a club regatta license to manage and display races during regattas.

TT has nine years of history and a large current user base with U.S. clients. TT made software updates in 2018.  

Logged tracking

• Logger purchase per unit (one time) – $130, pouch $7 through TT. Also available from other suppliers. 
• Logged tracking license for manager (one time) – $70
• Race reports license for manager (one time) – $55

Live tracking

• Live tracker purchase per unit (one-time) – $210 from TT ($120-$135 from Amazon), SIM card – $10, pouch $7
• Tracker license per unit (one year) – $36. TT will provide a one-year license for each unit with the purchase of the MT90G tracker.
• Data plan per unit (monthly) – $6-$20. Purchase separately through a wireless carrier.
• Smartphone as tracker – must purchase tracker rights at $36/year per phone unit.

Related Content:

Sail, Race and Win: Take A Serious Approach to Improvement Using a Race Compass: When and How

Sailors Helping Sailors

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Can't find the sailboat that you are looking for? Insert it yourself in our database: >> immediately earn a 10 € discount coupon on your first order in the HiNelson.com online shop!

THE NEXT GENERATION IN PERFORMANCE SOFTWARE FOR SAILBOAT RACING

The Tactiqs® Performance System was designed by a team of sail boat racers from the US and Europe as the ultimate comprehensive boat performance system. It will substantially improve your understanding of the conditions and the race course, and help you make better decisions and win more races. Post-race analysis tools give you the details on your performance and let you review your races by numbers as well as track individual sail usage and cross-overs to make optimum use of your inventory. The system was built from the ground up with simplicity of use in mind - the smarts are hidden behind an intuitive user interface.

SEAMLESS INTEGRATION FROM SMALL BOAT TO YACHT RACING

The system utilizes your boat's sensor data via a wireless NMEA interface connected to the Tactiqs® application, allowing the crew to use any number of iOS devices as customizable displays for 62 different performance metrics and an additional 25 foiling metrics. For smaller boats without instruments the system uses the iOS devices' built-in sensors and basic wind input controls combined with smart tracking algorithms. For perfect wind data on dinghies and small keel boats, we also support Calypso Instrument's Ultrasonic Bluetooth wind sensor. Additional wearables in the form of the Tactiqs® augmented-reality glasses and smart watches (Android WearOS 2.1+) make the perfect fit for all boat sizes and crew positions.

CONFIGURE MY BOAT

I sail ...

For dinghy sailors the best use model is to velcro an iPhone in a waterproof case to the area right behind the mast. We use the internal sensors and GPS of your phone to collect track information, heading, and boat attitude.

The Tactiqs® application provides a wind input function in the user interface when no external wind data is available. You can mark the wind direction based on a wind shot, or a specific point of sail. From there, the app tracks your point of sail and wind shifts. Alternatively, we support the Ultrasonic Portable Wind Sensor from Calypso Instruments, which provides full wind data on all courses during your training sessions.

For group or one-on-one coaching, the Tactiqs® system provides an option to record wind information on a coach boat or at a nearby club house using our SailHub™ weather station. The SailHub™ system broadcasts the wind data live to all Tactiqs® users in the class over an area of up to one kilometer.

For boat classes that limit the use of electronics the user interface can be set to a restricted mode that only shows the magnetic heading and a start timer, or additionally the distance to the starting line. Independent of the UI mode the system always records the track and available boat data for analysis afterwards.

For foiling boats we specifically recommend to connect our augmented reality glasses to your iPhone in hotspot mode as they are very well-suited as display in high-speed dinghies.

For small keel boat sailors the best use model is to mount an iPhone or an iPad Mini in a waterproof case in the area right behind the mast. We use the internal sensors and GPS of your phone to collect track information, heading, and boat attitude. If you have limited instruments such as a speed sensor the Tactiqs® app can use such data in combination with the internal iOS sensors. Several companies (e.g. Yacht Devices) provide small low-power gateways that can read NMEA-183 serial data from your instruments and broadcast the information via Wifi.

For classes that limit the use of electronics the user interface can be set to a restricted mode that only shows the magnetic heading and a start timer, or additionally the distance to the starting line. Independent of the UI mode the system always records the track and available boat data for analysis afterwards.

For club racers with boats of 30' and longer the best use model is to mount an iPad in the cockpit or down below and provide a charging supply for longer races. If your instruments do not supply heel and pitch information you can use the iOS internal sensors instead. In this case please mount the iPad perpendicular to the boat's centerline for the heel and pitch measurement to be correct.

Your instrument data is used by the Tactiqs® app via Wifi. If your boat system already has a Wifi access point you directly configure your NMEA server address and port in the Tactiqs® app settings. If you do not have a Wifi interface you can use an NMEA-to-Wifi gateway (e.g. from Yacht Devices) that can read NMEA-183 and NMEA-2000 data, and transmit the information as NMEA-183 over Wifi. For boats with a B&G H5000 system, the Tactiqs® app can also retrieve the instrument data via the B&G WebSocket interface.

The Tactiqs® system allows you to use multiple iOS devices in parallel. The first device you connect will operate as the master device to calculate all metrics and generate the race log. Any subsequent device you connect to your boat's network will allow to repeat any data from the master device, and also provide remote control functions to set the starting line and timer, and select/create race courses.

In addition to the iOS devices we recommend the Tactiqs® augmented reality glasses for the helmsman as they provide the ideal combination of focusing on tell tales and waves while knowing exactly your boat performance and ideal course.

Key mectrics calculated by the Tactiqs® app can be transmitted back to on-deck marine displays as transducer values (XDR over NMEA-183) as custom data over the B&G WebSocket interface, or via a Yacht Devices NMEA-2000 Wifi adapter to Garmin GNX displays. We also support display of target speed performance, start timing, and layline information to B&G H2000 and H3000 systems.

For grand prix racers with full electronics such as a WTP3 system the best use model is to mount an iPad in the nav station and provide a charging supply for longer races. As part of your boat's setup on the tactiqs.io web portal you can set up custom transducers, load cells, and manual trim inputs e.g. for daggerboards to fully integrate with custom instrument systems. The system also allows you to send Tactiqs® metrics back to your marine displays on deck.

Your instrument data is used by the Tactiqs® app via Wifi. The app can read NMEA-183 data as well as data provided via the Expedition protocol. For boats with a B&G H5000 or WTP3 system, the Tactiqs® app can also retrieve the instrument data via the B&G WebSocket interface.

Key mectrics calculated by the Tactiqs® app can be transmitted back to on-deck marine displays as transducer values (XDR over NMEA-183), as custom data over the B&G WebSocket interface, and via a Yacht Devices NMEA-2000 Wifi adapter to Garmin GNX displays. Both H5000 and WTP3 systems can map these to custom display values on your cockpit or mast displays.

In addition to the iOS devices we recommend the Tactiqs® augmented reality glasses for the helmsman and tactician. On boats over 50 feet the trimmers and bow person also substantially benefit from personal displays with performance and start data.

Additionally, the system provides a visual messaging service between the master device and any Tactiqs® augmented reality glasses. This function allows the tactician to very effectively communicate sail changes and mark maneuvers including countdowns on larger yachts.

The Calypso Instruments Ulrasonic Portable wind sensor connects via Bluetooth directly to the Tactiqs® app to provide you a complete set of performance data on boats without instruments. Enable the sensor as a data source under the Tactiqs® wind settings, and you are good to go.

Powered by a built-in solar panel module, and with a diameter of 70mm the sensor can be easliy installed on any small boat including dinghies without any wiring. It is fully waterproof, so you don't have to worry about it if you capsize.

For more information including pricing, please visit Calypso Intrument's website for the Ultrasonic Portable.

START PERFECTLY BY THE NUMBERS EVERY TIME

During the pre-start period the system continuously calculates distance and direction to the starting line. Based on your boat's VPP we determine how many seconds you are from the line, and how much time you have to burn for a perfect start. The 3D bird's eye view lets you see yourself in the box and know exactly where you are in relation to the starting line. The system also continuously updates the starting line bias so you always know the preferred side. The wind graph shows you oscillating and persistent patters and helps you decide which side of the course to go first. See the START module in action.

KEEP TRACK OF THE COURSE AND LAY LINES

Once in the race, master the course and the windshifts by knowing exacty where you are and whether you are on the favored tack. The 3D bird's eye view shows you the next mark and its laylines so you can focus on your competitors instead of running numbers in your head. A separate course overview shows you the complete picture including wind angles for all legs, so you can plan your sail choice well ahead of the next rounding.

INTEGRATED WEATHER FOR THE BEST ROUTE TO THE FINISH

Use the chart view on your iPad to plan out the best route for your next offshore, coastal, or inshore regatta. Based on pre-configured or manually created courses Tactiqs® provides you with the forecasted wind conditions for each leg. For longer races compare weather routing solutions for your preferred wind sources and find the fastest route to the finish. Sail angles and wind statistics help you find the optimum sail selection for the race. Tactiqs® supports Navionics charts (requires active Navionics subscription), and raster charts (BSB or GeoTIFF). See the Navigator module in action.

FULL INTEGRATION WITH POPULAR INSTRUMENT SYSTEMS

The Tactiqs® iOS app is fully integrated with B&G H5000 based instrument systems, enabling the display of Tactiqs® calculated metrics on B&G marine displays. Furthermore, the Wind Calibration function in the Tactiqs® Analyzer can be used to quickly determine TWA and TWS corrections for upwind, reaching & downwind and store them directly in the H5000 processor - even while racing. The Tactiqs® app also supports sending its metrics to Garmin GNX120/130 displays via Yacht Devices' NMEA2000 gateways, and can control GNX page selection based on the RLC, windward/leeward & offshore race modes activated in the app.

THE ULTIMATE PERSONAL DISPLAY

As the ultimate wearable display solution, the Tactiqs® system offers custom augmented reality displays in the form-factor of sun-glasses that provide you the key data right within your field of vision. These glasses are fully integrated with the iOS application and can replicate any metrics of choice organized into three numerical and three graphical layouts. Control of key functions such as the race timer and pinning the starting line are directly available via the integrated touch interface. See the Tactiqs® glasses in action.

