"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:37:22 GMT, (Richard
Casady) wrote:
If water is being discharged in the spot where
most boats would assume is where an engine discharges water, then the
logical conclusion would be that my engine is engaged.
The logical conclusion is that a pump is running.
Casady
Right.. but most people would associate that with the engine, especially
if
it's pretty constant and puffing steam from time to time.
I too would go by the steam and conclude an engine is running, true
enough.
Whether or not a sailboat is "sailing" or under power is a judgement
call and has nothing to do with exhaust or water flow. The boat is
probably under power if:
- It is going dead into the wind with sails luffing for some extended
period of time.
- It is making good speed in light air with only the mainsail up.
For the purposes of collision avoidance the boat has to be treated as
under sail regardless, but if I believe a boat is under power I'll
stand on as long as prudent and use horn signals or a radio call if
intentions are unclear.
The real fun starts when a sailboat clearly under power suddenly
alters course and starts to cross your bow from the port side. It
happens more often than you'd think. If admonished, more often than
not the sailboat will repond with a burst of profanity directed
towards power boaters in general.
Actually, it doesn't happen more than I think. :-) Happens all the time. No
point in profanity, since they may not be able to hear, but the finger
works.
I think the key issue is collision avoidance and causing confusion, both of
which need to be avoided/prevented.
As Salty rightly pointed out, if you do something that causes an "emergency"
maneauver, then you're not doing something right.
But, I don't think that was the original diversion in the capsize thread.
(Of course, it was so long ago, that who knows.) I believe we were talking
about propelling vs. engagement of the engine.
When I have the engine on, I consider it to be engaged, mainly because I can
engage it immediately. I don't run the engine if I'm really under sail and
moving nicely, unless there's some extenuating circumstance, e.g., I want to
slow the boat down while I student reefs under sail. Engine in reverse with
low Rs works nicely for this. There are other situations, of course.
--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com