Scott,
Me thinks that you don't give your boat enough credit. I remember a
few years ago in Passagemaker Magazine, a retired pilot described
going through a knock down in a 48' Krogen Whaleback. I don't think
the knock down was more than about 70 or 80 degrees; but aside from
being scared, not much happened. Ironically, I think the name of the
boat was the Wright Whale. I don't know what the A/B ratio of the
Whaleback is, but for the 48' North Sea, it is 2.6 and the Whaleback
is sure to be higher.
The A/B ratio for your boat is 2.3 (the same as the N46), lower and
probably more stable than the Krogen. The A/B ratio for the N50 is
2.1, the lowest of the Nordhavn fleet. When I bought my N50 seven
years ago, Ray Danet (who now runs the East Coast office for PAE) had
access to more information that indicated that the N50 would be self
righting in all positions except within about 20 degrees (or so) of
being completely inverted.
The bottom line here is that I think ANY of these ocean going boats
that we're talking about are probably far more capable of
withstanding harsh conditions, be it a knock down or even a rollover,
than their occupants or contents.
Phil Eslinger
Flat Earth N50