depth of keel

javelin · Post by **javelin** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 5:40 am

Just contemplating about how far you guys let the keel down. My experience is this : most of my sailing, the keel is all the way up. I have not really noticed much difference up or down as to speed. My thought is if it is light wind then with the keel up, there is less drag. However, if the wind picks up and she starts to heel, then I usually let a few feet down for stability. When I have guests, I put all six feet down so they have a less fear of sailing. If I was to take up racing at my club ( Newcastle, Lake Ontario, Canada ) what would be the optimum depth usually, as I realize this is subject to the wind. Thoughts ? Russell

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 8:38 am

The pic in EE's avatar was taken in light air, keel barely down any, couple of cranks.

J. Austin · Post by **J. Austin** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 9:32 am

My racing thoughts, use as much keel as possible. You can point higher, drift less upwind. Downwind: no keel, unless waves are not hitting the stern square, then use some to reduce weather helm. Some say on a broad or beam reach, 1/2 keel, but my experience racing boats have keels that don't move for a reason, use it.

Raced a lot when I was younger, so just thoughts, take them for what they are, great queation though.

Alanhod · Post by **Alanhod** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 3:39 pm

I mostly go keel all the way down with just a little pressure on the keel cable when under sail and I do get what I feel is really close to the wind. I also really like a heel of 15 to 25 degrees so again I like that keel down.

I pull it up when under motor power.

I've not really ever played with it part way up or down. I did a little one day but my side drift was annoying.

Thanks
Alan

lecker68 · Post by **lecker68** » Fri Feb 12, 2010 4:52 pm

I have always kept the keel up mainly because I want to replace cable and winch before I play with it too much.

Guillaume C. · Post by **Guillaume C.** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 5:17 am

Upwind: Down or almost down
Reaching: About halfway but can vary a lot depending on conditions
Downwind: Halfway if you have an annoying swell and want to stabilize the boat (wich in turn help the aerodynamic of the sails) or completly up to reduce friction to the minimum. It is also a safety factor in big wave as if the boat take one from the side, it will glide on it instead of trying to roll

Motoring at 5 kt, you get a bonus .2 knot with the keel up. But if you let it down a few turn you get a bonus depth-finder

Remember that you dont only move the weight up and down, you also add/reduce lateral area, add/reduce surface friction, move the center of lateral resistance and weight fore and aft

btw some racing boat have canting keel also adjustable in fore and aft position, plus twin daggerboards. They are playing with some of the same parameters, but a lot more seriously (http://www.minitransat650.com/html/lucas_3d_keel.html)

hp18carr · Post by **hp18carr** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 8:31 am

At the risk of sounding totally inept are we talking about keel depth while sailing with a crew?

Being greener than green to all things nautical, while single handed sailing would you have the time to crank the keel up or down between each point of sail?

Terrence
Wilmington N.C.
Chrysler 26 1980
Pandora (for now)

CaptainScott · Post by **CaptainScott** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 1:13 pm

hp18carr wrote:At the risk of sounding totally inept are we talking about keel depth while sailing with a crew? Being greener than green to all things nautical, while single handed sailing would you have the time to crank the keel up or down between each point of sail?

Terrence
Wilmington N.C.
Chrysler 26 1980
Pandora (for now)

Yes, that is exactly what is being discussed. Cranking the keel up or down while sailing. The lower the keel the better the stability. Good for windward sailing or heavy air. The higher you raise the keel the less drag but at the cost of stability and windward pointing ability. It's just one more thing to play with while we dance with the wind!

Scott

Paul the Denverite · Post by **Paul the Denverite** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:36 pm

Ok, I'm new to this style of sailing as well, but my teaching had been that by raising and lowering the swing keel you are also moving the center of sideways pressure fore and aft. This could be used to trim the helm so the pointing remained neutral. Lowering, then would produce more weather helm, and raising would make it tend to produce lee helm.

In Colorado it doesn't make much difference because the lakes are small enough you just go with the wind, then tack, tack, tack, and then with the wind, etc.