Design Categories - Bella 530 HT Owner's Manual

20. Design categories

Design categories are as follows:
Category A
: This craft is designed to be used in conditions in which wind forces may exceed 8 on the
Beaufort scale (ca. 21 m/s) and waves may be 4 m high. In these conditions, category A vessels are
largely self-sufficient. Abnormal conditions such as hurricanes are excluded. The conditions described
may be encountered on extended voyages, for example across oceans, or on coastal waters for
several hundred nautical miles.
Category B
: This craft is designed to be used in conditions in which wind forces are up to 8 on the
Beaufort scale (ca. 21 m/s) and waves may be up to 4 m high (see note below). Such conditions may
be encountered on offshore voyages of sufficient length or on coastal waters, for several dozens of
nautical miles. These conditions may also occur on lakes of sufficient size for 4 m waves to be created.
Category C
: This craft is designed to be used in conditions in which wind forces are up to 6 on the
Beaufort scale (ca. 14 m/s) and waves may be up to 2 m high (see note below). Such conditions may
be encountered on open lakes, in river deltas, and in coastal waters in moderate weather conditions.
Category D
: This craft is designed to be used in conditions in which wind forces are up to 4 on the
Beaufort scale (ca. 8 m/s) and waves may be up to 0.3 m high (or occasional bigger waves of 0.5 m).
Such conditions may be encountered on sheltered lakes and in coastal waters in fine weather.
Wave height is the mean height of the highest one third of the waves, which
approximately corresponds to the wave height estimated by an experienced observer.
Some waves may be double this height.
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CAUTION!