THE PBO SOLUTION

If you have a spare £22,000, you could buy the smallest of the Seakeeper gyro stabilisers. This remarkably compact unit runs off 12V, and a quiet electric motor spins the gyro at 500mph in a vacuum. As PBO discovered, it really does almost eliminate the roll, replacing it with a suppressed bobbing motion instead.

Gyro’s and fins aside, there are many ways to make your boat more stable both underway and at anchor. First, bring the weight out of the ends as much as possible by stowing the anchor chain further aft, as this will reduce the pitching motion. At anchor, a simple flopper-stopper will dampen rolling. Also, rig a small staysail aft to keep your boat pointed into the wind at anchor.

On a motorboat, reduce top hamper as much as possible to lower the centre of gravity. Motorboats can also use trim tabs and power trim to bring the nose down and counteract any lean into the wind for a smoother ride.

if you haven’t got £22,000 for a gyro stabiliser, you can probably make a ‘flopper stopper’ instead from scraps of rope, lead and plywood. See pbo.co.uk for how to make one