I "sailed" my boat, when I first got her, from LA Harbor to San Diego solo.
I was determined to use sail only the whole way, but when I realized that
sail was powering me at 2-3 mph and my motor was powering me at 5-6 mph, my
mind quickly changed. I just didn't have the time to sit there for nearly a
week to try to get the boat down here.

I think that sailors use power as little as they can, but as little as they
can turns out to, unfortunately, be quite a bit of the time.



wrote in message
oups.com...
After reading hundreds of cruising logs, in-, near- and offshore, on
the net over the past several months, I have been struck by how often
and for how long cruising sailors report they are under engine power.
From what I have read, it would appear that sailors are under engine
power for something in the 80-90% range.

Why, then, have a sailboat? For the little time under sail and quiet?
Or is it a need to prove hardiness to oneself and to others?

On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 00:20:33 GMT, "Falky foo"
wrote:

I think that sailors use power as little as they can, but as little as they
can turns out to, unfortunately, be quite a bit of the time.

Exactly. You either have that time, or you don't.

Or you make that time because it is a better way of living.

Damn it, I'm channeling Moitessier again.

R.

rhys wrote:
On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 00:20:33 GMT, "Falky foo"
wrote:

I think that sailors use power as little as they can, but as little
as they
can turns out to, unfortunately, be quite a bit of the time.

Exactly. You either have that time, or you don't.

Or you make that time because it is a better way of living.

Damn it, I'm channeling Moitessier again.

R.

Sailing is good for those days when the wind is right and you really
have nowhere to go. However, I have found that when cruising, I have
to engine on over 75% of the time. Think about it. Around here (N.
Florida) we have wind over 5 kts about 60% of the time. A sailboat
cannot sail into +-45 degrees of the wind so that is only 75% she can
sail into. Most of us do not have enough time or patience doing long
tacks back and forth to get where we want to go so .6X.75=.45. So, you
will motor 55% of the time. If you count the amount of time the wind
is very light and the boat only goes about 3 kts under sail alone but
will go over 6 kts under sail and power, that accounts for the other
20%. This does not even count the times you are going down the ICW
because it is actually shorter than going on the outside and you really
cannot sail in the ditch due to its numerous turns and so many
drawbridges sailing is pointless (You really should drop your sails
going under drawbridges). So, in the ICW, I normally use the roller
furling jib only.
All of this argues that a motorsailor is the answer as it can motor and
sorta sail. However, it doesnt sail well enough to really get th
efeeling on those days when the wind is good and you are really going
nowhere. My solution to this problem was to take the old 6.5 hp Yanmar
1GM out of my 28' S2 and replace it with a 13 hp 2GM with 3 bladed prop
for better long term motoring but to keep sailing performance. Even
cruising under continuous power and sail, I burn very little fuel. I
actually considered a 3GM engine but decided it was too heavy and the
2GM was a direct replacement. It might have been better to replace
with a 2GM20 but one was not available.
In conclusion, I think most shorter distance sail cruisers probably
should realize they will motor most of the time and plan for it while
using sail whenever they can.

On Carlisle lake here in IL, there are several 20-25 ft sailboats that
go out in the evening when people get off work and want to relax.
sometimes almost no wind, but people will take their boat out with
small outboards or inboard diesel for a smooth cruise.

I know of one guy that has a nice sailboat and it doesn't even have a
mast on it.
he and his family seem to have just as much fun and relaxation as
anybody.

Tim

"Tim" wrote in
oups.com:

I know of one guy that has a nice sailboat and it doesn't even have a
mast on it.
he and his family seem to have just as much fun and relaxation as
anybody.

Tim



I know someone who bought a 40' dismasted sloop really cheap. The yard
tore off all the sailing equipment left and cut down the keel by about
half, increasing their load capacity by a lot! He installed a 4 cylinder
Yanmar in his new "trawler" and off they went in their shallow-draft
trawler. They still have it many years later.....(c;

He always tells everyone diesel fuel and engines are LOTS cheaper than new
sails and rigging!

Larry W4CSC wrote:
I know someone who bought a 40' dismasted sloop really cheap. The yard
tore off all the sailing equipment left and cut down the keel by about
half, increasing their load capacity by a lot! He installed a 4 cylinder
Yanmar in his new "trawler" and off they went in their shallow-draft
trawler. They still have it many years later.....(c;

He always tells everyone diesel fuel and engines are LOTS cheaper than new
sails and rigging!


I think I know that guy... are his initials MR and the boat named after
a popular children's storybook character? If so, that's a great
conversion.... a better looking & more practical boat as a trawler than
it was as a sailboat!

People ask us if it's much more expensive cruising in a trawler
(actually I prefer to call ours a "tugboat") buying all that fuel... the
truth is that it's one of our lowest line-item budget entries. Insurance
and dockage are much much more, and would cost just as much (or more)
for a sailboat.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

DSK wrote in
:

I think I know that guy... are his initials MR and the boat named after
a popular children's storybook character? If so, that's a great
conversion.... a better looking & more practical boat as a trawler than
it was as a sailboat!


Nope....JD and the boat's named after a computer part....(c;

Falky foo wrote:
I "sailed" my boat, when I first got her, from LA Harbor to San Diego
solo.
I was determined to use sail only the whole way, but when I realized
that
sail was powering me at 2-3 mph and my motor was powering me at 5-6
mph, my
mind quickly changed. I just didn't have the time to sit there for
nearly a
week to try to get the boat down here.

Let's see, it's about 75 miles from LA to San Diego, so sailing @ 2.5
knots would have gotten you there in about 30 hours, not nearly a week.
At 5 knots the trip would be 15 hours, so by motoring the whole way
you saved a half a day. Hopefully you'll "have the time" to enjoy
sailing that passage someday.

Sadly, your calculations are off. It's 100 miles straight. Jibing (the
wind was from the NW) makes it more like 120 miles at least, and that's if
you can steer a perfectly straight course. At 2.5 mph that's 48 hours of
sailing. 8 hours of actual sailing a day plus getting into/out of
anchorages/guest slips and eating lunch on the water, that's 6 days. 10
hours of sailing a day plus the above is nearly 5 days. I was the only one
on board and it was storming with 12 foot swells.. I wasn't going to be out
there more than 10 hours a day. With the motor it took 3 full days.

Thanks for your input.

I "sailed" my boat, when I first got her, from LA Harbor to
San Diego

OK, that's a SE heading.

sail was powering me at 2-3 mph

That's not too fast.

(the wind was from the NW)

So you were going dead downwind.

and it was storming with 12 foot swells.

So there was plenty of wind.

And you could only do 2-3 mph! Are you sure you had your
sails up?

dudley
..