"Bill Kearney" wrote in
t:

Every time you go sailing in the Catalina, start a stopwatch

If all you want is the journey that's fine. But if you actually want
to get somewhere and not have it take all morning/afternoon/days at a
time, then there's little use for sailing. Sure, you're not spending
it on fuel, but for many people their time's valuable and they don't
want to spend it futzing with lines and sails.



If you "want to get somewhere and not have to take all
morning/afternoon/days at a time", you need a PLANE, or maybe a
motorhome, not a boat. All boats under 100 gallons per hour are slower
than hell!

Hilton Hotels are cheaper than driving a power boat to Y, paying to dock
it or living like a hermit, then driving it back at $4.20/gallon. The
food's better and so isn't the service....not to mention not having to
walk down the dock or dingy ashore in the pouring rain.....

I thought boating was all about the journey (well, and the sea stories).
God I hate to go sailing with anyone aboard who has to "be somewhere" at
a certain day. Ruins the whole trip.

We got becalmed 90 miles S of Charleston. There wasn't enough air moving
to even make a hanky move. Cap'n Geoffrey asks me what to do. "I'm
going to take a nap before dinner.", was my response. "What about the
wind?", he continued. "Have the watch wake me if it ever comes back."
The ocean was as smooth as glass, just west of the western edge of the
Stream we had been sailing all night in with a nice breeze over 14 knots
SOG. "It'll come back, some day. I'll be rested up by then. I have to
be back by next month to pay the bills.", I said to the group as I
unrolled my sleeping sack in the v-berth. 6 hours later, the adrenaline
addicts got too antsy and Cap'n Geoffrey started the engine. That was
the end of the Gulfstreamer Race to Charleston for Lionheart. Pity, with
our huge handicap on the "Slow Boat to Nowhere", we might have come in
very high up the cruiser class....

We had plenty of food and booze aboard. Man what a beautiful calm day of
rest gone to waste. Americans are in too much of a damned hurry!

--
There's amazing intelligence in the Universe.
You can tell because none of them ever called Earth.

Have no use for a blow boat. Power is the way to go. I go when I want, not
when the wind decides to blow enough to move the boat. I can get where I am
going, do what I want and be back before the blow boaters would even get
there. I do it in air-conditioned comfort, with plenty of power to run the
flat screen TV's and DVD players and the two reefers..got to keep the
beverages cold..g.

For you, laying around is fine, for me it is getting where I want to go,
doing what I want to do and get back.

Oh, btw...35 mph is not too slow for me, and I use about 45 gals per hour to
do it. So it can be done on less than 100 gph.


"Larry" wrote in message
...



If you "want to get somewhere and not have to take all
morning/afternoon/days at a time", you need a PLANE, or maybe a
motorhome, not a boat. All boats under 100 gallons per hour are slower
than hell!

It's not about cost. It's about enjoying the time you have available.

God I hate to go sailing with anyone aboard who has to "be somewhere" at
a certain day. Ruins the whole trip.

Uh yeah, because YOU CAN'T BE SOMEWHERE with any sort of predictability.
Quite a lot of folks don't have the leisure of gambling with how much travel
time it'll take to go boating. I'm all for the idea of sailing, bravo to
those that like it, but it's quite obviously not the right choice for
everyone.

Bill Kearney wrote:
Quite a lot of folks don't have the leisure of gambling with how much travel
time it'll take to go boating.

Quite a lot of folks lead lives of quiet desperation.

Is there something wrong with having some patience, and some
awareness that the rest of the universe is hurrying along in
it's own way?


I'm all for the idea of sailing, bravo to
those that like it, but it's quite obviously not the right choice for
everyone.


True. Relatively few people have the intelligence to learn
how, much less the patience to give it a chance.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

Well, you all have hit just about every item on my pro and con list
which covers a full page for each pro and con.

I am still mourning the move from sailing. I grew up on power boats
and when I was old enough to buy my own boat it was a sailboat. If it
were up to me and time was unlimited, it would still be a sailboat.
But ...

Ironically, the wife and the daughter are having an awful time with
heeling. My son, well he wants to go fast. My son needs to learn the
finer things in life too but I struggle with watching the pain on my
daughter's face at the mere prospect of putting up the genoa.

