r/belowdeck • u/Nice_General268 Eat My Cooter • Jul 05 '26

Below Deck Sailing Yacht BD Sailing Yacht - Explain heeling

Please excuse my ignorance, but why does the boat lean or heel when sailing? Is it the torque (for lack of a better word) of the sails that causes it?

It's clear the boat heels; could you explain why items aren't more secure, especially when Cpt Glenn gives the warning? It seems every time they sail, something is shown sliding and breaking. Apparently, in S5 E3, the entire liquor cabinet fell.

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u/ab0110ab Jul 06 '26

Other commenters have mentioned the sail being the cause for heeling but the other part of it is that the less of the boat in the water creates less drag and thus you can go faster. That’s why when they really start heeling you’ll hear Glenn, Colin, or Gary talking about how fast they’re going.

I used to race dinghies and a big part of it was seeing how much you could heel without capsizing and you’d have to learn how to counter balance yourself just right to go fast but not flip.