Heeling (sailing)
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Heeling is the lean caused by the wind's force on the sails of a sailing vessel.
A sudden change in the direction of heeling can cause unwary passengers or crew to lose their balance or even go overboard.
[edit] Prevention
Heeling is the boat “tipping” to one side or the other; it is caused primarily by the force of the wind on the sails, although it can be caused by weight such as crew or excess cargo. In sailing, heeling is a result of the force of wind on the sails. Some heeling is inherent in sailing; as the force of the wind is transferred into forward motion, any excess is transferred into sideways motion – some of which is slippage and some of which is heeling.
When a boat is heeled, the center of effort changes. The center of effort is the pivot point of the sails and is related to the center of lateral resistance, which is below the waterline. One way to reduce heeling is to move the center of lateral resistance upwards by raising your centerboard or daggerboard. The boat will have less resistance below the waterline and consequently less heel.
Crew weight can be a factor on a small or light boat. If the helmsman and/or the crew shifts their weight to what is known as the “HIGH” side of the boat, their body weight will overcome some percentage of the heel. On a larger boat, this is largely immaterial.
Sail trim is the primary cause of heeling; the most common way to reduce heeling is to reduce the amount of wind in the sails. There are several ways to accomplish this
- “Spill” the wind by easing the sails
- Come up into the wind, thereby putting less wind in the sails
- Flatten the sails which reduces the force of the wind
Unbalanced helm is a by product of excess heel. The design of the sails and the hull of the boat combine to cause the boat to “head up” into the wind. As more force causes more heel, the boat “pulls” as it tries to head up, causing a difficult helm called weather helm. This condition is exacerbated by excess heel; the same solutions as above will reduce weather helm. Lee helm, the opposite of weather helm is actually corrected by some additional heel, one of the few cases in which excess heel is beneficial.
[edit] See also
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