The Parts of a Sailboat: Free Online Sailing Lessons for Beginners

Video Transcript

"To start out with, what we want to do is introduce ourselves to the boat, the boat we’re going to be sailing on today is a Colgate 26, it’s 26 feet long, it weighs about 2600 pounds. 1000 pounds of that is in the keel, the keel is made out of lead and it sticks out of the bottom of the boat and that’s what keeps us from tipping over. Many new sailors when they first get on a sail boat are surprised that when the wind blows, the boat leans over a little bit and these boats will do that, however that keel that weighs a 1000 pounds will keep it from tipping all the way over. The Colgate 26 was designed for us, we conceived of it and designed it specifically for introducing new sailors to the sport of sailing because of that we got some extra safety features and some performance features on it that are not found on many boats. The first and most important safety feature of course is the idea that this boat can’t tip over, no matter how hard the wind blows. We also have positive flotation that means that if something did go wrong, this boat can’t sink. There’s solid metal rails around the boat which give new sailors a sense of security and are also handy for holding onto when the boat leans over. "