Causes of Yacht Capsizing in Heavy seas

This paper presents an overview of capsize modes that are relevant to intact ships and sailing yachts subjected to waves and wind. For larger size ships following and stern quartering seas tend to be most critical from a stability perspective. Sailing yachts in extreme weather conditions will be vulnerable particularly to wind-induced knockdown and breaking impact.
The probablity of capsize of sailing yachts depends on the probability of occurrence of (possibly breaking) waves with critical height and period. For long-crested seas it is possible to derive relevant statistics based on the joint distribution of wave height and period, as is illustrated for measured storm waves. A discussion is given of design factors that influence the resistance against capsizing. Safety against complete foundering is dicussed briefly.