MOVABLE BALLAST WEIGHT FOR SAILING SHIPS

Description

Conventional sailing ships have a keel with a ballast weight which counteracts the listing of the ship. The disadvantage thereof is that the righting torque of the keel weight occurs only after a specific tilt of the ship, which in turn means a loss of efficiency of the sail and thus a loss of speed. Furthermore, the conventional keel weight must have a very large mass since the weight force thereof under water is significantly reduced because of buoyancy. The novel flexible ballast weight according to the invention solves this problem by mounting said ballast weight on both side walls above the waterline and by shifting said ballast weight to the windward side of the ship via a connecting brace by means of a gear drive. This design allows a significantly lower mass of the flexible ballast weight compared to the conventional keel weight because of the greater weight above water, which in turn means a total displacement of the ship, and thus higher speed. In addition, the listing forces of the ship can be more quickly equalized by early shifting of the ballast weight onto the windward side compared to conventional keel ships, which makes possible a more upright sailing and thus a higher speed.