average passage speed

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owen

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what would be your average speed over a passage of say 5- 8 hrs with favourable winds of say 3-4 ;beam or just forward of the beam winds.full sail no spinnakers or cruising chutes and sea no more than moderate. my moody 33 recently averaged 5.1 over 12 hrs but with such favourable conditions and the log often showing 6-7 i was a bit diappointed it was not faster. it does not take many lulls in the wind to knock down the average speed.
 
It was 5.5 knots average over 7000 miles. Max speed according to the instrument thingie was 13.8 knots. But that was probably going down hill with the wind behind.
 
Over 637 miles logged on our summer cruise this year we averaged 5.1 knots. That was a half and half mixture of sailing and motoring in a Moody 346.

Very little wind for most of the time. Fastest SOG was 11.9 knots. Fastest through he water was 9.7.

Donald
 
Maybe 20 knots. But it probably took 600 litres of diesel to do a mere 750 miles.
 
Most recent passages, Ramsgate to Boulogne, 40 miles in 6 hours, Eastbourne to Ramsgate 60 miles in 9 hours, quite bit of tide to help though! I usually work on 5.5k.
 
I usually plan on 5kts and in my lively 35 footer I usually arrive a bit earlier than planned which is a nice surprise. Highest average was a rare downwind run home in 55kts under 25% headsail alone when we covered 9nm in exactly 1hr.
 
I generally use 7 knots as a conservative planning average. On a short trip like that with a good beam wind, maybe 9.5 . I'm long past the mistake of using the boat's best speed as a passage speed (I have done 12 knots with a F4 on the beam but that was in flat water in the Solent and I wouldn't expect to maintain it offshore).
 
On passages of that length I use 6.5 knts as a start point for planning the nav. I then look at where I'd be if I averaged 5 to see if there are any tidal gates that would affect me.
When crossing the Channel I prefer to keep to a good average as the crew get bored so time taken becomes more important that the travelling. More often than not we do acheive 6 - 6.5knts i.e Cherbourg to Needles the week before last: wind NW5/6 (which became N at the end): Under sail all the way with a total time of 9:20.
SWMBO grizzling all the way as the wave pattern was very uncomfortable.
Boat: Moody 376
Cheers
 
Last year returning from the Cherbourg trip on Galadriel, we tied up in Northney exactly 11hours after dropping warps in CB, I believe we logged 78miles, so the 11 hour average was 7.09knts

This year and more typical of your question, IE wind direction/sea state, we crossed from Studland to Alderney (about 60 miles) in 9hrs 45mins, so avg of 6.15knts.
 
On four reaching cross Channels this year we've averaged 8.5 knots. Best average was 9.5 klnots Fowey to Plymouth. Passage planning speeds 7 knots to windward, 8 knots reaching in Force 4
 
I know the feeling - you have a stunning sail on which the log never seems to drop below 7knts and yet you still find you average under 6 /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

It is of course possible that your log is over-reading - I calibrate ours at about 4.5-5 kts but I think it tends to under-read at lower speeds and over-reads at higher speeds
 
Bear in mind that you turn on the electonics before you leave your berth and the average is taken from that time, not the time you start sailing in earnest. If you really want an average, flip the switch off & on as you leave harbour!
 
[ QUOTE ]
I generally use 7 knots as a conservative planning average. On a short trip like that with a good beam wind, maybe 9.5 . I'm long past the mistake of using the boat's best speed as a passage speed (I have done 12 knots with a F4 on the beam but that was in flat water in the Solent and I wouldn't expect to maintain it offshore).

[/ QUOTE ]

What have you got a tea clipper?
 
My log isn't clever enough to work out averages for itself - I do it by dividing the total distance by the time underway.

The GPS on the other hand makes a good effort at an average of speed when moving, even if it has been switched on for hours before departre
 
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