S/V Concordia and the Nautical Goat

It was not so much Transport Canada… [url=http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/sv-concordia-and-the-nautical-goat/]Click HERE to read the full blog article.

Top Sail gale?

I seriously doubt that keel failure was a contributing cause of the Concordia sinking. The Concordia, unlike modern sailing yachts, had a very shallow full-length keel.

The ship was specifically designed as modern sail training vessel, so she should have had very high deck immersion and down flood angles and a positive righting moment at very high angles of heel. From what has been reported, possible contributing factors exasperating the knock down include:

  1. Loss of GM due to free surface effects caused by slack tanks and full
    bilges
  2. Possible altered stability characteristics due to addition of weights
    raising the center of gravity

Possible factors prevent a recovery from the knock down include:

  1. Open hatches, vents and skylights
  2. Open watertight doors