Date: 1/11/2001
Name: Jay Sawyer
email: Nesailor@nebi.com

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subject: keels

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All the dimensions are described in the class handbook you get upon joining. There are nice drawings so I recommend you get one. Fairing the keel is usually helpful since they are often rough and a little irregular. I have attempted to do this-fill in a few low spots and sand some rough areas.

But the main problem it seems to me is that the keel is so thick- 3inches- that it is too thick to accomplish much. The thickness is due to the need for the lead ballast. This is thicker than you would really want I would guess. There is only a quarter inch tolerance by class rules so again there is no way to improve it much.

Here is another thought. The America Cup boats have less surface area in their keels to generate lift relative to their huge sail area than our San Juans. Their keels are very small in area although very heavy. All boats with bulb keels have as little surface area and as little thickness as possible in their keels.

My feeling is that most small boats have more surface area- a larger keel or larger centerboard than they need.

So it comes down to smoothness since the shape cannot be changed.

The smoothness may not be that important either. A few years ago in Oklahoma after ten of us got smoked by Ben Sanders and Carol I crawled underneath their boat to check their keel and gasket. It was a long ride home after seeing a nasty old notched up keel and drooping gaskets. Its true that a lot of the winners have faired keels but then a lot of them don't too.

Its been a long winter here in Nebraska so there's not much else to think about concerning sailing our San Juans. How about it you other old salts--what do you think about keels?

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