COMPLETE ANALYTICS FOR YOUR TACTICS AND BOAT SPEED

The post-race analysis tools provide you two key data sets - how well you did around the course, i.e. your tactical decisions, and how fast you were sailing. The course view shows you your track color-coded with your speed or VMG performance, with your actual versus optimum wind angles, and wether you were lifted or headed. The SailCast® viewer on the tactiqs.io portal lets you replay your uploaded races and metrics to get a full understanding of each moment in the race.

KNOW YOUR BEST SAIL FOR THE CONDITIONS

The live polar data taken from steady-state measurements shows your speed performance against VPP targets over the race, and a heatmap identifies the points of sail you spent most of your time on. The system enables you to track individual sail usage during the race and aggregates sail-specific performance data in your Tactiqs® account. This allows you to find the best sail for a specific wind speed & angle, and fine-tune the cross-overs in your inventory. Dual-camera iPhones can take perspective-corrected sail shape images directly in the Tactiqs® app, the photos are a synchronized part of your performance data history in your account and accessible in sail-specific timeline charts. Experience all sail analytics tools.

SAILCAST® RACE VISUALIZER

The SailCast® feature of Tactiqs® visualizes races uploaded to the tactiqs.io portal right in your web browser. You can select the playback speed, jump directly to a specific leg or mark rounding, and choose between areal and chase cameras. Annotations provide you with an immediate understanding of the course geometry and wind conditions, and each boat shows their individual speed and wind data. Race photos taken in the Tactiqs® app are automatically shown in the media timeline. This level of insight into a race is invaluable for post-race dock talks and training sessions, allowing the whole class to benefit from using Tactiqs®. See SailCast® in action.

MANAGE YOUR BOAT AND SAIL INVENTORY

The tactiqs.io website lets you quickly set up your boat, the corresponding VPP data, and your sail inventory to enable sail tracking and live polar data by sail type. Tactiqs® provides a database of popular VPPs, so chances are your boat is ready to go. Separately, you can always fine-tune your boat's VPP data. While our master VPP data base is available to all users, your personalized VPP data is only visible to you.

EASY RACE AND COURSE MANAGEMENT

Race data such as regattas, course definitions, and course marks are easily set up and shareable via the tactiqs.io portal and our map-based mark wizard. For windward-leeward racing the iOS app provides a course configurator that lets you create ad-hoc courses based on number of legs and direction & distance to the weather mark. On race day the app provides you a live course overview with wind angles for each leg to plan your sail choices.

COMPLETE COACHING SOLUTION FOR DINGHIES AND SMALL KEEL BOATS

Tactiqs® is fully integrated with our SailHub™ coaching system. The SailHub™ iOS app and weather station lets you broadcast the current wind direction and speed directly from your coach boat to the fleet around you. This enables boats without any instruments to generate complete training logs and lets students quickly identify where they can improve.

The built-in SailHub™ messaging system allows the coach to send training drills to all students and to remotely control the start timer for fully synchronized practice sessions.

The combination of Tactiqs® with SailHub™ on a coach boat also enables very accurate sail & trim comparison between boats for advanced coaching sessions and sail shape development.

TELL ME MORE ABOUT SAILHUB™

The SailHub™ system is used on the coach boat to enable full wind information for any type of student boat, and to effectively communicate with the class. The mobile SailHub™ weather station in conjunction with the SailHub™ iOS app continuously calculates the true wind direction and speed on the coach boat and broadcasts this information to the associated Tactiqs® devices used by the class. The system uses Bluetooth technology to operate independent of cellular networks and covers an area of approx. a 500 meter radius around the coach boat. The system allows for different SailHub™ groups in case multiple classes are held in the same area.

Additionally, the SailHub™ app provides a messaging interface that allows training instructions to be broadcasted to all participants, and a synchronized timer service that maintains a single countdown for all participants.

The SailHub™ weather station is supplied in a travel case that contains the wind sensor, a quick-connect 8-foot carbon mast, and a battery to operate the coach boat system for a full day on one charge - just add your iPhone or iPad and you are fully set up for the next level of coaching.

Pricing The SailHub™ weather station kit is available from us for US $1495,-. Depending on your class structure the students can individually subscribe to Tactiqs® (e.g. for coaching teams that sail together regularly), or we offer custom subscriptions to the Tactiqs® service for sailing classes with varying students.

For more information about SailHub™ or to inquire on pricing for your club, school or college, please contact us at [email protected] .

WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY

"Tactiqs® is a must-have for any skipper who demands the best from their boat. Having speed, wind, and performance data at your eyelids gives a remarkable edge in decision-making when on the race course." Mike Price, Ullman Sails, Hawaii "I have been using Tactiqs® now for several years and have been very impressed with its overall performance. What sets this aside from the others is its ability to focus purely on your boat, tweeking the VPPs, analysing your race and tracking boat performance by sail inventory. I have used the Raptor glasses with the heads up display, and although initially I had to get used to the info right in front of your sight, I now find them very easy to use knowing the info is there when I focus on it. To finish off, this app with the addition of the glasses is for the serious racer. Give it a go, you won’t be disappointed." Steve Emery, Hyde Sails, South Australia "A year ago I stumbled by chance on the Tactiqs® App. Very quickly, I realized that I had found the right tool for our training and racing program. From the set up of the boat to the acquisition of the data real time, all the functionalities are available at the swipe of your finger. A very intuitive design. Combining information on the boat and live environment data gives the skipper and/or tactician a live analysis of the race course with accurate forecast of lay lines and time or distance to the marks. Immediately during our first training session, we saw the benefit of accurate real time feedback on performance and VPPs. Sessions after sessions, the helming and trimming became much more precise, and week after week we saw the boat’s performance improved dramatically. The after sessions debriefs were also made very easy thanks to a post sailing report generated automatically. Within a couple of months, thanks to Tactiqs’ realtime race course analysis, our racing results started to improve as well. We took full advantage of the pre-start analysis and it became a second nature to optimize the boat to its max potential. On our journey, we rose from the bottom of the standings to the underdog to one of the top contenders. The Tactiqs® app has been an essential contributor to that success. From a pre-race perspective, it is again easy to use. Being a geometrical or a passage race, setting up race courses is easy and quick. Once defined, marks and race courses are stored in a shared database for all users to enjoy so to avoid duplication of work. Finally, and in my opinion, a critical point, Tactiqs® support has been outstanding. As we came up with various requests to add some functionalities, the support team was very responsive, and the implementation happened quickly thanks to a weekly app update cycle. In short, it has been a very satisfying experience, and the results really speak for themselves." Jinn HKG2509 - J-122E, Hong Kong "Tactiqs® has been a great addition to the Beneteau Oceanis 55. The flexibility and vast volume of data available to display is a strong value add to the entire crew that is now able to stay in connection with the performance of the boat over multiple days of racing. Specifically, the performance reference to the boat's polars provides a never ending competition amongst the crew to perform better than the last shift or driver. This addition to the existing 5 B&G Zeus chart plotters has really been valuable to increase performance and fun on the boat." Thank you for a great product and support!" David Normandin, Beneteau Oceanis Owner, Dana Point, CA "We won our last championship with the aid of Tactiqs®. It’s easy to use and easy to read. Given that it has several tabs and screens you can easily set up each set of metrics for the racing mode you are in. Great maps feature and easy to set up fixed courses. Also it is a big plus to dive into the race analytics when the day is over." Matias Zapiola, Navigator for Gaucho ARG-4400, Argentina

TACTIQS COMPONENTS AND PRICING

Pricing is based on the number of boats you manage in your tactiqs.io account, and on the number of AR glasses you use concurrently. Regular boats have full access to external NMEA data and all analytics, basic boats are intended for setups w/o electronics, e.g. dinghies or small keel boats:

Product	One-time Purchase	Annual Subscription
Regular Boat	None	$199.95 / Boat
Basic Boat	None	$99.95 / Boat
AR Glasses	$399.-	$99.95 / Glasses

Your subscription is accessible in your tactiqs.io account settings. To purchase a pair of AR glasses, please visit Everysight's Maverick product page .

The Tactiqs® system was designed and built by us to bring the next level of technology into our sport. Our team consists of sailing professionals and racing enthusiasts with high-tech backgrounds, and we believe that racers should not have to choose between very basic instruments and feature-rich, but complicated professional level solutions. We designed our solution with the average racer in mind, and put simplicity of use first in all aspects of the Tactiqs® system. If you have any specific questions please contact us at [email protected]

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• Sailboat Design Ratios

Calculating Sailboat Design Ratios

Without having to wrestle with the mathematics.

Not only do the Sailboat Design Ratios tell us a great deal about a cruising boat's performance and handling characteristics, they also enable us to make objective comparisons between individual designs.

Here are the five main ones in common use by yacht designers and the formulae from which they are derived.

Five Key Sailboat Design Ratios:

The displacement/length ratio.

D/L Ratio = D/(0.01L) 3

Where D is the boat displacement in tons (1 ton = 2,240lb), and L is the waterline length in feet.

The Sail Area/Displacement Ratio

SA/D = SA/D 0.67

Where SA is sail area in square feet, and D is displacement in cubic feet.

The Ballast Ratio

BR = (B/D) x 100

Where B is ballast in lbs, and D is displacement in lbs.

The Capsize Screening Formula

CSF = 3 √(Bm/D)

Where Bm is the maximum beam in feet, and D is displacement in cubic feet.

The Comfort Ratio

CR = D/[0.65 x (0.7L 1 +0.3L 2 ) x Bm 1.33 ]

Where D is displacement in pounds, L 1 is waterline length in feet and L 2 is length overall in feet, and Bm is the maximum beam in feet.

Problem is, can you always trust the ratios published by the manufacturers? The answer, sadly, is "no".

So when you think you're comparing like-for-like, you may not be.

But let's be generous, it's not always an intentional deceit - there are two main parameters where ambitious data can lead to misleading Design Ratios. These are found in the manufacturers' published data for displacement and sail area .

In almost all yacht manufacturers' published data, displacement is quoted as the ‘light ship’ or unladen weight displacement.

This is unrealistic, as the laden weight of a fully equipped cruising boat is much higher.

