Steve writes:

Simon Brooke , wrote:

Steve writes:

If you know your colregs and basic
navigation, you'll get through the exam without difficulty. If you
don't, I don't much want you on the water in a powerful boat, with or
without a certificate.

Define "powerful".

More than four horsepower.

If you don't want to get one, stick to hiring low-powered boats.

25hp on open seas is not "low powered", it's dismall and probably
unsafe.

Don't be ****ing ridiculous! My 26 foot ocean capable boat has 8
horsepower, and is grossly overpowered - half throttle is ten knots
and anything over half throttle she just squats. Four would be
adequate in all conditions, and with a good inboard installation and a
good prop two horsepower could probably drive her at hull speed. My
father's similar 22 foot boat forty years ago had two horsepower and
it was never not powerful enough.

Perhaps the Greeks rebadge their outboards then g, and I was
conned into paying for a 25hp when in fact it was a 0.25hp. lol.

Seriously though, perhaps the engine's torque figures make a
difference, or the propeller size, etc?

Of course they do. Bigger, slower turning propellors tend to get
better grip on the water at displacement speeds and consequently
transfer more thrust. There's physics to this which I confess I don't
know, but certainly most modern outboards are not propped to power
displacement boats - you need a special propellor and sometimes a
special gearbox as well. But most of the outboard makers seem to sell
'sail' versions of their outboards, which basically means 'propped for
displacement hulls'.

If you think you can't go into open water with less than 25 horse
power, you aren't safe to go into open water at all.

That's not quite what I said, I'll explain further.
www.skiathosinfo.com/islandmap.htm
I hired a 40hp boat from a place in the bay to the South called
"Vasillias" which is indicated on the map. The island had winds
coming in from the North so I was advised to remain within two
points at either side, from Krasa to the west and the Is Arkos to
the east.

Please don't think this is snide.

If you experience this sort of difficulties at your level of skill,
don't you think a course in boat handling would actually be useful to
you? You're perfectly right, closing a lee shore in a rising wind with
a dirty slop running is dangerous, and can lead to loss of life.

Once re-started, I managed to keep my family as forward as
possible and alternate between backing off throttle but
maintaining some speed up the swell and then accelerating down
the other side. Eventually I brought us 'behind' the shelter
offered by the two small islands (Mikri Tsougria and Megati
Tsougria) at which point the sea was more or less dead calm
again.

Getting into the shelter of the off-lying islands is probably what you
should have done in the first place. As you found, conditions will be
a lot less difficult under the lee of the land, and you can either get
ashore there or ride out the blow.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

'Victories are not solutions.'
;; John Hume, Northern Irish politician, on Radio Scotland 1/2/95
;; Nobel Peace Prize laureate 1998; few have deserved it so much