As for the fuel, we spend about 50% of the time at the dock. We travel
to an anchorage about 10nm away to spend weekends. The winds never
work out so we motor or motor sail on most trips -. I wish I could
convince my crew of the fun of "just going sailing" but in 5 years it
hasn't worked. Nevertheless, I burn about 1-2 gallons of fuel each way
with the Sailboat and spend about 90 minutes enroute at 5-6 kts. While
the boats we are looking at can go as fast as 30 kts, I imagine most
transits to the anchorage will be at around 10-12 knots and we will
burn about 18 gallons of fuel each way. But we will pick up time at
anchorage and if I had to push it back, I could be home in 15 minutes
leaving me more time and peace at anchorage.

We do one long cruise a year (usually 300-400 nm roundtrip). While
fuel is not a consideration with the sailboat, the diesel is running
most of the time in transit. Interestingly enough, the wife has
indicated the fact that she would let the kids in the ocean on a power
boat but doesn't feel safe in a sailboat (too long to get to shore in
an emergency). Couple of heart attacks in the marina around us likely
spooked her a bit. Nevertheless, we have considered spending many more
nights on vacation at anchor or mooring rather than at dock and even if
not, we are planning the fuel for the trip into the budget.

My marina neighbor also has a Catalina 36, so the thought is to
continue to travel together (I need steerage therefore on cruises at
5-6kts) and enjoy the best of both worlds at each destination. We may
even find ourselves able to leave our families at anchor on the
powerboat and do a couple of hours of sailing together whilst keeping
the moms and kids happy.

I am struggling with the environmental aspects of the decision. While
not a tree-hugging environmentalist, it does feel good to know that
when you put up the sails you aren't burning fossil fuels. But then I
get in my car and drive home ...

To end this post with a bit of humor, you can picture the conversation
when I said to my wife "But what about the Jimmy Buffet lifestyle, it
just doesn't jive with a powerboat". Her response: "You don't have it
now, you never had it and you never will. Build a bridge and get over
it." I'm supposed to be the practical one -.

Thank you all for your commentary.

Have you considered a powercat? For instance, the PDQ MV34 only uses
4 gal/hour at 17 knots, half that if you throttle way back. They were
offered with 75 and 100 hp engines, thinking the smaller would have
better mileage, but it turns out the larger are more efficient at
higher speed, so all are now shipped with the big engines.

http://www.pdqyachts.com/power/pdq34.htm


TwinSailor wrote:
Well, you all have hit just about every item on my pro and con list
which covers a full page for each pro and con.

I am still mourning the move from sailing. I grew up on power boats
and when I was old enough to buy my own boat it was a sailboat. If it
were up to me and time was unlimited, it would still be a sailboat.
But ...

Ironically, the wife and the daughter are having an awful time with
heeling. My son, well he wants to go fast. My son needs to learn the
finer things in life too but I struggle with watching the pain on my
daughter's face at the mere prospect of putting up the genoa.

As for the fuel, we spend about 50% of the time at the dock. We travel
to an anchorage about 10nm away to spend weekends. The winds never
work out so we motor or motor sail on most trips -. I wish I could
convince my crew of the fun of "just going sailing" but in 5 years it
hasn't worked. Nevertheless, I burn about 1-2 gallons of fuel each way
with the Sailboat and spend about 90 minutes enroute at 5-6 kts. While
the boats we are looking at can go as fast as 30 kts, I imagine most
transits to the anchorage will be at around 10-12 knots and we will
burn about 18 gallons of fuel each way. But we will pick up time at
anchorage and if I had to push it back, I could be home in 15 minutes
leaving me more time and peace at anchorage.

We do one long cruise a year (usually 300-400 nm roundtrip). While
fuel is not a consideration with the sailboat, the diesel is running
most of the time in transit. Interestingly enough, the wife has
indicated the fact that she would let the kids in the ocean on a power
boat but doesn't feel safe in a sailboat (too long to get to shore in
an emergency). Couple of heart attacks in the marina around us likely
spooked her a bit. Nevertheless, we have considered spending many more
nights on vacation at anchor or mooring rather than at dock and even if
not, we are planning the fuel for the trip into the budget.

My marina neighbor also has a Catalina 36, so the thought is to
continue to travel together (I need steerage therefore on cruises at
5-6kts) and enjoy the best of both worlds at each destination. We may
even find ourselves able to leave our families at anchor on the
powerboat and do a couple of hours of sailing together whilst keeping
the moms and kids happy.

