Laminar Flow
Well-known member
I can well imagine that watching other boats sail past you to windward would be quite maddening as a racing sailor, it is rather counterproductive to the purpose of the entire activity.
It does not invalidate the real advantages of shallow draft. I remember reading the a (cruising) report on a large Swan; the vessel had a draft of 3.5m. While, as expected, a sparkling performer, the rest of the report was about all the places the boat couldn't enter or even get close to. That kinda defeats the whole purpose and pleasure of cruising to me.
While my own boat will never be a performer to windward, below 50 degr. she has nothing to be ashamed about, but she will float in 1.35m and dry out comfortably on her legs. We have enjoyed places where you simply couldn't go, not with a 6'3" draft; up Breton rivers and many of the Sunds in southern Denmark, areas in Holland and the Waddenzee. For that I'm quite happy to make some (fairly) modest concessions as to her weatherliness. She could still cross an ocean if I had a stroke or covid restrictions got to me.
A lot of the perceptions around boats are just that. For that reason I like the research done by by places like the Delft institute, it quantifies things and, all things being equal (which of course they are not necessarily or always, but mainly so), the difference is at worst 5%. In life we happily make many decisions for a lot less.
It does not invalidate the real advantages of shallow draft. I remember reading the a (cruising) report on a large Swan; the vessel had a draft of 3.5m. While, as expected, a sparkling performer, the rest of the report was about all the places the boat couldn't enter or even get close to. That kinda defeats the whole purpose and pleasure of cruising to me.
While my own boat will never be a performer to windward, below 50 degr. she has nothing to be ashamed about, but she will float in 1.35m and dry out comfortably on her legs. We have enjoyed places where you simply couldn't go, not with a 6'3" draft; up Breton rivers and many of the Sunds in southern Denmark, areas in Holland and the Waddenzee. For that I'm quite happy to make some (fairly) modest concessions as to her weatherliness. She could still cross an ocean if I had a stroke or covid restrictions got to me.
A lot of the perceptions around boats are just that. For that reason I like the research done by by places like the Delft institute, it quantifies things and, all things being equal (which of course they are not necessarily or always, but mainly so), the difference is at worst 5%. In life we happily make many decisions for a lot less.