Masthead Bouyancy

If boats were just designed with much less buoyancy off the centreline they'd float lower on their sides when capsized with lots of hull immersed, and

a) drift much more slowly,

b) allow you to climb on the c'board more easily, and

c) have less tendency (or need) to invert.

Open transom?

Getting on the plate/board of a high floating ( on their side) dinghy from the water is very hard, especially after a  swim and after a long, hard race.   Inverting the boat, pretty much stops the drift and most importantly, allows one crew member to clamber on board the upturned hull, grab the plate and ride the board from inverted to on its side.   It also gives the other crew time to lock on to the leeward shroud as the boat comes up. 

Modern boats with double bottoms all float high on their side and some older boats do so, such as Tasars with big side tanks.  Even Larks have been "improved"  with bigger tanks and float higher.   Add sealed masts or floatation equipment into the equation and capsizing in a big wind at sea is bad news.

I can't believe seeing "novices" using mast head floats on their RS700s etc and heading off to sea to practice alone.

If Bethwaite states  that  inverting is for safety, then we should listen very carefully.  I for one are in complete agreement and that is from someone who falls asleep at H & S briefings

Not if you have hull-bottom-depth foot wells for the boat's crew, which reduce the buoyancy in the capsized condition. A couple of bailers very quickly get rid of the water in the wells when upright and underway, aided by the flotation provided by the surrounding double-bottom.

A real bonus of this arrangement is that the crew members have their feet low during manoeuvres, greatly aiding stability and ease of just standing up, not to mention making it easy to get under a lower boom; the Fireball benefits from this aspect when the wind's honking. Not so good for running from wire to wire on skiffy boats, obviously, but we don't all sail those boats (or run across them if we do!)

On the Vortex I ended up tying a snap-shackle to the end of the mainsheet and attaching it to the spreader bar on my harness. I used a snap shackle for safety as I wanted quick-release in an emergency. It's a boat that floats high and has a large windage on its side. I found that helped a lot.

Still confused Jim. I can see your point re a Moth but are you saying that both you and your crew/helm were thrown 20 yds from the Cherub? The person left behind generally acts as a pretty good sea-anchor. We have had some pretty violent pitchpoles on the Hurricane at 20+ kts but we have never had a case when we have both ended up seperated from the boat. Cats blow away faster than most but cat masts are sealed to slow inversion. Anyone who has tried to bring a Hurricane59 back from a turtle will know the effort involved.

From memory the Stratos has an open transom but also has "flood tanks"which enable the boat to sit lower in the water when on its side. The idea being that it would be easier to climb onto a lower centerboard. As soon as the boat is righted the water drains from these tanks into the cockpit and out the back.