Can or Cant

There has been quite a lot of discussion on Sailing Anarchy (and even elsewhere !) about whether canting keels are genuinely useful on fully crewed 30 footers. Some say canting keels "will make the existing thirty footers obsolete". Others say "a waste of money."

The modern thirty footer with its big spinnakers generally carries at least 7 crew to handle the boat and when you put that weight on the rail it translates into a lot of righting moment. The question is, "Is getting even more righting moment from a canting keel worth the extra drag, weight and the reduced capacity to maneuver quickly?"

We recently saw a fixed vs canting 30 footer 'showdown' at at Geelong in Australia.

At Geelong Week two new Robert Hick designed canting keelers (of two quite different designs) lined up against the leading fixed keel boats such as "The Cone of Silence" and Robert Hick's own Hick 32 fixed keel boat "Toecutter" plus a host of other fast 30's. Conditions ranged from 0 to 22 knots. In short, the canting keel boats did not do well. "The Cone of Silence" took "30 ft line honors" in every race - by a lot. The fixed keel "Toecutter" was mostly second and the canting keel boats were mostly a long way behind both "Toecutter" and "The Cone".

Perhaps with more time on the water, the canting keel boats will improve but on the results so far, in fully crewed thirty footers, you would have to wonder whether the big dollars for a canting keel actually result in a faster boat?

Photo of The Cone courtesy Sail World.

2/9/05