SLEIPNER'S NEW FINS

If you're looking for extra comfort at sea Sleipner's electric-powered radically curved Vector Fins could be a game-changer

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The central task for any stabilising system is to make conditions on your boat more comfortable by reducing the likelihood of seasickness and that's not quite the subjective issue you might imagine. Assessing the probability of seasickness involves a data-driven analysis based on the human body's average response to movement - or more accurately to acceleration. That comes in various forms as a boat moves on the water, including pitch, yaw, sway, surge and heave. But it's roll (side-to-side rotation) that is most critical to how you and your guests feel.

The centre of roll is of course quite low down, somewhere between a boat's centre of gravity and centre of buoyancy, so it stands to reason that you will experience greater movement on the flybridge than in the saloon. But by evaluating the average roll angle (in degrees) and the average roll period (in seconds), stabiliser manufacturers are able to judge with good accuracy the proportion of people who would be likely to suffer from seasickness in any given set of conditions. And by measuring those parameters in real time on board a test platform, with the stabilisers off and then on, they can also measure in percentage terms the effectiveness of their stabilising systems in reducing that figure.

THIRD-GEN VECTOR FINS