On Sun, 21 Aug 2005 12:09:43 -0400, "Armond Perretta"
wrote:

What seems to happen to many folks is that they somehow forget to include
the hours used for picking up the anchor, coming alongside, fetching fuel,
moving around the anchorage, making that final long entry into and out of
the harbor, etc. When the _real_ numbers are examined, the hours add up
to surprisingly large totals. BTW, I am talking specifically about along
shore passages rather than an offshore leg of several days duration.

The question also becomes one of what are you trying to measure? The
percentage that matters to me is how much of the time am I motoring
when I would rather be sailing? The answer is still too big a number,
of course.

Also, a lot of the incidental engine hours are low load, low fuel
consumption and low noise, so they don't add as much wear and tear on
the engine, the budget or the crew.

I've put on about 1500 miles this summer, with a good chunk more
needed to get the boat home. I think the mix of power to sail has been
similar on both longer passages and short days. We encountered
entirely too much flat water out in the middle of the Lakes and are
eager enough to hoist sail at just about every opportunity.

Ryk