Turtling (sailing)
[3][A][B] The term can be applied to any vessel; turning turtle is less frequent but more dangerous on ships than on smaller boats.
But even yachts can capsize and turtle in extraordinary conditions, so design considerations and suitability for particular tasks, locations, weather, duration and situations are essential queries.
[6][7] Prevention and delay of turtling in dinghies is the highest priority[20]—turtling can be catastrophic in consequences—but it depends on skill, ability and athleticism, which vary greatly.
[8][20] As John Rousmaniere wrote: Testing confirms the Royal Yachting Association's conclusion that "a decisive way to address entrapment is to immediately right the boat by putting weight on the centerboard", daggerboard, (or bilgeboard in a scow).
[6] Sealing masts and attaching flotation are effective preventatives for turtling of dinghies, but not widely utilized.
[6][23] The use of a trapeze, harness, jackline or other tether can cause injury or death due to entrapment if a boat turtles.
Standing on the centerboard and "piggybacking" of crew members can be highly effective to right a turtled dinghy, as it increases both the weight and leverage being applied.
[20][27] In yacht sailing, multihulls are deemed to be more prone to turtling than keeled monohulls, and there is essentially no way to right them if they overturn.
Even some large multihulls can be righted at sea—it is a long shot—provided that the skipper is well prepared, knows what they are doing, and has appropriate devices, tools, skills, a workable plan, cooperative waves, weather and wind, and some luck.
[35] In the 2011 Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, the high performance monohull sportsyacht WingNuts, a Kiwi 35, turtled in an extreme storm, killing the captain and one crew member.
However, this boat's unique hull form, which made it very fast, also rendered it more stable upside down than right side up.
[14][16][17][21][36] WingNuts met then current offshore stability standards, which failed to adequately take into account the dynamic effect of the "radical" winged hull.
[14][16][25][36][J] On 13 June 2012, in the trials leading to the America's Cup, Oracle Team USA on an AC45 spectacularly capsized the boat, and it was righted with minimal damage ("there's a little rip there") ten minutes later.
[37][38] On 9 May 2013, the 2013 America's Cup challenger Artemis broke apart, broached, capsized, and turtled destroying its wing/sail and trapping two crew members under its hull.
The AC72 wing-sail catamaran was sailed on behalf of the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, sponsoring Team Artemis.
[41] Veteran Chicago-Mac racers have encountered similar conditions during previous races and understand that coping with severe weather is part of the challenge.
Skippers must prepare their boats, train their crew, maintain a watchful eye for approaching storms and "the dearest friend (and most menacing foe) of all sailors—the wind.
