From: mattp@phred.UUCP (Matt Pedersen)
Newsgroups: rec.boats
Subject: BOC boat safety (was Re: Solo Sailor Missing)
Date: 23 Nov 92 22:18:10 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: Physio Control Corp., Seattle WA

In article <17NOV199210530538@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu> ecf_stbo@jhuvms.hcf.jhu.edu (Tom O'Toole ) writes:
>In article <1992Nov17.145902.27644@cbnewsj.cb.att.com>, legacy@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (wayne.m.simpson) writes...
>>the boat from outside told me pretty much all I needed to know. She
>>resembled, more than anything else, a 60 foot "M" Scow, but beamier.
>>   I view the current generation of BOC boats to be patently unsafe
>
>I saw a picture of it in some sailing magazine recently and immediately
>thought of a scow.

It's in the November 1992 Sailing World

> I don't know how anyone could even think of going offshore
>(much less alone) in such a craft. I would think a boat like that would be
>under every other wave. The deck would have to be reinforced to take all the
>green water. I truly hope he is ok but from the looks of it it doesn't seem
>real promising.

Boats like Coyote sail on top of the waves instead of plowing
through them, so they may not be as wet as your first glance
would tell you.  In addition, big boats are exponentially more stable
than smaller boats -- they are an easier platform to work on.
So what is hair-raising weather on smaller boats isn't as big
a problem on a bigger boat.  There truly is a big difference.

The construction of the deck shouldn't be a problem.  All
BOC boats must be built to national standards (ABS in US, Lloyd's
in the UK, etc).  I have been on Duracell (Plant's last BOC boat),
and it was certainly more than adequately strong.  The ABS
rules give you a boat strong enough to handle the ocean -- but
it certainly won't give you a boat to crush coral reefs.
As far as the design goes, consider that Coyote has
more freeboard than the typical ocean cruiser of forty years
ago, and that the deck is one piece.  I don't think 
construction of the hull shell would be an issue.  The only real
design flaw I saw was the bulbed keel.  It is over 11 feet (3.35m)
deep, with 8400 lbs (3820 kg) of lead in a bulb at the bottom.
Now this will really give you a lot of stability, but if
you hit something with it you are likely to lose the whole
keel, especially if you are doing 10-20 knots.  

Unfortunately, the stakes in this type of racing are getting
higher.  You need a boat like Coyote if you want to win (and
sponsors don't sponsor you if you don't try to win, at least
here in the US).  John Martin built a very beamy Allied Bank
(Allied Plank ;=>) for the last BOC and probably would have won if
he hadn't hit an iceberg.  The top two boats were similar; 
great beam is the norm.

There are some reasons why this is true.  The first is you
obviously get a lot of form stability.  Secondly, BOC boats
can use water ballast.  Since they are limited in the amount
of heeling moment the water ballast can provide, there is an
advantage in having it further out to the sides (you get the
same amount of heeling moment for less weight).  In effect,
you get sort of a double bonus for having great beam.  Thirdly,
since the boats are limited in length (length = speed) the
way to get more speed is by providing more form stability.
 
I think Tom and Wayne are both right.  It seems that in order
to win you must push the edge of safety.  But how do you legislate
safety?  Allow the boats to be any length possible?  That can
get ridiculous pretty fast.  Make them have maximum limits on 
the beam allowed?  Then you will get great depth (8-10 meters
of draft?).  Maybe the thing to do is give them a maximum
budget to spend on the boat.  That would prevent it from
becoming such a technology race, but it still wouldn't
prevent boats with great beam. 

But then again it's been great to see how fast a monohull
can be without all the restrictions of a rating rule (I know
I just outlined some of the BOC rules that cause problems,
but it's not as bad as say the IOR).  If I remember right,
John Martin averaged 11 knots from Cape Town to Sydney alone
in a 60' (18.3 m) boat, while the fastest fully crewed
Whitbread Maxi of 85' (25.9 m) averaged 11.5 knots.

So maybe the best thing to do is let these pioneers be
pioneers.  It is after all their own choice.  They are
fully aware of the dangers and risks involved.

Matt Pedersen     mattp@phred