As displacement is a key parameter in all of the Design Ratios, the laden weight should be taken account of when comparing one boat’s ratios with those of another.

Published SA/D ratios can similarly be misleading as some manufacturers, keen to maximize their vessels’ apparent performance, quote the actual sail areas which could be based on a deck-sweeping 150% genoa. On paper this would compare unjustly well against a competitor’s boat that has the ratio calculated on the basis of a working jib. 

Making an objective comparison between two such sets of SA/D ratios would be impossible.

An objective comparison can only be made if sail areas are calculated on the same basis using the J, I, P and E measurements as set out in the above sketch.

So now to the point...

What we have here is our  Interactive  S ailboat Design Ratio Calculator , which does all the calculations for you instantly and avoids all the pitfalls described above. The pic below is where you would enter the dimensional data on the downloaded Design Ratio Calculator :

The following pic shows the Design Ratios which are automatically calculated in the blink of an eye!

Download the Sailboat Design Ratio Calculator...

The  Interactive  Sailboat Design Ratio Calculator is  accompanied by a free eBooklet 'Understanding Sailboat Design Ratios' which will help you make sense of the numbers. 

Our 'Sailboat Design Ratio Calculator' takes all the hard work out of calculating the numbers and  will provide a valuable insight into a sailboat's performance and handling characteristics.

We make a small charge of $4.99 for this useful tool as a contribution towards the costs of keeping this website afloat. 

This  Sailboat Design Ratio Calculator and eBooklet  comes with a No-Quibble Guarantee!

Sailboat-Cruising.com's Promise to You:

"I'm so sure that you'll be absolutely delighted with your purchase that I'll refund in full the price you paid if you're dissatisfied in any way" , promises

Dick McClary , Owner/Creator of sailboat-cruising.com and member of:

• The Yachting Journalists Association, and
• The Ocean Cruising Club.

So what are you waiting for?

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How Sailboats Measure Up

• By By Jeremy McGeary
• Updated: October 17, 2012

Sailboats by the Numbers

Boat reviewers rely on numbers to describe some of the key attributes of their subjects, such as length, beam, draft, and displacement. And while judgments on interior layouts and decor are subjective, these figures describing dimensions are not. There are, however, other numbers commonly cited in spec boxes that can prove more elusive, since they attempt to put a numerical value on how a sailboat might be expected to perform while under way. The commonly used ratios are sail area to displacement (SA/D), displacement to length (D/L), and ballast to displacement (B/D). And though they’re so commonly used that a certain amount of dogma has accrued around them, these figures can, in fact, be misleading, or at least misunderstood. And the result is that a boat can be assigned attributes based on numerical values that don’t take into account how sailboat design has changed over the past several decades.

Here, then, is a look at those ratios, what they attempt to describe, and how they should be interpreted when you go off exploring new and used models. (Click to page 2 for a more in-depth explanation.)

Sail Area/Displacement (SA/D)** An automobile buff seeking a high-performance ride looks for a high power-to-weight ratio and compares the horsepower/curb-weight ratios of different cars. For a sailboat, the SA/D provides the same metric. The horsepower comes from the wind on the sails and is proportional to the sail area; a boat’s weight is its displacement (in pounds, kilograms, or tons).

Initially, the SA/D only really gives a measure of potential acceleration rates (in case any physicists are reading this), but since displacement is a key factor in the resistance a boat encounters when moving through the water, SA/D also has a bearing on potential maximum speed.

The traditional calculation for SA/D compares sail area in square feet to displacement in cubic feet. In the formula, displacement in pounds is divided by 64 (the density of seawater) to obtain cubic feet, which are in turn converted to square feet to make the ratio unit-free.

On a spreadsheet, the formula would be S/(D/64) (2/3).

Nominally, the higher the SA/D, the more lively the boat’s sailing performance. The vessel will accelerate more quickly and have the potential for higher speed. But to be able to compare boats with any degree of precision (or fairness), we have to use similar numbers. The displacement must be in the same condition, either light ship (nothing on board) or fully loaded, and the sail-area measurement must reflect the normal working sail plan. Racing boats have measurement certificates from which these numbers can be reliably extracted. The specifications provided in cruising-boat brochures might not be consistent between builders, but we have to assume they are.

Boats measured in the 1970s and the 1980s for racing under the International Offshore Rule for the most part had SA/Ds between 16 and 17, based on the sum of the mainsail triangle (M = P E/2) and 100-percent foretriangle area (100%FT = I J/2). The measurement system favored small mainsails and large headsails, and since designers of cruising boats stuck close to the IOR sail plan, the IOR value for SA/D became the yardstick. An SA/D above 17 said “fast boat,” and anything below 16 said “slow boat.”

After the IOR fell out of favor, cruising-boat design drifted away from raceboat design, and sail plans began to change. Today, many boats are designed with large mainsails and small jibs, and most builders publish a “total sail area” number that includes the standard jib (often as small as 105 percent) and the roach in the mainsail (which is significantly greater on modern boats with full-battened mainsails than on IOR boats).

These builder-supplied numbers are more readily comparable against competing models, but using them in the SA/D formula makes the boats look “faster” than older models. This is a false comparison, because the sail area used for the older boats doesn’t include the extra area in, say, a 150-percent genoa.

The table “Sailboats by the Numbers” (see page 79) illustrates this. It shows SA/Ds calculated for a selection of modern boats and boats from past eras, all about the same length, using different numbers for sail area. For each model, it shows five SA/Ds. SA/D 1 is calculated using the sail area provided by the builder. SA/D 2 is calculated using M (P E/2) and 100% FT (I J/2). SA/D 3 is calculated using M + 105% jib. SA/D 4 is calculated using M + 135% jib. SA/D 5 is calculated using M + 150% jib. The only SA/D that includes mainsail roach is SA/D 1.

Let’s look at some examples. The 1997 Beneteau Oceanis 411 has a published sail area of 697 square feet on a displacement of 17,196 pounds. That gives an SA/D 1 of 16.7 (the same as SA/D 2), which for decades was considered very respectable for a cruising boat.

In 2012, the current Beneteau Oceanis 41 has a published sail area of 902 square feet (453 mainsail + 449 jib) and a published displacement of 18,624 pounds, to give an SA/D 1 of 20.5. Wow! Super-high performance! But this is for the standard sail area, with the 449-square-foot jib (just about 100% FT and typical of the trend today toward smaller jibs that tack easily). Plug in the calculation using I, J, P, and E and SA/D 2 drops to 18.9 because it doesn’t include mainsail roach, which is about 16 percent of the total published mainsail area.

Go back to the 1997 model, tack on a standard-for-the-day 135-percent genoa, and the SA/D 4 becomes 20.7. (If we added in mainsail roach, typically about 11 percent of base mainsail area before full-battened sails, we’d have 21.4.) The 1997 boat has essentially the same horsepower as the 2012 model.

Looking at current models from other builders, the SA/Ds based on published numbers hover around 20, suggesting that designers agree on the horsepower a cruising sailboat needs to generate adequate performance to windward without frightening anyone.

The two boats in our chart that don’t at first appear to fit this model are the Hunter 39 and the Catalina 385, but they’re not really so far apart.

The Hunter’s SA/D 2 is 16.1. Its standard jib is 110 percent (327 square feet), and the rest of the published sail area is in the mainsail—664 square feet, of which 37 percent is roach!

Catalina is a little more traditional in its thinking. If you add the standard 135-percent genoa, the SA/D becomes 21.2—right in the ballpark. (It’s still there at 19.7 with a 120-percent genoa.)

The table shows that, for boats targeted at the “performance cruising” market, the SA/D numbers using actual sail area lie consistently around the 20 mark. To go above that number, you have to be able to fly that sail area without reefing as soon as the wind ripples the surface. To do that, you have to elevate stability—with broad beam, lightweight (i.e., expensive) construction, deep bulb keels, and fewer creature comforts.

Displacement/Length (D/L)** While sailboat builders and buyers are interested in displacement in terms of weight, naval architects view it as volume; they’re creating three-dimensional shapes. When working in feet, to get a displacement in pounds, they multiply cubic feet by 64, the density in pounds per cubic foot of seawater. (Freshwater boats displace more volume because the density of fresh water is only 62.4.) The D/L ratio is therefore a measure of immersed volume per unit of length—how tubby the hull is below the waterline.

According to conventional wisdom and empirical studies, the lower the D/L, the higher the performance potential. This is mainly due to wavemaking resistance being lower for slender hulls than for tubby hulls.

In the D/L formula, displacement in pounds is divided by 2,240 to convert it to tons to bring the values to manageable numbers, so D/L is displacement in tons divided by .01LWL (in feet) cubed.

In a spreadsheet, the formula would be D/(2240*(.01L)3), where D is the displacement in pounds and L is LWL in feet.

In the early days of fiberglass boats, the Cruising Club of America rule was the principal dictator of boat shapes. Because it was a waterline rule, designers kept waterlines short to keep ratings low and relied on long stern overhangs immersing to add “sailing length” when the boats heeled. Carbon fiber was available only to NASA, and boats had full interiors, so “light displacement” wasn’t really in the cards. A D/L of 300 was considered dashing, even risky. Many still-popular designs from the 1970s and 1980s have D/Ls as high as 400; see the Bounty II.

Fast-forward 40 years. Boats now have plumb bows and plumb sterns and waterlines almost as long as their LOAs—there are no rating penalties on a cruising boat. The boats’ weights haven’t changed much because, although builders try to save weight to save cost, the boats are so much bigger. The hull and deck surface areas are greater, and all that extra internal volume can be filled with furniture. The effect on D/L ratios has been drastic—just look at the table. A D/L ratio above 200 today describes a heffalump.

But do these lower D/Ls actually buy you any more speed? Yes and no.

Yes : Because speed is proportional to the square root of the waterline length. Today’s 40-footer has a much longer waterline than yesterday’s and ought to sail as fast as yesterday’s 50-footer. It might also benefit from reduced resistance due to a smaller cross-sectional area, but it also might have greater wetted-surface drag due to the longer immersed length. When sailing downwind in waves, though, the lower-D/L boat will surf more readily.

