Most long distance cruising boats are poor sailing performers, requiring
lots of wind to make them move. If they were better performers then they
would probably be sailed a lot more often rather than motored so much.

Paul
www.jcruiser.org
"jeff feehan" wrote in message
ink.net...
the problem with extending this reasoning to a long voyage is that fuel
capacity limits how far you can motor. to the extent that the PHRF
difference reflects differing light air performance, the extra time could
be
a lot more.

on a short voyage, you turn on the motor when boatspeed goes below your
chosen figure. on a long passage, you might find yourself sailing in awind
that you otherwise might motor in.

jeff

Paul L wrote:

"DSK" wrote in message
. ..

Wayne.B wrote:

The difference between PHRF 140 and 180 is less than half a knot.
That's a huge difference to a racing sailor but I wouldn't worry too
much about it for cruising.

Agreed, but it should also be noted that the difference in windward
performance could be bigger than the PHRF rating difference.

BTW one way to figure the difference in boats by their PHRF ratings is
that each point lower equals approx one second per mile. So a difference
of 40 means about half an hour over 45 miles. Is that significant?
Prob'ly not to most cruisers.

Or about one full day on a 2,000 mile transpacific hop.

Paul
www.jcruiser.org