Last summer, Yachting Magazine began a monthly series of articles focused on a second-hand 40ft Jeanneau Sun Fizz 40 ketch, which they referred to as their “Crash Test Boat.”   They proceeded to capsize the boat, dismast her, cut holes in her, set her on fire and finally to blow her up. The intent wasn’t doing damage for damage’s sake but to give viewers an idea of what can happen in a dire situation, how to react and potentially how to avoid it.  The episodes are both educational and scarily fun at the same time. After effectively destroying the boat – the LPG explosion did the trick – the “Crash Test Boat” made her final appearance at the London Boat Show in January.  There is even an Crash Test Boat iPad App.

Everything is well documented on the Yachting Magazine Youtube channel.  Here is one of my favorites.  After intentionally dismasting the boat while sailing in winds over 30 knots, they set about to rig a jury rig using materials available onboard.

Yachting Monthly’s Crash Test Boat Jury Rig

[iframe: width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/64l29uncetY” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen]

Thanks to Frank Hanavan for pointing out the videos.