No : Because, as we saw above, the power-to-weight ratios (SA/D) of modern boats aren’t effectively any higher, and certainly aren’t in the realm that would allow our cruising sailboats to climb out of the displacement zone and plane. In most conditions, the lower-D/L boat is still trapped in its wave.

In the days of the IOR, a D/L of 250 was still pretty racy; see the 1978 Catalina 38. Today, even a D/L as low as 150 doesn’t make a boat a speedster if it can’t carry the sail area to make it so. To compete at a level with a Volvo 70, look for a D/L of about 40 and an SA/D of 65.

Ballast/Displacement (B/D)** The ballast/displacement ratio is simply the ballast weight divided by the boat’s total displacement. Since ballast is there to give the boat stability, it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that the higher the B/D, the stiffer the boat.

However, B/D doesn’t take into account the location of the ballast.

Take a boat that has a total displacement of 20,000 pounds and put its 8,000 pounds of ballast in the bilge. Now take the same boat and put the 8,000 pounds of ballast 4 feet deeper in a bulb at the bottom of a deep fin keel. Same ballast ratio (0.4), but very different stability.

When looking at B/D, therefore, we must ask about the configuration of the keel: How low is the ballast?

Stability analysis is complex and involves beam, hull cross-section, and length, among other factors, of which B/D is just one.

Since the late 1990s, builders of sailboats intended for sale in the European Union have been required to provide stability data, including a curve of righting arm at angles of heel from 0 to 180 degrees—far more information than anyone can divine from a B/D number and a much more useful measure of a boat’s inclination to stay upside down in the unlikely event (the way most people use their boats) that it exceeds its limit of positive stability.

CW contributing editor Jeremy McGeary is a seasoned yacht designer who’s worked in the naval-architecture offices of David Pedrick, Rodger Martin, and Yves-Marie Tanton and as a staff designer for Camper & Nicholson.

To read the related article, How To: Measure Sail Area, click here.

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\n") msg.document.write("\n") makeChartBar(msg, boatName[i], boatName[j], "LOA", LOAMax, LOA[i], LOA[j]) makeChartBar(msg, boatName[i], boatName[j], "LWL", LWLMax, LWL[i], LWL[j]) makeChartBar(msg, boatName[i], boatName[j], "Beam", beamMax, beam[i], beam[j]) makeChartBar(msg, boatName[i], boatName[j], "Displacement", displacementMax, displacement[i], displacement[j]) makeChartBar(msg, boatName[i], boatName[j], "Sail Area", sailAreaMax, sailArea[i], sailArea[j]) makeChartBar(msg, boatName[i], boatName[j], "Capsize Ratio", capsizeRatioMax, Math.round(capsizeRatio[i]*100.)/100., Math.round(capsizeRatio[j]*100.)/100.) makeChartBar(msg, boatName[i], boatName[j], "Hull Speed", speedMax, Math.round(speed[i]*100.)/100., Math.round(speed[j]*100.)/100.) makeChartBar(msg, boatName[i], boatName[j], "Sail Area to Displacement", sailAreaToDisplacementMax, Math.round(sailAreaToDisplacement[i]*100.)/100., Math.round(sailAreaToDisplacement[j]*100.)/100.) makeChartBar(msg, boatName[i], boatName[j], "Displacement to LWL", displacementToLWLMax, Math.round(displacementToLWL[i]), Math.round(displacementToLWL[j])) makeChartBar(msg, boatName[i], boatName[j], "LWL to Beam", LWLToBeamMax, Math.round(LWLToBeam[i]*100.)/100., Math.round(LWLToBeam[j]*100.)/100.) makeChartBar(msg, boatName[i], boatName[j], "Motion Comfort", motionComfortMax, Math.round(motionComfort[i]*100.)/100., Math.round(motionComfort[j]*100.)/100.) makeChartBar(msg, boatName[i], boatName[j], "Pounds/Inch", PPIMax, Math.round(PPI[i]), Math.round(PPI[j])) msg.document.write("

Report any problems to . will continue to host Carl's Sail Calculator on his Web site; please direct correspondence to him.

Carl's Sail Calculator v3.55 . For multihulls, try this site

This page works with all standard browsers on Mac OSX, Windows 7 or later, and Linux. It does not render properly on Apple iPads and iPhones running iOS 10. This is an OS problem beyond my control.

Some data were moved and recalculated from earlier versions. If you find any basic measurements that you know to be incorrect for any of the boats please send the corrections to Tom .

: When you select a boat, its parameters appear below in .

") for(i=0;i ")} // -->

") for(i=0;i ")} // -->

Select one boat in each column above, and press

: Note that length overall, length of waterline, and beam are in feet, displacement in pounds, and sail area in square feet. Do not use or in your numbers, which should be in the form, for example, 1000.50. Note that this site uses the American standard, with a period instead of a comma as a decimal delineator. you follow number entered with the letter " " and then click on the page anywhere outside the entry box. Doing this will convert each of your entries to the native units (feet, square feet, and pounds0) used by the calculator. Thus if you enter 1000m for the displacement in kilograms, it will be converted to 2204.6 pounds.

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: This area displays the parameters of the boat selected. Do not enter values here. Click on any of the Derived Quantities boxes for an explanation of the box.

: You can search for boats in the database you selected in Part 1 by their parameters. Select any number of conditions.

: You can find your 'ideal' boat by doing a weighted search. For example, you can search for the boat that has the highest combined normalized scores in 'Motion Comfort' and 'Sail Area to Displacement' giving one a 60% weight and the other 40%, or whatever! You can also do low searches, for example, you can search for the boat that has the highest normalized score in 'Motion Comfort' and the lowest normalized score in 'Capsize Ratio' giving one a 30% weight and the other 70%, or whatever. A 'high' search is done as a percentage of the highest boat in the parameter. So, if the boat with the highest Sail Area to Displacement has a value of 48, a boat with a Sail Area to Displacement of 24 would receive a value of .5. For a 'low' search it is the inverse. That is, if the boat with the lowest capsize ratio has 1.3, a boat with a capsize ratio of 3.9 would receive a value of 0.33. Only boats within the specified length range and in the database chosen in Part 1 will be searched. You can also eliminate any type or types of boat from those searched by entering their names separated by commas in the first field below. For example, entering 'Herreshoff,Bolger' would eliminate any boat with either name in its name. The results (the top three boats, their scores and the average score for boats searched) are reported in the text area below.

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Weights:
Search Direction:

: The material here is taken from an article by in (February 2001. pp. 81-84) entitled . To really understand the numbers calculated below you should consult this article or his book . A note on the Maximum Sailing Speed calculated below: This is also from Gerr's work. He has determined that the classic formula for Hull Speed ( 1.34 Sqrt(LWL) ) does not always apply, the 1.34 is not a constant, leading to, in some cases, much higher speeds. However, Gerr observes: "

To use this form, select a boat, enter a Horsepower and Prop Type.

\n") for(i=0;i ")} // -->

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Boat Name	Builder	Designer	Brand	Production Country	Boat Material	Boat Type	first_built_hull	Year	Cockpit	Rigging	Unsinkable	Capsize Ratio	Comfort Ratio	Displacement Ration	Ballast Ratio	Sail Area to Displacement	Length(i)	Length(m)	LOA(ft)	LOA (mt)	Beam (ft)	Beam (m)	Draft (ft)	Draft (m)	Displacement (lb)	Displacement (kg)	Action
FLEUR DE MER	Chantier Malliard	Group Finot		France	GRP and Plastics	Fin with rudder on skeg	1,972	1975		Masthead Sloop	No	1.92	29.86	480.64	38.47	18	31.50 ft	9.60 m	31.50	9.60	10.83	3.30	5.58	1.70	11,464	5,200
	PACIFIC SEACRAFT ORION 27-2	Pacific Seacraft	Henry Mohrschladt	Pacific Seacraft		GRP and Plastics	Long Keel	1,981	1993		Cutter	No	1.72	32.17	408.58	35.00	17.57	30.92 ft	9.42 m	30.92	9.42	9.25	2.82	4.00	1.22	10,000	4,536
	LAURIN 31	Miguel Solér	Arvid Laurin		Sweden	GRP and Plastics	Long Keel	1,968	2003		Fractional Sloop	No	1.65	32.17	241.12	40.00	16.37	31.66 ft	9.65 m	31.66	9.65	9.45	2.88	5.31	1.62	12,125	5,500
	HALLBERG-RASSY 40	Hallberg-Rassy	Frers Naval Architecture & Engineering	Hallberg-Rassy	Sweden	GRP and Plastics	Monohull	2,002	2015	Center cockpit	Sloop Marconi 9/10	No	1.79	32.16	181.00	0.41	17.77	40.68 ft	12.40 m	40.68	12.40	12.60	3.82	6.60	1.99	22,046	10,000
	SOVEREL 48	Soverel Marine	Bill Soverel	Soverel	United States	GRP and Plastics	Keel/Cbrd.	1,973	1987		Staysail Ketch	No	1.76	32.15	193.65	50.43	15.77	48.00 ft	14.63 m	48.00	14.63	13.33	4.06	11.00	3.35	27,762	12,593
	BALTIC 51	Baltic Yachts	C & C Design Group	Baltic	Finland	GRP and Plastics	Fin w/spade rudder	1,979	1988		Masthead Sloop	No	1.88	32.14	224.07	39.36	18.66	50.92 ft	15.52 m	50.92	15.52	15.25	4.65	8.83	2.69	34,390	15,599
	DEB 33	Tyler Mouldings Ltd / Deacons Boatyard Ltd	Sparkman & Stephens		United Kingdom	GRP and Plastics	Keel/Cbrd.	1,969			Masthead Sloop	No	1.78	32.11	403.67	41.60	14.61	33.42 ft	10.19 m	33.42	10.19	10.33	3.15	6.58	2.01	12,500	5,670
	ABLE 42	Able Marine Inc.	Chuck Paine	Able	United States	GRP and Plastics	Fin with rudder on skeg	1,989			Masthead Sloop	No	1.82	32.1	277.54	22.97	16.55	42.00 ft	12.80 m	42.00	12.80	12.67	3.86	5.17	1.58	21,678	9,833
	CELESTIAL 48	Xiamen Celestial Yachts Ltd	Brewer/Fuhriman		China	GRP and Plastics	Fin (shoal draft)	1,984	2001		Masthead Ketch	No	1.80	32.1	246.25	44.44	17.67	50.00 ft	15.24 m	50.00	15.24	13.50	4.11	6.00	1.83	27,000	12,247
	CAL 2-30	Jensen Marine	C. William Lapworth	CAL	United States	GRP and Plastics	Fin w/spade rudder	1,968	1972		Fractional Sloop	No	1.66	32.1	294.29	43.69	15.74	30.20 ft	9.20 m	30.20	9.20	9.00	2.74	5.00	1.52	10,300	4,672

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Dynamic title for modals

Are you sure.

