Do larger yachts self right?
Yes, they will normally self-right. BUT … You need to consider not merely the 90-degree knock down, but the risk of inversion. Here it becomes a little more complex. For every yacht there is some angle, known as the angle of vanishing stability, at which the righting moment becomes zero. If capsized beyond that angle she will invert, and once inverted she will tend to remain inverted. What that angle is, and the shape of the stability curve over the full 360 degrees, depends on the particular hull form and on the ballast and on how the weight is distributed in the boat. Ideally it will be much larger than 90 degrees, i.e. the hull will have to be well on its way to inversion before losing its righting moment, but it varies considerably between different hull forms, and there are even some hull forms where it is less than 90 degrees. For example, shallow but beamy hulls are often initially very stiff, but once knocked down they can invert comparatively easily. A narrower hull may well
