Your boat may be more or less susceptible to rolling than other boats based on its design but the aspects to remember are that although your boat may be severly tilted over by the wave front the wave will have to be over 30 percent of the boats length be breaking on the boat and the boat will have to be orientated obliquely beam on is the worse to the wave to knock the boat down or completely roll the boat over.

Sailing boat in big waves. If you will be single-handing your boat or if you will be sailing with one other person a boat. All that matters is that the waves are challenging you and youre nervous about handling them safely. In medium winds power up the rig as much as possible.

Ad Hall of Fame boat dealer with a full line of Cobalt Boats offering salesservice storage. When sailing over large waves the smoothest and fastest course is not a straight line you need to scull the waves sailing in more of a horizontal course. Sailing in big waves is a test of seamanship and steering which is why you should put your best steerer on the helm.

Steer to surf down the bigger sets of waves. Try not to sail on a reach across big breaking waves as they can cause a boat to roll. You need a boat that is big enough to handle ocean waves and unpredictable inclement weather but you also dont want to end up with a boat that is too big for you to handle.

The safest way to transit large seas is by quartering them sailing upwind or running off on a broad reach with the boat at an angle to the waves. There are some basic rules that can help. To minimize the risk of a wave washing across the deck only turn the sail in thesmooth water.

Sail higher between the big sets to keep speed on and maintain direction. As the wave passes underneath and you slide off the back side your speed will drop significantly. A toy wooden boat with a sail of paper floats along the waves to the shore on a sunny day.

The headsail will become shadowed and depowered and your boat speed will drop even further. Experienced dinghy sailors often are very good at heavy air steering because they see survival weather more often than most cruisers. Always keep your speed up to aid steering and try to move toward flat spots.