Skipper Wilson had a noisy night yesterday. Around midnight, the boat started making a new noise—an unexpected one. The sound resembled a high-pitched vibration, maybe similar to a mixer on its highest setting.

Skipper Wilson and his boat repair person in Maine talked on the telephone and they think that the sound may have been caused by a piece of the fairing breaking off. The fairing is a covering placed on the bottom of the boat to help the water move around the hinge that attaches the keel to the hull. In the picture to the right, you can see the hull (the raft-like portion of the boat) of the Great American III. The keel is the big orange part sticking out under the hull. On Open 60s, the keel is particularly long to help the boat stay upright. The two fairings are half-cone-shaped pieces that go around the keel in front and in back where it attaches to the hull. You can also get an idea of the different parts of the hull by looking here.

The fairing isn’t a necessary part of the boat, so it’s not a big deal if parts of it come off. Noises are always important to investigate, though, because they could be a sign of something wrong.

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