Bilge keel performance design

[dancrane]

...the "drying anchorage (for cruising)" is only a figment of many people's minds. I see very few boats out cruising actually in such places. Perhaps they do 1-2 a year & that is it.

I believe you Daydream, but this may be chicken-and-egg...few people do it because few boats enable or encourage their owners to. And...maybe you see few people doing it, because your own keel doesn't let you see far enough round that shallow bend in the harbour?

As to the idea that slightly-reduced draft would allow one to cut corners over shoal waters...that hadn't crossed my mind, and I can't think it was ever the principal reason why someone chose a bilge-keel over a fin.

Anyway, for the record I am generally persuaded by the reasoning given for the state of the industry and the hulls it produces, though I think it's pretty rotten for the future of relaxed cruising, if (because of market forces) the choice of new yachts primarily suits time-pressed folk with fortunes of money to pour into marina-coffers.

Perhaps the expectation is that by the time these busy owners are retired and can take longer sailing breaks, they'll be too decrepit to climb aboard by any more challenging method than a marina pontoon? :biggrin-new:

All very neat, tidy and satisfactory, but I defend my right to think it specious; because as I see it, a big chunk of the pleasure of sailing freedom is intrinsically limited (in fact, removed) by the necessity to fit it into work-schedules and allotted deep-water berths...

...and the pursuit of cruising under sail from the UK isn't necessarily made more attractive, by being more expensive and convenient, at profound cost to the range and character of the places one can berth the yacht and visit when cruising in her.

But, I'm not surprised mine is virtually a voice in the wilderness, so I'll drop it. For a week or two.

 

[Daydream believer]

Anyway, for the record I am generally persuaded by the reasoning given for the state of the industry and the hulls it produces, though I think it's pretty rotten for the future of relaxed cruising, if (because of market forces) the choice of new yachts primarily suits time-pressed folk with fortunes of money to pour into marina-coffers.

Dan you have expressed an opinion ( to which you are perfectly entitled I might add) that suggests you despise marinas- along with many others on this forum.
The comment about pouring money into marina coffers is not all one sided.
I really like the marina I am in & I do not begrudge the owners their fee for one minute. It is fair value.Even if I am away from it for 3-4 months of the year. Facilities are as much as I need. I do not lie awake at night when there is a gale on worrying if my boat is Ok
It is easy to just go to the marina, sit on the boat for a while & do a few jobs, plan the next trip or whatever. Load up or remove gear after a long trip etc etc.
The convenience is so much better than a mooring. having to get the dinghy out, pump it up, row out , climb aboard, forget the keys & repeat the journey, sit on the boat & get sea sick.
Some forumites seem to have a real dislike of marinas. True some are not so owner friendly but the one I am in is excellent

 

[Daydream believer]

Another point has just occurred to me whilst looking at your plot ( & trying to figure out how you managed to post that )

You do not seem to have used your reduced draft to cut any corners. You have stayed in deep water all the way. Ie you went south of the Swallowtail & went right round the Eagle rather than cut across to the NW Knoll
Is cutting corners another figment of bilge keeler's minds

Sorry for picking on you erbas but I do want to make the point

 

[Sticky Fingers]

... the one I am in is excellent

Which marina are you in?

 

[Daydream believer]

Which marina are you in?

Bradwell

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Ah right thanks

 

[dancrane]

I really like the marina I am in...

I'm very glad for you Daydream - as I am for everyone who is content with their boat and their berth. :encouragement:

I'm sure when I have a yacht on a mooring, there'll be long windy winter nights when I wish I kept her in a locked basin myself.

But...the other 300+ days and nights per year, I believe I'll be glad to have selected a boat that can dry out anywhere.

 

[Daydream believer]

But...the other 300+ days and nights per year, I believe I'll be glad to have selected a boat that can dry out anywhere.

Of course. To each his own.

 

[rwoofer]

I have to say that I think my little 20 footer is safer on my drying mooring 40 yards from the shore than in a marina. For me a young family means I'm time short and therefore can't justify spending marina fees on my boat.

When I had no kids, plenty of time and a 44footer, a marina it was, cause it was our weekend home. Interesting all my boats since the big boat (including my RM) all had the ability to dry and were considered good sailing boats, I was just in a minority it seems....

In defence of Dan, I think most people have forgotten the pleasures of shallow draft boats that can dry, especially in the Solent, so there is a bit of a vicious circle going on I reckon.

 

[dancrane]

I think most people have forgotten the pleasures of shallow draft boats that can dry, especially in the Solent, so there is a bit of a vicious circle going on.

Thanks Mr Stretch, that's all I was meaning, much more concisely put.

I've lately reached the conclusion that it's a pretty fruitless (though diverting) pursuit, looking for the ideal boat...

...I'll really want a boat that dries out upright, I'll also want an inside helm for all-season use; and recent energetic enjoyment of the Osprey has led me to emphatically add rewarding performance into the mix as an essential ingredient...

...and as has been often remarked hereabouts, those features don't ever appear in the same boat, regardless of the money available. I suppose the larger of the Lagoon catamarans meet the brief, though I hadn't heard they're fast, and good grief, they're ugly...

(I'm preparing myself for the barrage of enthusiastic reports about contributors' boats which easily achieve all those ideals. :hopeless

But...a far less expensive solution is probably for me to own at least three boats...the Osprey for spirited seasonal fun, a well-insulated Fisher 25 for journeying round the Western Isles in low-midge season, and maybe a small cruising cat for relaxed Channel-hopping.

I may run that idea past SWMBO, this weekend...