Sea Fury 21

Years ago I bought an old plywood Sea Fury in Toronto. I ended sailing it all the way to North Carolina. It was my first experience with a bilge keeled boat. Anyone else has sailed these?

 

Bilge-keelers are very much of interest to me..do you recall much about her...sailing qualities?...Stability in following seas is a huge plus with these boats it would seem...and ability to dry out on the flats/ shallows/beach, etc.
never heard of that boat...gonna google it though

 

What I found startling, is that they accelerate and then get to a certain speed where they seem to hit the brakes. It doesn't just taper off. By observing the turbulence behind the keels, I think that there is some interference that causes that. Another quirk is that they heel fast (tender) until the lee keel is vertical and the weather one starts tilting. Until that point they are balanced and hull initial stability is all you get. The boat surfed wonderfully. Overall it was a great hull design. I added lower shrouds and spreaders to the rig. Originally it only had two shrouds at about 7/8 of the mast.

 

Hmmm...yeah...would seem to me that the sea-keeping ability of bilge-keelers is a great trade-off for a bit less speed on a reach than more conventional keelers...the fact that they are popular in the UK and northern Europe is no surprise since they have plenty of wind usually and sizable tidal ranges....ability to dry out on the hard, and stability and tracking and general handling are more important in those locales I guess and for good reason. The weather changes rather quickly in those areas..and gusts can turn to gales as fast as anywhere on the planet in that part of the world. Nice to know they can run home surfing out on a following sea of 6-8 footers with confidence they won't swing abeam of them easily.... there are few better features than that if you ask me.
I googled her a bit and nothing...Of course here in the states...the sexiness of an extra knot of speed and cleaner lines cannot be eschewed for anything so practical as sea-kindliness and safety in adverse conditions...I happen to think that alot of "Olde World" wisdom has eluded American yacht design for too long when it comes to practical designs for the common man...while any new "Euro" breakthrough regarding speed is quickly assimilated by our racing-minded production companies...