• Yachting Monthly
• Digital edition

Understand your boat and her statistics

• April 28, 2015

Nigel Calder and Chris Beeson explain how to use boat statistics to understand your boat, or choose the right boat for you and your cruising

There are a huge number of factors to consider and many statistical tools you can use Credit: Malö Yachts

The perfect cruising boat doesn’t exist and cannot be designed. Different sailors have different budgets and varied experience and requirements. Some coastal cruisers prefer to spend their weekends marina-hopping. Others might prefer to avoid marinas and get away from it all, exploring creeks and quiet anchorages. Some offshore sailors will head across Biscay to the Mediterranean or cross the North Sea to explore the delights of Holland or Scandinavia and the Baltic. Each of these three common types of yacht owner has a completely different idea about what makes the perfect boat.

Marina-hoppers are spoiled for choice. Brokers’ yards are bursting with nippy, spacious, comfortable, well-equipped, good-value cruisers, with fin keels and spade rudders, easy to handle and maintain. Creek crawlers will need a shoal draught yacht that can dry out – one with a skeg rudder and centreboard or bilge keels. The offshore cruiser will need something more bulletproof and more expensive, possibly longer keeled with a skeg rudder – a yacht that can look after herself in a blow without constant attention.

The key to lifelong contentment on the water is to find out what makes your perfect cruiser. There are a huge number of factors to consider and many statistical tools you can use but, before you can find the right answers, you need to ask the right questions.

Desirable attributes

Nigel chose his Malö 46, Nada, after he and wife Terrie took a long hard look at themselves and the way they sail

Everyone has a different cruising style. It’s important to select a boat suited to your aspirations. How and where do you want to sail? Here’s our list of desirable attributes that you can rank in your own order of importance:

• Speed, on various points of sail
• Comfort, at sea and in harbour
• Short-handed sailing
• Directional stability
• Security in all conditions
• Manoeuvrability under power
• Fun to sail
• Shoal-draught cruising
• Galley specification
• Space for entertaining (saloon and cockpit layout)

You can probably think of some other important factors to add to your personal wish list.

Many sailors dream of selling up and sailing to exotic landfalls, sitting on a palm-fringed beach with a rum punch cocktail. But you could spend a fortune on a bulletproof blue water cruiser only for your dreams to fade. For most of us, the reality is coastal cruising in a boat which is typically less expensive, more fun to sail and much more suitable.

With modern weather forecasting and communications, the coastal boat should never be in conditions that can capsize her. This means the design envelope can be pushed towards performance in ways that are not safe for the offshore boat.

The coastal boat will make relatively short passages with the occasional overnighter, whereas the offshore boat will make passages of days or weeks. Once again, the design envelope on the coastal cruiser can be pushed towards performance over comfort. The coastal boat will carry substantially less payload than the offshore boat.

6 key decision-making tools

When it comes to choosing your yacht, you’ll find the published statistics -are very useful decision-making tools, including:

• Displacement/length (D/L) ratio
• Ballast ratio
• Sail area/displacement (SA/D) ratio
• Angle of vanishing stability (AVS, also known as LPS, the limit of positive stability)
• The stability index (STIX) number
• Polar charts

The one problem with these indices is that the boat’s displacement is a key parameter in all of them. In almost all cases the published displacement number, used in the calculations, is the yacht’s ‘light ship’, or unladen weight. For cruising boats, this is unrealistic as the laden weight is much higher. As a general rule of thumb, coastal cruisers should add at least 1,360kg (3,000 lb) to the displacement, and offshore cruisers at least 2,270kg (5,000 lb).

Much of this weight is liquid – water and fuel. You also have batteries, chargers, inverters, calorifiers and other add-ons, a toolbox and spare parts. Don’t forget extra sails and almost certainly a roller furler on the genoa. Then there is the crew and all its kit, plus groceries, a dinghy and its outboard, maybe a liferaft, probably a small but deceptively heavy library. Over time, ‘stuff’ accumulates on almost all boats – when did you last empty yours? – which steadily adds weight in small increments, and this affects every aspect of the boat’s performance.

Remember to account for the actual displacement of your yacht when using the following calculations – for a more detailed explanation, you can refer to Chapter 1 of my Boatowner’s Practical and Technical Cruising Manual . It’s best not to treat your yacht like a shed and load her to the gunwales with paraphernalia you’ll never use, but at the same time don’t imagine that the displacement figures published for your boat or any other are realistic in cruising trim.

1. The Displacement/Length ratio

The equation for working this out is:

D / L = Displacement in lb/ (0.01 x Waterline length in ft) 3

Alternatively, you can search online for a ‘displacement length calculator’ and input your yacht’s stats – use imperial or metric, whichever is specified, and be consistent.

Heavier boats, like this Bowman 42, are less affected by payload

The D/L ratio gives a sense of a boat’s speed potential – the lower the number, the faster the boat. The trade-off for speed potential is a lighter boat with a more rapid, less comfortable motion, OK for a coastal cruiser but not nearly so much fun offshore.

The Starlight 39 is a solidly built cruiser, capable and well behaved

Also, if you take a boat with a low D/L ratio and put a cruising payload in her, it will have a proportionately bigger impact on performance than putting the same payload in a boat with a higher D/L ratio.

Short waterline length makes the Rustler 36 seem deceptively slow

In the table below, the Rustler 36 looks slow, even as a moderate displacement boat. This is because waterline length is part of the D/L formula, and the Rustler has long overhangs and a short waterline. As soon as she heels, it’s a different story. I’ve put her in here to demonstrate that these performance ratios work best when comparing boats with similar design features, and have to be used with caution where the designs differ significantly. In crude terms, the D/L ratio can be correlated with boat cross-sectional shapes as shown in this graphic.

The performance of lighter boats takes a much greater hit than that of heavier boats, with the same cruising payload

Today’s nippy cruisers, like this Elan 360, are quicker on flat water

As a general rule, a boat with lower D/L ratio performs better in the light to medium wind range that coastal cruisers enjoy, due to lighter displacement and longer waterline length. In marginal conditions however, Force 6 and above, the lower the D/L ratio, the greater the discomfort upwind – a heavier boat with a well immersed forefoot will not leave the water so readily and so doesn’t slam like a lighter boat.

Lighter boats, like this J-105, are disproprtionately affected by payload

Also, the lower the D/L ratio, the flatter the bottom and the less volume there is beneath the cabin sole for tankage, which then takes up stowage space beneath the saloon settees and the berths, and the less the bilge volume to accommodate any water that comes aboard. This means it’s more likely that it will end up in the cable runs and lockers when the boat heels. And so on…

I’ve always been an offshore cruiser and 30 years ago most offshore cruising boats had laden D/L ratios well above 400. For example, I estimated that our 39ft Colin Archer double-ender weighed in laden at around 14,515kg (32,000 lb). This gave us a D/L of 436. These boats are real clunkers in terms of sailing capability, but are very safe and secure – we happily cruised with two babies on board. With modern boatbuilding materials and design trends that increase internal volume by removing overhangs, D/L ratios for all types of boats have steadily shifted to lower numbers. For a brand-new coastal cruiser, using published numbers, I would look in the 150 (racer/cruiser) to 250 range, and for an offshore boat, in the 250 (pretty good performance) to 350 range.

If you’re calculating the figures for your boat, is she statistically as lively or sedate as you thought? Have you occasionally wondered if she’s a bit docile for you, or too much of a handful? You might be right. On the flip side, a docile boat requires less intervention and allows you to relax a bit more, while a lively performer rewards your sail trimming and will sail in light winds when others need to fire up their engines.

Boats with a high D/L ratio will give you a smoother ride in the rough stuff. Compare the Rustler 42 (right, D/L 309) to the Bénéteau First 45 (left, D/L 186)

2 The Ballast ratio

The ballast ratio is the percentage of the boat’s weight that is ballast. For example, a boat that displaces 13,608kg (30,000 lb) with a 4,536kg (10,000lb) ballast keel has 33% ballast ratio. If we add a 1,360kg (3,000 lb) coastal cruiser payload to the boat, the gross displacement is now 14,968kg (33,000 lb) and the ballast ratio drops to 30%. The lighter the boat, the greater the impact of payload.

Think of the ballast ratio as a measure of ‘stiffness’ – the resistance to heeling. It’s relevant to short-handed sailing because unlike racing boats, we don’t have five fatties on the rail to increase righting moment when sailing upwind. However, equally important are the ballast’s draught, shape and composition – a boat with a lead bulb on a cast iron fin will be much stiffer than a lead fin keel of identical weight.

There’s also ‘form stability.’ A catamaran, for example, has no ballast but very high form stability thanks to its beam, and the principle also applies to beamy coastal cruisers. Ballast ratio is a rather crude indicator but has its uses.

The J-105 again. She has a high ballast ratio, so she’s stiff and performs very well upwind

High performance monohulls may have a ballast ratio approaching 50%. A J-105, for example, has a light ship weight of 3,515kg (7,750 lb), with 1,542kg (3,400 lb) of ballast, for a ballast ratio of 44%. Traditionally, offshore boats have had a ballast ratio of 30-40%. The trend in recent years has been to push more volume into boats, which increases the beam. This, in turn, increases the form stability, reducing the need for ballast to maintain stiffness.

