These floats are commonly used by cruising sailors,  but only rarely by racers.

The 9-litre float is a very good compromise for experienced and competent sailors.   It is not sufficient to prevent inversion,  but it is intended to slow it down,  which buys time in which the competent and experienced skipper can take the necessary action to arrest the rotation,  and right the boat.   Certainly in my own case,  on the only two occasions when I capsized using such a float,  there was no question of inversion;   but then there might perhaps not have been anyway because on both occasions I did a “dry capsize” in which I stepped onto the centreboard as the mast hit the water.    However there was a third capsize,  a bad one,  when I had lent the boat to a friend;   because his crew was becoming hypothermic he and his crew were recovered by the lifeboat,  and I was then ferried out to recover the boat,  which was still floating on her side.

I have also seen a small number of capsizes of other boats in the cruising fleet,  normally using these floats,  and normally without inversion.    I have only once seen one of them invert;   that skipper was single-handed,  the stability of the boat once capsized was compromised by the weight of an outboard motor,  and the capsize occurred in wholly exceptional conditions,  an unforecast  force 8 (independently documented,  and on a forecast of only force 3) when pushed by a rogue wave into a gybe situation in the overfalls off an exposed Anglesey headland.   But despite utterly horrendous conditions which would have had me struggling had I been in the same predicament he managed to recover his boat from inversion,  right her,  and resume sailing.   His righting lines undoubtedly helped there,  but I think it likely that so did the masthead float.

It is vitally important to take down the float when you have finished sailing,  in order to avoid chafe;   I discovered the hard way that if it is left permanently aloft it has a lifetime of no more than one season before it becomes too porous to hold air.    Its successor,  of the same make and model,   used every time I sailed but removed every time I came ashore,  has lasted over ten years to date,  and so far as I am aware it is still airtight.   Therefore you need it hoisted and lowered on a halliard,  and it is worth devising a halliard system which will secure it at the bottom as well as the top in order to keep it close to the mast at all times.   The system which I devised is shown in the document “Suitability for Cruising & Single-handing”,  available in the Members’ Area of this site,  pages 6 and 7.

For inexperienced skippers the 40-litre float intended for use in training establishments may perhaps be more suitable,  as that is intended to largely prevent inversion.

Hope this helps,

Oliver

There is another aspect to the question,  and I note that you are currently debating the question;   the RYA “considerate and conservative” approach.     As I understand the latter,  and I stress this is without having studied it in detail,  the thinking there is the avoidance of any risk of requiring external rescue services (e.g. RNLI,  etc.)    As an inland club,  surely you yourselves would provide safety cover,  and in the event of an emergency you would not be requiring lifeboat attendance anyway;   indeed the only way they could reach you would be by road,  from a considerable distance away,  so their involvement would normally be impracticable.   The question then comes down to the impossibility of social distancing during the rescue by your own safety boat/s,   but at least it would be outdoors,  so the risk would perhaps be thought to be low.    That is something which you will need to assess (and keep under review) in the context of a continuously evolving situation;    the answer may perhaps be NO at the present time,  but could well change in another week or two.

For what it is worth,  my own club (on the intensely tidal Mersey) have ruled that for the time being no safety boats will be provided,  and that boats may sail provided a number of conditions are all satisfied:

• each boat must be sailed either single-handed or by exclusively members of the same household
• boats must sail in groups of at least two,  which must be of the same type (e.g. two GP14s,  two kayaks,  two fishing boats,  or whatever)
• boats within such a group must keep in company,  and assist each other in case of emergency
• all boats must carry marine VHF radio

Carrying VHF is a permanent club recommendation anyway,  but while the current emergency arrangements are in place it is mandatory;   and we do not normally provide a safety boat for operations other than racing or training.

My oldest sailing friend is Rear Commodore of Restronguet SC,  and he tells me that they are also allowing some sailing,  but with restrictions,  and that their decisions are different from ours.   That seems entirely reasonable,  and your decisions may reasonably be different again;   each club will need to make their own decisions in the light of the type of sailing they do and their local situation and conditions.

Hope this helps,

Oliver

Hi jaldiman,

To add to the discussion, I asked a marine chandler the question, and the reply was as follows

“Hi The most popular size is the biggest we supply the 40litre. https://www.sailboats.co.uk/crewsaver-mast-floats-40-litre Even this will still not prevent the mast inverting. But it will give you the longest time to get on the centreboard. This is used by all sailing schools. Kind regards Sales”

Certainly when I have been on custom dinghy sailing holidays (Minorca Sailing) over many years, the 40 Litre masthead float is used on RS200/400 etc., and I have seen many capsizes but never seen one invert with the float!

Hope that helps

Chris