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A team at the 2005 ISAF Team Racing World Championship narrowly avoids capsizing.

The common definition for capsized refers to when a boat or ship is tipped over until inverted. The act of reversing a capsized vessel is called righting.

In sailboat racing, a capsized boat has certain special rights, as it cannot manouvre. A boat is deemed capsized when the mast is touching the water, rather than when it has fully turned turtle. Good racers can often recover from a capsize with minimal loss of time.

If a capsized vessel has sufficient floatation to prevent sinking, it may recover on its own ('self-righting') if the stability is such that it is not stable inverted. Small dinghies often capsize in the normal course of use and can normally be recovered by the crew. Some types of dingy are occasionally deliberately capsized as it can be the fastest means of draining water from the boat.

In a storm, even a large vessel may be rolled by being hit broadside by a large wave, or pitchpoled stem over stern in extreme waves. This is normally catastrophic leading to dismasting due to the drag on the rigging as the boat rolls in a yacht, through to outright sinking and massive loss of life in a ship. Among ship types, the RORO is more prone to capsize due to a design feature of that class of ferry: large open car decks near to the water line.

A capsized kayak may be righted with an eskimo roll.

A Motor life boat is designed to be self righting if capsized, but most other motorboats are not.

An intermediate sailor is recommended to capsize their dinghy in a safe location with supervision, at least once to become acquainted with their boat's floating properties. The boat should then be righted, bailed out, and the sails reset, so that in the event of an uncontrolled capsize, the boat and its occupants are familiar with the procedure and may self recover.

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• SMS Szent István, 1918, Austro-Hungarian capital warship, torpedoed, 89 dead.
• Yamato, 7 April 1945, 2,475 dead.
• Herald of Free Enterprise, 6 March 1987, killing 193 passengers.
• Jan Heweliusz, 14 January 1993, leaving 54 people dead.
• Estonia, 28 September 1994, killing 852 passengers.
• La Joola 26 September 2002, Senegalese ferry, at least 1,863 dead
• SS Normandie aka USS Lafayette 9 February 1942, No casualties

• Capsize formula for displacement sailboats.