Despite a low ballast ratio, the Bavaria 40’s prodigious beam gives her form stability

It’s now not uncommon to see ballast ratios below 30%. A Bavaria 40, for example, has a light ship weight of 8,680kg (19,136 lb), with 2,736kg (6,032 lb) of ballast, for a nominal ballast ratio of 31.5%. With a 1,360kg (3,000 lb) coastal cruising payload, this drops to 27%. Despite this low figure, the Bavaria 40, with her extra beam and form stability, is a capable coastal cruiser. For offshore work, I like to have the loaded ballast ratio above 30% (this requires light ship ballast ratios above 35%, increasing to 40% on a weight-and-performance-conscious boat.

As most of us sail short-handed, stiffness is an important factor, so how stiff is your boat? Have you ever thought her a bit tender on the wind? Do you find yourself reefing before anyone else? Maybe your boat has the beam to forgive a low ballast ratio?

3 The Sail Area/Displacement ratio

SA / D = Sail Area in square feet / (Displacement in cubic feet) 2/3

Alternatively, search online for a ‘sail area displacement calculator’ and input your boat’s stats – use imperial or metric, whichever is specified, and be consistent

The Regina 40’s SA/D ratio is low, at 15.2, so she’s easily handled but not exhilarating to sail

The SA/D ratio is a measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. In this case, the higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. A SA/D ratio above 20 is getting into the lively performance category. I was once on a custom-built racing boat with a SA/D ratio of 40. She was doing 8 knots in 8 knots of true wind speed. The wind gusted up to 12 knots and the boat was completely out of control.

An SA/D of 17 means the Westerly Corsair is a well mannered cruiser

The SA/D number is significantly affected by adding weight to the boat and by how the sail area itself is measured – it should be measured as the area of the mainsail plus the area of the foretriangle ((I x J) / 2, where I is the distance from the mast boot to the genoa halyard sheave and J is the distance from the mast boot to the forestay tang) or a 100% jib. Many manufacturers quote the area of the sails, and the genoa could be 140% or more of the foretriangle, so the published numbers have to be taken with a substantial grain of salt but we can make some useful generalisations.

The Najad 373’s SA/D of 19 means she’s quite fun but easily managed

For coastal cruising, I’d be looking in the 18 to 24 range, with 24 being very much on the ‘fun to sail’ end of the spectrum, a performance cruiser that rewards tweaking and tuning. On older, heavier cruising boats, the SA/D number was almost always below 16, and often as low as 12. These boats need 12-15 knots of wind to get going and their owners almost always motor if the apparent wind is below 10 knots. My target for a more modern offshore cruising boat is in the 17 to 20 range for published numbers.

With an SA/D of 23.8, the X-40 is a real performer but more demanding

The Regina 40, for example, is a solid Swedish offshore cruiser with impeccable sailing manners and extremely safe but a little under- canvassed, is at 15.2; a Westerly Corsair 36 is at 17; a Najad 373, a solid cruising boat with reasonable performance, is at 19; the racy X-40 scores 23.8.

Perhaps you enjoy the cut-and-thrust of the odd Wednesday night race with friends, but you also want some drama-free cruising with the family at the weekend? Don’t forget that you can’t add sail area without spending lots of money, but you can reduce it in seconds by reefing, so it might be best to err on the side of better performance.

4 The Angle of Vanishing Stability

Here we compare the AVS of the traditional, well-ballasted Contessa 32, to the more modern, beamy Bavaria 32

The angle of vanishing stability (AVS) is a measure of how far a boat can heel before she rolls over and inverts – in other words, her resistance to capsize. Before the AVS is reached, the yacht’s centre of gravity (G) is inside its centre of buoyancy (B), creating a positive righting moment (RM). At the AVS, G is directly above B, but once B moves inside G, the yacht has a negative RM and will need an external force, like wave movement, to right. The smaller the area between the inverted curve and the zero axis, the quicker she is likely to right.

Almost all yachts can put the masthead well under water and still not capsize. An AVS of 105 degrees, for example, means the boat can theoretically roll to 105 degrees (with the masthead 15 degrees below horizontal) before capsizing. An AVS of 140 means the masthead can be 50 degrees below horizontal before the boat capsizes. There will be water flooding in through cockpit lockers and any open portholes and hatches, but the boat should right herself. Multihulls are the exception. If they heel to beyond 90 degrees, they roll over, and once upside-down are just as stable as when right side up.

Even with her mast 66 degrees below horizontal, the Contessa 32 still rights herself

There is another component to the AVS number. The higher the number, the quicker, in theory, the boat will right herself if capsized. With an AVS of 120, if the boat capsizes she should right itself within two minutes. Traditionally, 120 has been taken as the lower limit for cruising boats. However, when I stick my head under water in the bath and hold my breath, I can’t come close to two minutes. I prefer a higher AVS number (the Fastnet Race requires a minimum of 130), but often this translates into heavier, more comfortable, less sprightly boats. These days, numbers as low as 105 are not unknown for coastal cruisers.

With her mast 39 degrees below horizontal, the Bavaria 32 will invert

The boat’s weight is an important part of the AVS calculation, and more particularly the distribution of the weight. Adding weight higher up lowers the AVS, whereas adding it below the centre of gravity raises it. It is important to remember this when adding stores and gear to boats. Heavy roller-furling or in-mast furling gear will have a significant impact, as will a radar radome or wind generator high on the mast, a large outboard engine hanging on the pushpit, or jerrycans of water and fuel stowed on deck. Ideally, heavy items should be as low down as possible and on the centreline.

After tests conducted for his book Heavy Weather Sailing , Peter Bruce concluded that any yacht will capsize if hit beam-on by a wave higher than half her overall length. Fortunately, with reasonable attention to weather forecasts, coastal cruisers need never encounter waves of that size, so it’s not a big issue, just worth a glance. If you’re planning to spend a lot of time sailing offshore, choose a yacht with a higher AVS. It’s worth noting that the inquiry into the 1979 Fastnet Race found that downflooding with a ton of water makes it easier to right a capsized vessel, and two tons makes it easier still. It seems counter-intuitive, but it’s the same effect that destabilised, then capsized the cross-Channel ferry Herald of Free Enterprise .

5 The STIX number

The AVS calculation is a pretty crude measure of stability. Following the 1979 Fastnet Race, the European Union began work on a much more sophisticated approach that incorporates more measures of stability and also takes account of other important factors, such as the angle of heel at which open portholes and hatches will start to flood the boat.

The Malö 46’s STIX, 56, suggests she’s statistically very seaworthy

STIX (short for ‘stability index’) defines four categories of boats. Of interest to us are the ‘A’ (for offshore) and ‘B’ (for coastal) categories. To be classified in the ‘A’ category, boats have to score 32 or higher on the STIX scale. To be classified in the ‘B’ category, the STIX score has to be 23 or higher. My own sense is that Category ‘A’ is not conservative enough. Given that the STIX number is considerably affected by the length of a boat, with longer boats scoring higher numbers, for offshore work I consider a better rule to be as follows: the STIX number should be at least equal to the length of the boat in feet – a 40ft boat should score 40 or higher. My own Malö 46, for example, has a STIX number of 56.

The Ovni 395 has a STIX of 33.41 – very low for offshore work, but she’s a proven ocean cruiser

It took over a decade to reach agreement on STIX and there are still some anomalies. Some boats that are universally considered suitable for offshore cruising (some of which have sailed extensively in high latitudes) do not receive an offshore rating, while others that should really be considered coastal boats do get an offshore rating. For example, the Ovni 395 – a proven offshore cruiser – just squeaks into the offshore category at 33.41. Interestingly, she also has a low AVS, at 115 degrees, because of her internal ballast.

6 Velocity Prediction Programs

For years now, most boat design work has been done on computers using sophisticated software. The computer can spit out performance predictions that previously would have taken long hours of tedious calculations. The usual result is a ‘polar diagram’, generated by a velocity prediction program (VPP).

The VPP plots boat speed against true wind speed and true wind angle. It assumes all kinds of things, such as flat water, an optimum suit of sails, and a crew that knows how to sail the boat to her optimum capabilities. In real life, it’s sometimes hard to achieve the same results. Nevertheless, the VPP provides a fair indicator of a boat’s performance.

The polars show that the J-133 is faster all round, especially broad reaching with her spinnaker set. The Malö 43’s chart indicates, literally, a more rounded performance but at lower speeds

According to the VPP-generated polar graph, a J-133 sailing at 135° to 20 knots of true wind, with her gennaker flying, should make 11 knots. Sailing at 45° to a 12-knot breeze, under main and jib, she should make 7.5 knots.

When comparing boats, I like to take the VPP charts, blow them up or down on a photocopier until they are the same size, and then put them on top of each other on a light table. If I was a bit more computer-savvy, I could scan them and do this more effectively with my computer. In any event, you immediately get a sense of which is the better performing boat on different points of sail.

Your horse, for your course

Do you really need the facilities – and expense – of a big blue water-specified boat like this Allures 44?

Or will you actually spend your time pottering around the coast, in which case a bilge-keeled Legend 39 like this suits better

I’ve skimmed over many significant issues on which experienced sailors have strong, differing opinions. At the end of the day, our personal idiosyncrasies are a key part of the relationship we have with our boats. If you can temper yours with the kind of objective data I described at the beginning of this article, you will be able to understand better why your boat behaves the way she does. If you’re looking for a boat, these tools will help you narrow down the search and find the perfect cruiser for you. And who cares what’s perfect for anyone else?

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Published on August 27th, 2024 | by Editor

America One Racing Performance Report

Published on August 27th, 2024 by Editor -->

America One Racing , as the largest private financial supporter of sailors who strive to win at the highest levels, provides their 2024 Mid-Year Report:

PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS: The USA took home one bronze medal out of 10 events from the Paris Games. The bronze medal is to be celebrated. However, this is not America One Racing’s definition of success for the USA as a Sailing nation!

With the next Olympic games in Los Angeles in 2028, the USA has the unique opportunity to take advantage of hosting Olympic sailing on our home waters in just four years. A lot of groundwork and planning is already underway at America One Racing, and there is much more extensive work to be done.

America One Racing (A1R) is extremely proud of Ian Barrows, Hans Henken, and our staff coach, Charlie McKee! Their Bronze medal is the result of years of intense work, performance planning, periodization of training and well-timed equipment acquisition.