I am struggling with the environmental aspects of the decision. While
not a tree-hugging environmentalist, it does feel good to know that
when you put up the sails you aren't burning fossil fuels. But then I
get in my car and drive home ...

To end this post with a bit of humor, you can picture the conversation
when I said to my wife "But what about the Jimmy Buffet lifestyle, it
just doesn't jive with a powerboat". Her response: "You don't have it
now, you never had it and you never will. Build a bridge and get over
it." I'm supposed to be the practical one -.

Thank you all for your commentary.

TwinSailor wrote:
snip...

Ironically, the wife and the daughter are having an awful time with
heeling. My son, well he wants to go fast. My son needs to learn the
finer things in life too but I struggle with watching the pain on my
daughter's face at the mere prospect of putting up the genoa.
snip...

A lot of sailboats sail better flat anyways.
So if you have excessive heeling, reef in the main.

Don White wrote in news:zdwSg.41032$9u.351489
@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca:

A lot of sailboats sail better flat anyways.
So if you have excessive heeling, reef in the main.



Heeling is also caused by people in the boat trying to get it to
plane....same idea as this thread is about.....

I wonder if a nice $100,000 motorhome on a waterfront campsite towing a
speedy little runabout for the kids to ski from wouldn't be a better
solution. The rest of the year, at least, the motorhomes have a much
wider range of usage than either the sailboat or powerboat and can "get
there" at 70 knots, not 7....a factor of 10.

I'm not saying this to be a smartass. I know someone who went from a
Hatteras 56 with twin 8V92TAs to a 40' motorcoach costing 20% of what he
sold the Hat for. They enjoyed it so much in Florida, they traded it
back in and are having a custom-built diesel motorcoach of the quality
you'd find in a Hinckley yacht built from the ground up to their
specifications. This beast is as big as the Hat, but only has 2 decks,
no bilge.... It's a traveling Hilton Resort, er, ah, I don't THINK I saw
a pool in the plans...(c;

For those wanting to "get there"...in real style...this would be a much
better way to travel...and when you get there you're NOT STRANDED AT THE
DOCK.


--
There's amazing intelligence in the Universe.
You can tell because none of them ever called Earth.

"DSK" wrote in message
. ..
Bill Kearney wrote:
Quite a lot of folks don't have the leisure of gambling with how much
travel
time it'll take to go boating.

Quite a lot of folks lead lives of quiet desperation.

True and their hard labors make a lot of things possible, for themselves and
others.

Is there something wrong with having some patience, and some
awareness that the rest of the universe is hurrying along in
it's own way?

No, of course not and I'm not saying that. More than some folks don't have,
can't make or otherwise can't arrange that sort of situation. Are you
saying they shouldn't go boating?

I'm all for the idea of sailing, bravo to
those that like it, but it's quite obviously not the right choice for
everyone.

True. Relatively few people have the intelligence to learn
how, much less the patience to give it a chance.

Willingness to engage in what you find enjoyable doesn't equate with
intelligence. Everyone has different needs/desires. Insulting them only
makes one look like an arrogant ass.

Quite a lot of folks lead lives of quiet desperation.


True and their hard labors make a lot of things possible, for themselves and
others.


Good point.


Is there something wrong with having some patience, and some
awareness that the rest of the universe is hurrying along in
it's own way?


No, of course not and I'm not saying that. More than some folks don't have,
can't make or otherwise can't arrange that sort of situation. Are you
saying they shouldn't go boating?


That depends on how they go boating. A lot of people enjoy
being the objects of attention, so they get very loud flashy
boats and operate in such a way that they interfere with
other people's enjoyment. Other people have short attention
spans and little tolerance for following procedure. Both of
these groups of people should be in a video game parlor, not
out on the water. We'd all be happier & safer.



I'm all for the idea of sailing, bravo to
those that like it, but it's quite obviously not the right choice for
everyone.

True. Relatively few people have the intelligence to learn
how, much less the patience to give it a chance.


Bill Kearney wrote:
Willingness to engage in what you find enjoyable doesn't equate with
intelligence.

Sure it does.

Which group has the higher IQ, on average: NASCAR fans or
chess players?

Of course, this doesn't prove that any individual chess
player is necessarily smarter (or better looking, or richer)
than any individual NASCAR fan.

Regards
Doug King