BoatBanter.com - View Single Post - Rough estimates of miles per day sailing...

Roger Long

wrote:
...
Those seem like reasonable numbers to me, but be aware that the
variances might be quite high. Nothing is for sure with a sail boat.

Caution is certainly warranted on some routes. There have been cases of
people looking at the spectacular runs made by clipper ships on some
southern routes and planning accordingly. Turns out that the weather
systems are dominated by large lows with long periods of mild weather
between. The big, fast clippers would hook into a low and ride it for
hundreds of miles. At 15 plus knots, they would stay in the winds for a
long time.

The small yacht gets the **** beat out of it while hunkered down for a few
days and then experiences days of light winds and left over sea before
having to heave to and get the **** beat out of it again, and again, and
again. Some nearly starved.

--
Roger Long