Working as a Squad, with domestic training partners Nevin Snow and Mac Agnese, Borrows/Henken created a platform to openly exchanged information which led to continuous improvement over three years.

This is a class that the USA failed to qualify for in Tokyo 2020, and now they are in the top three in the World! That is progress, and because of the Squad mentality adopted, there is a launch pad in place for LA2028.

Beyond winning a bronze medal, Hans and Ian showed the rest of the USA Olympic Sailing ecosystem, the power of the Squad. America One Racing will continue to support the US Squad methodology and collaborative mindset as we work toward LA2028.

Two other athletes who benefited greatly from their willingness to work with, and cultivate, a squad are our iQFOiLers, Dominique Stater and Noah Lyons. Starting with the iQ less than three years ago, both Dominique and Noah competed in their first Olympic Games and did so in equipment that will be included in LA2028.

Dominique finished 22nd and Noah made the medal race and finished 9th overall! With their experience and the Squad behind them, the USA has a great foundation to launch our iQ effort for 2028. In the crucial months leading up to the Games, America One Racing directly supported Stater, Lyons, and Barrows/Henken by coordinating and hiring key training partners:

1. 3x World Champion and 2020 Tokyo Games Gold medalist Kiran Badloe (NED) joined Noah in Marseille to test the new iQFOiL supplied equipment and help choose the final racing kit. His ability to push Noah paid off during the Games as Noah was one of the fastest sailors in the new Olympic Class. This pair will continue working together towards 2028. 2. 2020 Olympian (10th) Angel Granda (ESP) joined Dominique to continue improving her foiling skills. 3. 2016 Olympian (7th) Klaus Lange (ARG) crewed for Nevin Snow as sparring partners for Ian and Hans to select the Games racing sails and also contributed to develop a specific light wind set up and trimming techniques. 4. Evan Hefferman (USA) joined Daniela Moroz in the spring in Mexico for a training session focused on testing new foils.

The A1R house in Marseille created a peaceful space for knowledge transfer and relaxation as these athletes debriefed, receive physiotherapy and had meals after training sessions. America One Racing also paid for the “Marseille Playbook”, a tactical road map for the various weather scenarios in Marseilles. The playbook was provided to ALL Team USA athletes.

Important to winning anything is: planning and commitment.

America One Racing and its collaborators have been supporting USA sailing athletes for over 20 years with activities like Project Pipeline, weather and current studies, coaching by Quantum Racing, equipment support by Windmark Foundation, and a constant flow of financial support from St. Francis Sailing Foundation, the Sailing Foundation of New York, and thankfully, much more. The work gets done far ahead of time! A1R and its collaborators support of athletes for LA2028 has already started.

America One Racing would like to thank our collaborators for their contributions to this effort! It truly takes a village to provide the total support required to compete in the modern Olympics and International Competition.

IN THE MEANTIME: While much of the focus this summer was on Paris-2024, America One Racing was engaged in many other important sailing activities that keep the pipeline full of potential:

June: • Olympic Classes regatta San Diego. Eight “29ers”, which are the trainers for the 49er and FX, were in full flight. There was great support from SDYC, America’s most decorated female Olympic Sailor, JJ Fetter, as well as A1R and Quantum Racing coaches.

July: • Eighty potential LA 2028 athletes raced in the Long Beach Olympic Classes regatta, hosted by Alamitos Bay Yacht Club. America One Racing ran its usual clinic five days prior to this important regatta. ILCA6 vice World Champion, Charlotte Rose was “in the house”, gaining valuable experience as she charts her path to LA2028. America One Racing and Quantum Racing coaches supported the event with a “fleet regatta coaching” plan with all 29er teams working together in morning briefings and after racing video and data analysis, another example of Squad mentality in action. • iQFOiL – A1R conducted a U19 training camp in Kaneohe YC, Hawaii, and shortly thereafter, our athletes achieved USA’s best international performance to date – 17-year-old Makani Andrews (7th overall) and Garret January (2nd under 17 Division) at the 2024 European Championship in France. • Makani then won a bronze medal for Team USA at the Youth Worlds. That’s a prime example of A1R athletes and coaches executing the plan! • Waszp camp in Hawaii, more training at the Atlantic Coast Championship, followed by Waszp Games (World Championship) in Norway (150+ boats). We’re proud of the USA’s progress, with Gavin Ball 8th overall and Pearl Lattanzi 4th in the women’s division. • Pre regatta coaching clinic for Sabot National Championship in San Diego-115 under-15-year-olds.

August: • Wing Foil National Championship conducted by the St. Francis Yacht Club – A1R athlete JP Lattanzi finished 2nd overall behind professional kiteboard legend Johnny Heineken. Other A1R athletes, Fiona Wilde won the Women’s Division and Makani Andrews won the U19 division. All of this sort of training and execution is the “meat and potatoes” where A1R excels – creating the athlete base…. the launch pad…the pipeline. Without these critical elements, the United States won’t have the depth of talent necessary to dominate the podium

LOOKING AHEAD: LA2028 is less than four years away. This is the Golden Opportunity, literally. It comes around once every 25 years or so.

It’s not just about the medals that we can win. It’s about harnessing the interest created by the magnet that is a home Games, to build: a structure, a system… a financing model, an endowment, a pipeline of both talent and resource, equipment, and harnessing the experience and support of successful people who are passionate about our sport.

It’s about gathering all that is required to put the USA back on top of the Sport for years to come. This is an opportunity to be leveraged with professionalism and competence.

America One Racing is honored to continue working alongside and in collaboration, with high performing, well managed stakeholders, such as American Magic, Quantum Racing, Oakcliff, Windmark Foundation, St. Francis Sailing Foundation, and Sailing Foundation of New York.

We also want to thank all our individual supporters, many of whom prefer to support in anonymity. We couldn’t do our job without your support – THANK YOU! For over a decade, this coalition has provided valuable resources, knowledge and experience to our USA athletes.

The LA2028 opportunity is here for the taking. It is here for the smart, hardworking and the competent. America was founded by courageous people who seized opportunity. Let’s strike gold in LA!

Tags: America One Racing , Los Angeles 2028 Games , Olympic Games , Paris 2024 Games

Related Posts

Daniela Moroz: Must fix flawed system →

Olympic Sailing returns to Long Beach →

Sailing highlights from the 1984 Olympics →

USA: Onward toward Los Angeles 2028 →

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Boat Test: New Luxurious Multihull Lagoon 60

Multihull manufacturer lagoon is the world leader in building cruising multihulls. they’ve gone big with their new lagoon 60 as sam jefferson finds out..

Lagoon 60 : Double the pleasure

Lagoon catamarans is without doubt the biggest cruising multihull manufacturer in the world and their yachts are ubiquitous be it in the South Seas or the South Coast of England. The manufacturer states that there are around 7,000 Lagoons bobbing around on the oceans. The secret of their success could probably best pinned on their consistency of purpose; the Bordeaux based manufacturer has never really tried to produce anything other than comfortable cruising catamarans. Sure, they have always looked to improve performance and internal volumes but they have always kept the faith with the idea that they know what they want to produce and they believe that they are in tune with the buying public. The results speak for themselves; nobody is ever going to win races in a Lagoon but they will always have a comfortable platform for cruising adventures and the fact that you find Lagoons the world over suggests that the boats are tried and tested in quite extreme conditions. 

Having said that Lagoon has always displayed a consistency of purpose is true but its also fair to say that they have diversified slightly in recent years. The introduction of the spin off Excess range of slightly more sporty cruising cats spoke of a desire to diversify slightly. Meanwhile, the launch of the Lagoon Sixty 5 and Seventy 7, big cats aimed squarely at a slightly more bling audience than smaller models, also pointed to a desire to move into a new market, one remove from their previous flagship, the Lagoon 55. The 60, which replaces their bestselling 620, is a clear attempt to bridge the gap between the 55 and the Sixty 5 and there is plenty of evidence that they have looked to take the best aspects of both these boats and fuse them in the new 60. This is a yacht that shares plenty of styling and design characteristics with the 55 and its smaller sister the 51 yet, once aboard, I definitely felt that it shared a lot with the luxurious Sixty 5 when it came to the interior space. 

So who is the boat designed for? Well, while the 55 is mainly aimed at cruising couples, Lagoon accepts that the 60 will likely need a full time crew. Sure, the set up is simple enough to sail as an energetic couple but this is a genuinely big boat and that means an awful lot of cleaning if nothing else. The boat is designed by VPLP with Nauta doing the interior. This is a classic team for Lagoon and they rarely make too many mis steps. The design is far from radical and features hulls designed for volume and also taking into consideration that this is a yacht that is likely to be loaded to the gills. Lagoon is realistic enough to know that they are not going for blinding performance with this boat so daggerboards are out of the question and the tulip shaped midship sections ensure that there is big outward flare well above the waterline to boost volume. The boat relies on stub keels which give a draught of 1.6m to give a bit of grip going to windward but she is not going to compete with the Catanas or Outremers of this world – nor is she intended to. Given that this is a yacht that weighs in at 32,000kg it is perhaps no surprise that the sail area is big, with an air draft of 100’ meaning that, even with the flybridge reducing the size of the main somewhat, this is a big rig. As with the 55, the rig is stepped further forward than on earlier models and is fitted with overlapping headsails. Naval architect VPLP says these offer more flexibility and efficiency on a boat of this type than the near ubiquitous non-overlapping jibs of today’s yachts.

Approaching the boat from the water (she was anchored off the port of Fornells in Minorca when I tested her) I was struck by the strong family resemblance with the 55. Stepping aboard though and I felt like I’d moved into an altogether different size bracket. Make no mistake, this is a big boat. Approaching from astern you have wide bathing platforms on the sponsons and two steps up take you to the cockpit. A notable feature is the dinghy/bathing platform which is a massive wood slatted platform that drops down to water level when at anchor and can be submerged to allow the dinghy to float free. At deck level there are two side flaps on both quarters that drop down to give you even more space. This feeling of space is genuinely astonishing by the way – as you can probably imaging given the boat has a beam of 32’. 

