189 
THE STABILITY OF ROWING AND SAILING 
BOATS. 
By THE Rev. E. M. REYNOLDS. 
(Read at Ambleside. ) 
There is a great deal of pleasure in sailing and rowing on our 
lakes, and there is also a little danger. The consciousness of this 
danger makes many people nervous, and robs them of their enjoy- 
ment ; others altogether disregard it, and run with a light heart 
risks which it is scarcely justifiable to encounter for the sake of 
pleasure alone. The object of this paper is to give a little inform- 
ation as to the safety of boats (for safety and stability are almost 
convertible terms), which may re-assure the timid, and, on the other 
hand, induce caution when caution is needed. 
/ The Stability of Boats is by no means a difficult subject. The 
~ calculations by which the stability of any particular vessel is 
ascertained are, it is true, long and laborious, but the principles 
on which they depend are simple, and may be mastered without 
, much trouble by any one of ordinary intelligence. Our rough 
notions of the stability of bodies on shore are immediately applic- 
able to the stability of bodies afloat. A broad base and considerable 
_ Weight are the essential qualities which give stability to bodies on 
‘shore, and breadth and weight are the main elements of the 
Stability of a boat. The laws which govern the stability of bodies 
are in fact the same under all circumstances ; and in order to a 
sufficient understanding of our subject, nothing further is required 
_ than that we should master the ideas conveyed by the terms Centre 
_ of Gravity, Couple, Arm of a Couple,—terms belonging to the 
