Three sailors rescued after capsize off Iceland

[Adelie]

Ultralight is an understatement.

It's a Fast40.
LoA-40'
Beam-8'
Displacement -4,100lb
Ballast - 2,000lb
SA/D - 29.3

http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=1020

The photo at SailboatData may be this boat.

[danielamartindm]

I don't know the answers here, but if I drove up to the boat in these photographs and planned to go somewhere in it, the first thing I'd do would be to check the bilge for water.

[Steadman Uhlich]

It reminds me of a Hobie 33, but longer. Narrow hull, ultralight displacement, built for speed.

Looking at the drawing, very little hull Is shown below the waterline.

Looking at the photo from sailboatdata, the crew helmsman looks exposed sitting on a minimal coaming.

It will be interesting to see what they were doing just prior to the capsize, or how they were prepared for it. Were all of the crew down below? Using a drogue or sea anchor or hove? The linked article above mentions waves of 20 feet..

Here is a clip from another earlier article about the capsizes that can happen due to breaking waves, and about the height of those waves compared to the boat size. I am adding it to this discussion, because I think it is important to share and see those conclusions about the risk due to breaking waves.
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Yachting world.com 2015

"We often think of the size and steepness of waves as being the deciding factor in capsize (along with a vessel’s inherent stability characteristics). But research suggests that the most significant factor is whether a wave is breaking or not. No matter the strength of the wind, the wave height or its steepness, it only takes a breaker to knock a boat over – and that wave does not need to be very large.

Research a decade or so ago by the Wolfson Unit at University of Southampton University concluded that for a 10m yacht, ‘you only need a breaking wave of 3m to pose a risk of capsize’.

Various types of boat and keel type were tested. A wave height of 60 per cent of the boat’s length capsized all the models they tested. So just to spell this out, a 32-footer would almost certainly be capsized a breaking wave with a height of as little as 20ft.

Read more at Video of yacht capsized by breaking wave

[El Pinguino]

But.. but... haven't we been told - endlessly - in another thread that 'fast' is the only way to go. Something about being able to outrun the weather or some such ??

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by xslim

Here is another picture of the boat - sits pretty low in the water as I see it.

http://www.gazettejournal.net/images...ue_valiant.jpg

Indeed it is.... in my experience the bottom of the transom on most boats just kisses the water.... in that photo its submerged maybe 3 or 4 inches.....