One notable feature is that the entire boat from stern to bow features no steps up or down. This was more of a challenge for the designers than you imagine and was a conscious decision based on the idea that they wanted the boat to feel as open as possible. It means you have an unobstructed walkway from the back of the aft cockpit, through the saloon to the forward cockpit. The aft cockpit area is big with an L-shaped sofa and twin tables to port. The drop leaf tables fold out to make one very large single table ideal for dining al fresco. To starboard is another sofa with a fridge at the forward end. There is storage both under the seats and under the deck plus access to the engines. There is also direct access to the owners stateroom from the starboard side of the cockpit via a fancy doorway/hatch made from toughened glass.  

Two steps up takes you onto the side decks which are wide and feature a good handhold on the coach roof. Up at the bow there is a forward cockpit area with loungers and sofas. This is also a pleasant space and there is a door that leads you straight back into the saloon, so access is excellent. The Solid foredeck does not extend right to the bow, which is reserved for two crew cabins to port and starboard of the trampoline. These feature a reasonable amount of space for crew and the port side has an ensuite with shower. 

Heading back into the cockpit and then up to the next level via well proportioned stairs is the flybridge, which is well shaded by a solid bimini. This area is huge, with a work surface, sink and fridge aft and to starboard and l shaped seating area with table to port. The stairs up to this deck are to starboard and the helm is also offset to starboard. Forward of the helm station is a large seating/lounging area with a coffee table in the middle. The solid Bimini has a detachable ladder up to it which gives access to the main and has solar panels on it. There are four giant harken winches with 14 jammers – seven each side – which handle all the running rigging. In addition the buttons for the furling code 0, staysail and Genoa are to port And starboard The helm station is comfortable with a broad seat. 

The saloon is huge and loosely divided into three areas with the galley aft and to port and a small nav station aft to starboard. In fact this galley area is a sink, wine cooler and fridge plus storage space because the actual galley is just aft of this, completely separate, with it’s own entrance in the cockpit. Down here you have a good space for cooking with a huge full height fridge four ring hob and oven plus ample workspace and a small crew dining area. There is an option to expand the galley in the main living area, dispense with the large ‘crew’ galley to starboard and turn this into an extra cabin. This marginally reduces the feeling of space in the saloon but might work better if you had plans to charter the boat out a lot. Staying in the saloon and forward on the port side is a huge seating area with a coffee table in the middle and then a dining area to starboard. It’s all very open with sliding patio doors into the cockpit and a large door leading to the forward cockpit.

Descend to starboard and you are in the owner’s suite. This is huge and very light and spacious. The double bed is athwartships and there is more than enough space to walk either side of the bed and also a desk area forward of this. After is the bathroom which has a totally separate heads and steps aft which, as already mentioned, lead directly onto the aft section of the cockpit. The smoked glass ensures privacy while also letting in masses of natural light. It’s an extraordinary place to take a shower. Staying in the starboard hull and forward of the stateroom –  and completely separate – is a large guest double with ensuite. There’s plentiful room and a good feeling of space.  

Stepping into the port hull and moving forward of the galley which we have already discusse, there is a twin bedroom with fore and aft berths plus  ensuite. Ahead of this there is a double cabin with the bed set athwartships forward of this with the ensuite at the bow. The boat therefore sleeps eight comfortably plus the crew up forward. The overall ambience is very pleasant and the quality of the fit out was impressive. Trite as it may be to say, this is far more spacious and comfortable than many mid sized apartments. 

One thing you can’t do with a mid sized apartment is take it sailing. Something you definitely can do with the Lagoon 60. Conditions in Minorca were somewhat tricky for a boat weighing in at 32 tonnes. The wind was between 5 and 10kn, although the water was relatively flat. Under sail the 60 proved a powerful performer in very light winds and with the Code 0 unfurled we were largely able to match the wind speed up to 7kn. Sail handling was simple but the hydraulic steering was a touch on the notchy side and lacking in feel. I’d just come from a week sailing a tiller steered Jeanneau Selection 37 so this was a hard contrast. Although it’s fair to say that the contrast in comfort aboard was similarly striking. Things have improved a lot in a short time when it comes to hydraulic steering but even so, it lacks a bit of feel and on any long passage you’ll be sticking it on autopilot and simply enjoying the ride. The boat is medium displacement and is designed to sail heavily loaded down so that powerful sail plan is a must and it works well. She’s not massively close winded but she does truck along thanks to that big sail plan. Under power she was very responsive and the addition of bow thrusters meant it was supremely easy to manoeuvre. The Raymarine dock assist system further helped ensure that mooring was truly effortless with six cameras allowing you to see clearly all sides of the boat and their distance relative to the quay. 

Sam’s verdict on the Lagoon 60

At the mid point of the test, we anchored up for a couple of hours and enjoyed lunch and a swim. For all the Lagoon 60’s fine sailing I felt it was this that truly showcased the potential of this yacht; its supremely comfortable and large enough to be both a sociable space but also allow you the space to unwind in a quiet corner. As with all Lagoons, you’re not going to win a Transatlantic race, but you’ll get there without any fuss and once you arrive, you’ll have the most comfortable yacht in the anchorage. 

Comfort: 5/5

Performance: 4/5

Lagoon 60 Specifications

Hull length: 18.27m (59’11”)

Length overall: 19.77m (64’10”)

Beam overall: 9.87m (32’5”)

Naval architect: VPLP Design

Exterior design: Patrick le Quément

Interior design: Nauta Design

Water draft: 1.65 m (5’55”)

Air draft: 30m (98’5”)

Light displacement: 34.6 T (76,293 Lbs)

Sails area upwind: 222 m² (2,389 sq ft)

Genoa: 87 m² (936 sq ft)

Contact: catamarans-lagoon.com

Alternative boats

Fountaine Pajot Samana 59

This Berret Racoupeau design is narrower and lighter than the Lagoon 60 but is clearly designed with comfort in mind – boating the biggest flybridge in her class according to the manufacturers.

catamarans-fountaine-pajot.com

A catamaran that places luxury squarely above performance. This is a big, spacious and very comfortable cat that can easily be optimised for skippered charter. Intriguingly, the 60 is available with electric motors as standard, which is a real revolutionary touch.

sunreef-catamrans.com

Privilege Signature 580

Privilege edges closer to the performance market, offering an interesting compromise between luxury and speed. This Marc Lombard design is lighter and marginally narrower than the 60. 

privilege-marine.com

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How the Politics of the Gaza War Engulfed the Melbourne Symphony

The orchestra faced criticism for canceling a performance by a pianist who spoke about the war. Now a top leader has departed and the ensemble has opened an inquiry.

By Javier C. Hernández

The pianist Jayson Gillham was performing Beethoven’s “Waldstein” sonata and Ligeti’s études at a concert hall in Melbourne, Australia, earlier this month when the concert took an unexpected turn.

When Gillham , 38, returned to the stage after intermission, he announced that he would depart from the printed program and play a world premiere: a piece called “Witness” by his friend, the composer Connor D’Netto , dedicated to journalists killed in Gaza.

Speaking to the audience, Gillham blamed Israel for the deaths of more than 100 Palestinian journalists over the past 10 months, and said that “the killing of journalists is a war crime in international law, and it is done in an effort to prevent the documentation and broadcasting of war crimes to the world.”

The next day, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra , which had presented Gillham’s solo recital, informed him it was removing him from a planned concert with the orchestra a few days later, replacing his Mozart piano concerto with a Beethoven symphony. The ensemble said in a letter to audience members that Gillham had made “unauthorized statements” that represented an “intrusion of personal political views” on a piano recital.

“I was really surprised,” Gillham said in an interview. “It felt like an overreaction.”

A backlash followed: Artists, journalists and music fans in Australia denounced the Melbourne Symphony for canceling Gillham’s performance and defended his right to free speech. The orchestra backtracked, issuing a statement saying it had been wrong to cancel Gillham’s appearance and that it would work to reschedule it. It wound up canceling the Beethoven performance, citing “safety concerns.”

But the fallout has continued.

On Monday, the Melbourne Symphony announced that its managing director, Sophie Galaise, was departing. The ensemble said it was commissioning an outside investigation into the incident, to be led by Peter Garrett , the former lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil, who has also been a government minister.

“The board recognizes the past few weeks has been a difficult experience for many of our people,” the Melbourne Symphony said in a statement . “There is a clear understanding that we need to learn from these events to ensure the M.S.O. is best positioned to continue offering world-class cultural experiences for our valued audiences.”

The controversy is the latest example of the challenges facing performing arts institutions as they navigate the politics of the Israel-Hamas war.

In Australia, the incident has drawn widespread attention. Some commentators have argued that Gillham was wrong for bringing politics into the recital hall and have accused him of holding anti-Israel views.

Others have faulted the orchestra’s managers, including Galaise, for infringing on his right to free speech, saying that the orchestra had overstepped in seeking to punish Gillham for speaking out.

The orchestra’s musicians recently passed a vote of no-confidence in the administration. “We no longer have faith in the abilities of our senior management to make decisions that are in the best interests of the company at large,” the musicians wrote.

The Cat Empire, a jazz and funk band, canceled a planned performance this month with the orchestra, writing on social media that it felt “deep sadness” over the cancellation of Gillham’s concert. “We value the principles of freedom of speech, artistic expression and inclusivity,” the group said.

Prue Bassett, a spokeswoman for the symphony, declined to comment. The orchestra said on Monday that the inquiry would evaluate the orchestra’s “policies, procedures and processes and cover protocols around freedom of speech and artistic expression onstage.”

D’Netto, the composer, said in an email that he wrote “Witness” to honor the “bravery and sacrifice” of journalists in Gaza. “Art, including classical music, has always been connected to the world around it, including its politics,” he said, citing works by Beethoven and Shostakovich.

Gillham, an Australian-British pianist who is based in London, said he planned to play “Witness” during the remainder of his tour in Australia. He said that he and D’Netto are working on a recorded version as well.

“People want to hear the piece now,” he said. “There’s a perception that everything in classical music is from 200 years ago and it’s not relevant. But through this work, we’ve shown that there is a space to talk about modern issues as well.”

Javier C. Hernández reports on classical music, opera and dance in New York City and beyond. More about Javier C. Hernández