Quick question “what if?”

[SoWhat]

some have written back off starboard throttle (which implies port side drive turning the boat to starboard)
some wrote turn opposite....which I'll assume is to starboard

but if healing to port....wouldn't turning to starboard bury the port rail even deeper? (unless the boat is on plane?)

My reaction would likely be to back off all throttles
but i wonder....could it be that this is the wrong action....much like backing of the throttle when in the road if you have a blow-out with one of your tires?

A malfunctioning autopilot or loss of port prop propulsion could result in an sharp port turn at excessive speed resulting in severe list if boat turned into beam sea.

Backing off throttles should slow rate of turn. Autopilot would be most likely culprit so putting it in standby and turning wheel would be first response.

We are trained to turn into a skid in the automotive world but that doesn't always translate in boating. Stability and staying out of beam seas is important so the direction of turn is variable but first you have to stop the turn by slowing down.

As long as the doors are closed a boat should be able to shed water from a buried rail but I have to admit my scuppers are severely undersized.

IN the aviation world pilots continually train for engine out procedures and inadvertent stalls. I presume commercial pilots are constantly thrown unlikely scenarios in the sim but nothing remotely similar for boaters. We are left to rely upon instinct.

 

[DDW]

A collision with a semi-submerged container (there are thousands out there) or a whale would give you the sudden heel. But you'd come back again quickly, and then start sinking. Both of these possibilities have happened many times to people. Mostly on sailboats because it is mostly sailboats out that far. Some of the boats struck by whales have sunk in under a minute, but usually longer.

Just springing a leak, even a plank on a wood boat, is unlikely to result in much heel or list. The water that comes in doesn't favor port or starboard.