Wayfarer 5811 made a point about using separate compartments that would hold water, as well as the air filled ones….
About 30 yrs ago or so, a Fireball trainer was designed called a Bullett. This was designed for 12-20yr olds, and had lots of built-in buoyancy – fore, aft and under the decks. The effects of too much buoyancy were discovered during testing, so it was designed with holes (about an inch by 4 ins) in the buoyancy tanks.
Basically, if you capsized, jumped onto the plate, righted the boat and sailed on – then the holes were small enough to not let in too much water.
But if you capsized and didn’t get straight on with the righting, then the holes gradually filled the side buoyancy tanks with water: thus lowering the boat in the water, making it easier to climb onto the board, and providing a balance to your weight when the boat came upright again.
(Once upright, another hole near the bottom of the tank let the water out of the tank into the boat, ready for sailing out of the bailers).
The idea was to get the benefit of lots of buoyancy when needed, and not too much when it wasn’t useful.
Did the idea work? No idea – but have you ever come across a Bullett? 🙂