Dear DSK
The last post was answered by my son, who is a physicist and is
protective of Don Jordan. We are continuing his research, with his
help. The problem is, if one section is discredited, then a cloud of
doubt settles on all his work.
regards
Bryan

DSK wrote in message ...
Bryan Glover wrote:
Your analogy is extremely misleading

It may be misleading, but I dunno about "extremely misleading."

... since the area to which this
force would be applied is hundreds of times smaller. This leads to
hull-pressures that are hundreds of times larger


A large part of that is also due to the energy transient.

In any event, my point was to not underestimate the destructive power of
the ocean, which certain types of cruisers are always doing.


That's not quite right, the force due to deceleration isn't linear.
Comparing a braking distance of 2' to 4', the energy is less than
half... about a third would be closer...


Thats just plain wrong

Well, working with a not-infallible memory, it happens sometimes. I will
go back to the old textbook and see what it says.

DSK

.... IMHO part of why the Churchill
sank was repeated stressing & flexing of the hull, and partial failure
of her fastenings.


Chris Lasdauskas wrote:
The boat had recently been refastened etc. Which makes one wonder
whether it was done right...


Agreed. Or if some small pocket of rot went undiscovered. Or one a dozen
other things that could go wrong, which would have little or no effect
on everyday sailing...



Considering that Navy cruisers have been sunk in typhoons, and
battleships taken severe damage, it's a little much IMHO to expect a
small sailboat to withstand anything the ocean can throw. *No* tactics
or special gear or design type is going to help. It's a case of simply
don't be there when it happens.


Except that a reasonable proportion of the fleet did manage to sail
through the same conditions and make it to the other end (not counting
all tose who prudently retired from the race), so obviously some
things did help.


No, they didn't. Not all yachts experienced the exact same conditions.
Consider 'Sayonara' which was out in front and experienced a good
bashing, but nothing like the horrific conditions that did in the
Churchill, or tore off part of the deck of that other boat.

Others were further behind (or sensibly waited it out in shelter) and
did get into the worst of it. Plus, there's always the random factor
that some waves are bigger than others.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King