Womack said a ship's captain sailing along with a comfortable deck angle might consult the chart to see, given his sail configuration, "what wind it would take to double the angle, put the deck under water or to knock you over."
The group's goal is to find ways to adapt or replicate what they have learned for other passenger sailing craft. And it's not yet clear whether what's been learned about the Pride II's behavior can be applied to other schooners, much less square-rigged ships and other types of vessels.
If not, performance data may have to be gathered individually for each vessel.
Miles said there may be factors common to various classes of sailing vessels that could speed the process. But for now, "we don't know that."
Womack said the work is "ongoing," and likely to take years.
The contributions of the Pride II seem especially appropriate given the fate of the original Pride. An unexpected "microburst" - a gust estimated at 70 knots [80 mph] - knocked the vessel down in the Atlantic north of Puerto Rico. The tragic capsizing remains a mystery to many.
"Sailors, me included, would not say that the sail area set for the average wind conditions they had, even if it gusted up to 70 knots, represents a capsize," Miles said. "But the facts speak for themselves, so there is an inherent disconnect at some point."
But while the sailing guidelines that will be produced by the effort - formally known as the Stability Letter Project - will never substitute for detailed, real-time weather information, they may help to solve the mystery of the sinking of the first Pride.
"We will be capable, through modeling, to indicate for a given sail area ... what would the increase in breeze have to be to ... knock the boat down," Miles said.
