To Answer your question...
As Lake Michigan Sailing afficionado's prepare for the Strictly Sail boat show , I had a deja vu of a common question I hear at shows. One of the questions we (as sailors) get from people new to the sport (or people unfamiliar with the physics involved in sailing) is "What keeps this boat from rolling over?" The answer (of course) is: the Keel* on the boat opposes the force of the wind on the sails therefore keeping the boat upright. This usually begs the next question: "But what about when you don't have the sails up?" The keel is still the answer.
I ran accross these pictures on a feed from Naturalsurfing. These are photos of a late model Beneteau (looks like a B40 or B43), that serve as a simple physics lesson as to how a sailboat (more importantly a Beneteau) holds up to the forces of nature. Ok, so your first question might be, "What the heck were they thinking?". But without a doubt, she holds up well with light crew and even getting smacked on the broadside by the wave!
These sailors will be talking about his one for many years to come at the bar. You can be sure the waves will grow to 90 feet as the years go on. Enjoy!
The photos were taken in the North of Spain at the mouth of the port of Zumaia.
*The keel is the large metal (lead or iron) fin on the bottom of the sailboat.
