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Authors: Renee Petrillo
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You better go a lot faster when sailing off the wind than going straight into the wind (with your engines on), because you have to make up the distance youâve just added by all those jags youâve made.
Sometimes you donât make up that speed and, although you save fuel, you lose time. This is not a problem if you have lots of time to spare. But if youâre pushing to get somewhere by nightfall or stay ahead of a storm, adding hours to a trip can be tiring, frustrating, and even dangerous.
More often than not, many of us keep our sails up, turn on our engines, and try to plow as straight as possible to our destination. This is called motorsailing. And thatâs what we did, because we
were
on a schedule and had lost time because of the grounding.
We also werenât sure how much speed weâd lose or gain in the Gulf Stream, a current that can hinder or help. The Gulf Stream goes north, and we wanted to goeast. Currents can run anywhere from 3 to 6 knots throughout. The only factors within your control are the smarts to wait another day if there are northerly winds (north winds and a northerly current will make for a very slow, choppy trip, not to mention dangerous if those northerly winds are much over 15 knots), and plotting a course that takes you a bit more south than you plan to go so you can ride the current back up. We didnât apply the second part (we headed northeast), but at least the winds started out in the right direction. They didnât turn on us until we had crossed the Gulf Stream, but Iâm getting ahead of myself. This leads me to â¦
LESSON 21: BIGGER IS BETTER Have decent-size engines for your boat. You will be motoring more than you can imagine, sometimes in harsh conditions. You may have bought a sailboat, but excruciatingly often the sails will simply help you motor faster. Too often there was just enough wind to push us along at about 4 knots (or less), which is good only for a leisurely day sail. If we needed to get somewhere, we would turn on one engine (alternating with the other to save fuel) or both of them to move at a pretty good clip. Our diesels were 18 horsepower (hp), which, on a catamaran, was pathetic. They werenât unsafe and they got us where we wanted to go, but the next size up, 26 hp, would have been much better.
LESSON 22: NO, YOU DO NOT LIKE IT ROUGH Try not to go out in rough seas. There are so many reasons: stress on your boat structure and stress on the sailors. Even your fuel will be affected; all that sloshing around mixes up sediment from the bottom of the tank, clogs your fuel filters, and kills your engines (consider using dual fuel filters).
Back on Track
Sailing ⦠motorsailing. Who cared? We were on our way to the Bahamas!
We were like little kids oohing and ahhing over the flying fish skimming across the water like Frisbees. We were enthralled to be surrounded by nothing but ocean. We were in awe of the fact that we had actually pulled it off. We also got a little seasick, including Shaka, mainly because of the diesel fumes blowing around us all day. Itâs never perfect.
We had lots of time to take it all in because our late start and the headwinds kept us from reaching our destination before nightfall. Looking back on it, Iâm not sure how our trusty captain thought weâd get there during daylight hours in the best of conditions without leaving in the wee hours of the morning. This was a 98-mile crossing. Even at a respectable 7 knots, it would have taken 14 hours to reach our destination, but what did we know? I canât speak for Captain Tim.
Watching the sun set was both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. You do not sail in the Bahamas at night (very shallow, very reefy), regardless of your experience. During the evening, the winds increased to 30 knots, slowing us down further (we sure didnât tack in the dark), and the moon didnât come up to help until much later. We dropped the
Sometimes you donât make up that speed and, although you save fuel, you lose time. This is not a problem if you have lots of time to spare. But if youâre pushing to get somewhere by nightfall or stay ahead of a storm, adding hours to a trip can be tiring, frustrating, and even dangerous.
More often than not, many of us keep our sails up, turn on our engines, and try to plow as straight as possible to our destination. This is called motorsailing. And thatâs what we did, because we
were
on a schedule and had lost time because of the grounding.
We also werenât sure how much speed weâd lose or gain in the Gulf Stream, a current that can hinder or help. The Gulf Stream goes north, and we wanted to goeast. Currents can run anywhere from 3 to 6 knots throughout. The only factors within your control are the smarts to wait another day if there are northerly winds (north winds and a northerly current will make for a very slow, choppy trip, not to mention dangerous if those northerly winds are much over 15 knots), and plotting a course that takes you a bit more south than you plan to go so you can ride the current back up. We didnât apply the second part (we headed northeast), but at least the winds started out in the right direction. They didnât turn on us until we had crossed the Gulf Stream, but Iâm getting ahead of myself. This leads me to â¦
LESSON 21: BIGGER IS BETTER Have decent-size engines for your boat. You will be motoring more than you can imagine, sometimes in harsh conditions. You may have bought a sailboat, but excruciatingly often the sails will simply help you motor faster. Too often there was just enough wind to push us along at about 4 knots (or less), which is good only for a leisurely day sail. If we needed to get somewhere, we would turn on one engine (alternating with the other to save fuel) or both of them to move at a pretty good clip. Our diesels were 18 horsepower (hp), which, on a catamaran, was pathetic. They werenât unsafe and they got us where we wanted to go, but the next size up, 26 hp, would have been much better.
LESSON 22: NO, YOU DO NOT LIKE IT ROUGH Try not to go out in rough seas. There are so many reasons: stress on your boat structure and stress on the sailors. Even your fuel will be affected; all that sloshing around mixes up sediment from the bottom of the tank, clogs your fuel filters, and kills your engines (consider using dual fuel filters).
Back on Track
Sailing ⦠motorsailing. Who cared? We were on our way to the Bahamas!
We were like little kids oohing and ahhing over the flying fish skimming across the water like Frisbees. We were enthralled to be surrounded by nothing but ocean. We were in awe of the fact that we had actually pulled it off. We also got a little seasick, including Shaka, mainly because of the diesel fumes blowing around us all day. Itâs never perfect.
We had lots of time to take it all in because our late start and the headwinds kept us from reaching our destination before nightfall. Looking back on it, Iâm not sure how our trusty captain thought weâd get there during daylight hours in the best of conditions without leaving in the wee hours of the morning. This was a 98-mile crossing. Even at a respectable 7 knots, it would have taken 14 hours to reach our destination, but what did we know? I canât speak for Captain Tim.
Watching the sun set was both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. You do not sail in the Bahamas at night (very shallow, very reefy), regardless of your experience. During the evening, the winds increased to 30 knots, slowing us down further (we sure didnât tack in the dark), and the moon didnât come up to help until much later. We dropped the
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