Introducing the hull

The hull provides a volume to house accommodation, machinery, supplies, and cargo. It has to be seaworthy enough for the routes the yacht will sail and provide the lowest possible resistance to forward movement. It has to resist the heeling forces generated by the wind’s interaction with the sails and have a large resistance to sideways movement to reduce the sideways drift to leeward of the desired course. The hull determines most of the yachts’ main attributes: stability, resistance, seaworthiness, maneuverability, and load-carrying capacity.