Prestige 500, User Manual

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10
Design categories
CATEGORY A
The boat is designed for sailing in winds that may exceed force 8 on the Beau-
fort Scale and in waves of a signifi cant height of 4m and more and the boat is
to a large extent self-suffi cient.
Unusual conditions such as hurricanes are excluded.
You may meet with such conditions when you sail long crossings, for instance
across the oceans, or close to the shore when you are not protected from the
wind or waves over several hundreds of nautical miles.
CATEGORY B
The boat is designed for sailing in winds that do not exceed force 8 on the
Beaufort Scale and in the corresponding waves (waves of a signifi cant height
inferior or equal to 4m).
You may meet with such conditions when you sail offshore or close to the
shore when you are not protected from the wind or waves over several dozens
of nautical miles. You may also meet with such conditions in inland seas of a
suffi cient size to be able to give the wave height in question.
CATEGORY C
The boat is designed for sailing in winds that do not exceed force 6 on the
Beaufort Scale and in the corresponding waves (waves of a signifi cant height
inferior or equal to 2m).
You may meet with such conditions in exposed inland waters, in estuaries and
in coastal waters with mild weather conditions.
CATEGORY D
The boat is designed for sailing in winds that do not exceed force 4 on the
Beaufort Scale and in the corresponding waves (occasional 0.5m high waves
at a maximum).
You may meet with such conditions in sheltered inland waters and in coastal
waters in fi ne weather.
NOTE :
The signifi cant height of a wave is the average height of the upper third of the
waves; this corresponds more or less to the height of a wave an experienced
observer can assess.
Some waves will be twice as high as this value.