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wrote in
oups.com:

Assume you can sail into 270 degrees of the 360. Assume (based on my
experience) you only have useful amounts of wind 50% of the time. This
means that 75% of the time, you cannot sail directly where you want to
go. Hence engines.

No, "Hence tacking!". Sail a day close hauled, tack, then half a day
hauling ass into where you want to go, the handrail dragging in the water
if you can get it with the wind on the beam. You're supposed to arrive
looking like you've been in a battle with the sea and wind, sore and
sunburned....not smelling like a train mechanic...(c;

Ergo, the best cruising boat is a motorsailor.

It depends on your definition of "cruising", I suppose.....

What never ceases to amaze me is the number of people-in-too-much-of-a-
hurry buy SAILboats....or boats at all! We just HAVE to "get there" in 4
days. "Why?", I usually ask. Some of the finest time I've ever spent at
sea was when there wasn't enough wind to even make the genoa wiggle, the
sea flat as a tabletop. How utterly RESTFUL! The whole damned world
revolves around the center of the keel on THAT boat, at THAT moment,
the world eating away at itself, killing itself.

We were becalmed about 50 miles out coming in from I forget where. Two
fishermen in a center console with two huge outboards stopped by to ask if
we were in trouble. That was really nice of them. We offered a bit of
lunch and a little libation, everything hanging limp from the masts. What
a great afternoon we had! They brought a nice catch of Red Snapper. We
had a fine wine that complimented it, perfectly, along with the most
wonderful side dishes from our larder. I washed the dishes and put it all
away, including a little more fish delicacies for later into the fridge,
while the rest were laying around up on deck wondering aloud who it was
that brought this wonderful mixture of power and sail crews to this
particular point on the Atlantic at this perfect time.

Ah, to nap in the offshore sun, you belly full of Atlantis' most wonderful
offerings with the vintner's best.....

Why the hell would we want to go ASHORE!

What a silly idea.....Even the powerboaters agreed!

The wind freshened about 7 hours later and we got home around 2AM, wishing
we'd never pulled that main back out of the mast.

Noone should ever set foot on a sailboat that has to "be somewhere". It
sure ruins it for the rest of us aboard...