Turtling (sailing)

This article is about sailing. For other uses of the term, see Turtle (disambiguation).

In dinghy sailing, a boat is said to be turtling or to turn turtle when the boat is fully inverted with the mast pointing down to the seabed. The name stems from the appearance of the upside-down boat, similar to the shell of a sea turtle. The term can be applied to any vessel; turning turtle is less frequent but more dangerous on ships than on smaller boats.

Turtling commonly occurs when a boat capsizes and is not righted or attended to in time, allowing it roll through the approximately 90 degrees of a capsize through to 180 degrees.

References

Jobson, Gary; American Sailing Association, US Coast Guard Auxiliary (2005). Sailing Fundamentals. New York: Simon and Schuster. pp. 192–194. ISBN 978-0-7432-7308-4. 

Colgate, Stephen (1978). Fundamentals of Sailing, Cruising, & Racing. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 97–100. ISBN 0-393-03811-4.