[davejohnclark]

>I thought the keel only needed to be down when they were something like 70 knots out at sea

60 nautical miles out to sea according to a write up by a former captain of the yacht (https://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/2024/08/27/former-bayesia...)

>One section of the Bayesian Stability book related to the use of the moveable keel… and defines when it must be lowered. In this vessel’s case it was required to be lowered when using sails, and/ or when over 60 nautical miles offshore (regardless of whether sailing or only using engines). At all other times, it could be in the raised position.

Perhaps interesting for people, 'knots' is actually a measure of speed rather than distance and relates to the practice of counting how many knots in a line (rope) went over the stern of the boat during a certain time, giving the speed of the boat relative to the water (https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/knots-measuring-speed-s...)

Edit: typos

[krisoft]

> 'knots' is actually a measure of speed

Absolutely right. My first interpretation of that "something like 70 knots out at sea" was that it is the purported limit speed over which they must lower their keel. But that interpretation would be... improbable to say the least.

70 knots (~130 km/h, ~80 m/h) is ridiculously fast for a sailing ship.

I just checked and the fastest ever instantaneous speed reported by a sailing ship is lower than 70 knots. (68.33 knots to be precise)

[Theodores]

I felt that I had misspoke with 'knots'! I only know miles, but miles are a land thing and I knew they used something else on the water. Should have checked sources!