STABILITY GUIDANCE BOOKLET FOR SAILING VESSELS

This is a guidance published by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, or MCA for short, with the intention to give the Masters and watchkeeping officers of the sailing vessels with the brief instructions to be followed. The content and arrangement of the material is more or less similar to the ones applied in the Stability Guidance Booklet for Powered Vessels, also released by the MCA.

The volume was developed jointly by the MCA and contributors representing the world respected entities, such as the RINA, RYA, The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and others. Of course, it shall be noted and remembered that the ultimate responsibility for all actions taken rests with the Master at all times, but the information contained in this small volume will provide the ready-to-use checklists and other supplementary tools, saving time that would otherwise been wasted for searching.

We would strongly recommend having an electronic copy of this publication and, moreover, to print it out and have it readily available on board any sailing vessel for ready reference whenever required. The instructions are clear and informative, and the illustrations make it even easier to understand the material.