On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 21:36:01 +0200, "Edgar"
wrote:


wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 1 Apr 2009 13:17:03 -0400, "mmc" wrote:


"Edgar" wrote in message
...

"mmc" wrote in message
ng.com...
Agreed. Shallow water is the reason for my preference of a swing keel.
I'm
just off the Indian River Lagoon, where (as I'm sure you know), except
for a few spots in our area, sailing is pretty much restricted to the
ICW
channel for boats with more than 4' draft. These open areas are mostly
deep enough but I've done my share of sandbar hopping on a friends 27
Hunter with 4'2" draft. There's the ocean too, but we're about 5 boat
hours from the inlet which doesn't allow for "just hop on the boat"
outings.
For shallow water I think that a centreboard is best if you want a boat
that can go well to windward when there is sufficient depth and yet go
into shallow water with the keel up.
I don't understand your preference for swing keel in shallow water,
unless we are not talking about the same thing. To me, a swing keel is
what the deep ocean racers have, with a heavy bulb at the bottom that
can
be swung to one side to provide better stiffness on a long tack. In
restricted shallow water that would be useless since when you tack there
would be insufficient water to swing the keel down and hoist it up the
other side.

We're talking about the same thing. I've always understood a swing keel as
the as the type that is drawn in a arc (pivoting on a pin at the top) into
a
trunk, either under the boat or inside the cabin as in the Freedoms.
But then, I could have been using the wrong terminology for a long time
now!
I beleive the term for a type you describe that pivots side to side is
"Canting Ballast".


I've always thought of a swing keel as being a centerboard that is
also substantial ballast.

Yes, some are and some are not heavy. I have raced dinghies with cb's
weighing almost 200 pounds and others where the cb was plywood for lightness
with a slug of lead cast in to ensure it stayed down.



If the purpose is just to present a surface, then it's a centerboard.
If the purpose is also to provide substantial ballast similar to what
a fixed keel would offer, then it's a swing keel.

Two different animals.