How long before you're bored on a saily boat
- Thread starter fireball
- Start date
fireball
Well-Known Member
fireball
Well-Known Member
Now that sounds a little bit more like the truth!!
fireball
Well-Known Member
Er - look at my avatar ...It has just occured to me, you must be a MoBo judging by the volume of your posts almost 17,000 and i thought i was a regular) so while we are out sailing, you have arrived and on ybw forum
We've put 25ltrs in this year ... and that was from a jerrycan ..He has to refuel every 10 hours. We refuel every 10 weeks
fireball
Well-Known Member
I remember my father saying to me as a kid that you could always tell a true sailor, as they were content to just ghost along, or spend time working the boat to benefit from a zephyr of wind, rather than start the engine... lot of truth in it really....but only when it's warm and sunny!
As you know - I race dinghies - and although I'd prefer a windy race, I'll quite happily go out in wind less than a ducks fart and race around the course ...
fireball
Well-Known Member
There's the crux of it ..
When racing I've got a course to sail - it doesn't matter what the wind - I'm competing against other boats - also I don't have an engine so it's sail or retire ..
When not racing then where we go is arbitrary - so whilst we don't need to be anywhere there's an element of going somewhere - only timed against ourselves - and there's always an engine available.
With Chartplotters & GPS you can put your destination in and it'll give you VMG or TTG calcs - and it's amazing just how long you can spend with 1Hr to go ...
Sans Bateau
Well-Known Member
fireball, I know you do get bored quickly, I know you hate the long sails, but there is a solution........
http://www.macgregor26.com/
I've asked them to send you a brochure.
http://www.macgregor26.com/
I've asked them to send you a brochure.
fireball
Well-Known Member
GIT!
Seah0rse
Well-Known Member
Freedom
There is something uniquely satisfying being wafted (hopefully) from A to B by Natures forces. It's the Journey that matters, as arrival can disappoint. The uncertainty of Natures will adds another dimension to the mix
There is something uniquely satisfying being wafted (hopefully) from A to B by Natures forces. It's the Journey that matters, as arrival can disappoint. The uncertainty of Natures will adds another dimension to the mix
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
Never said that, absolutely never. I only go 5 knots because the type of boats I sail can't go much faster. But why do most motorboatists think it can't be enjoyable to have a 5-knot speed restriction?
...presumably it's because they wouldn't be out there at all, except to get somewhere, and until they do, they know they risk being bored by extended passage duration...
...ergo: being aboard a motor boat is inclined to be intrinsically dull, so best make it quick, to shorten the trip and to give passengers (and onlookers) the impression that something enviably exciting is happening.
A high-speed elevator is better than a terribly slow one, isn't it? But fast or slow, you don't get in to have fun. (On the whole.
)Sailing generally ignores the necessity to get somewhere, as its raison d'etre. Doing it is the reason for going, and your progress en route is also a measure of ability. Doubly satisfying, if you're good. Maybe motorboatists should try it?
Those who haven't, would discover the pleasure of manipulating wind & water to make a yacht move as required, silently. Or, is there a risk that they'll discover how insignificantly their motorboats (and their use of them) rely on such sensitivity and passage planning?
I actually don't believe that's the reason motorboaters don't discover the pleasure of sailing. I'm certain it's as I said earlier...they regard use of the boat as 'A to B', and arriving is the reason for starting. With that outlook, who'd want to take longer than necessary?
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AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
The sail is never "just set"; you need to monitor it constantly, and make adjustments as required. You almost never sail under autopilot (at least, I don't) because you aren't charging the batteries, and the autopilot needs a lot of juice. In any case, you are constantly slightly adjusting your course to make best use of the ever-changing wind; remember that changes in wind strength change the apparent wind direction, and you need to adjust to those as well as to changes of direction; a slackening of the wind means you have to bear off for a moment until the boat speed drops; a stiffening of the wind means you can often bear up a little and gain advantage to windward. You are also reacting to the waves as they pass under the boat. Of course, you are also constantly keeping watch, monitoring your position and all the rest.
If that isn't enough, the silence of a sailing boat means that you see a lot of wild-life; birds often don't realize you're there until the bow-wave wakes them up!
ricky_s
Well-Known Member
Never said that, absolutely never. I only go 5 knots because the type of boats I sail can't go much faster. But why do most motorboatists think it can't be enjoyable to have a 5-knot speed restriction?
...presumably it's because they wouldn't be out there at all, except to get somewhere, and until they do, they know they risk being bored by extended passage duration...
...ergo: being aboard a motor boat is inclined to be intrinsically dull, so best make it quick, to shorten the trip and to give passengers (and onlookers) the impression that something enviably exciting is happening.
A high-speed elevator is better than a terribly slow one, isn't it? But fast or slow, you don't get in to have fun. (On the whole.
Sailing generally ignores the necessity to get somewhere, as its raison d'etre. Doing it is the reason for going, and your progress en route is also a measure of ability. Doubly satisfying, if you're good. Maybe motorboatists should try it?
Those who haven't, would discover the pleasure of manipulating wind & water to make a yacht move as required, silently. Or, is there a risk that they'll discover how insignificantly their motorboats (and their use of them) rely on such sensitivity and passage planning?
I actually don't believe that's the reason motorboaters don't discover the pleasure of sailing. I'm certain it's as I said earlier...they regard use of the boat as 'A to B', and arriving is the reason for starting. With that outlook, who'd want to take longer than necessary?
You really do look down on motor boaters, don't you!
You should read back some of the things you are posting and ask yourself, do you actually believe some of the things you think we think?
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fireball
Well-Known Member
Yer - but we all know the mechanics of a sail ... so it's not really difficult to sail to windward and simple to sail downwind - not much harder than shuving a lever forward really, is it!?
And once you've done it once or twice there's not much pleasure in doing it again? Or are you like a dog playing fetch with a stick?!
fireball
Well-Known Member
"close enough for Jazz" ...
Believe me - I appreciate the ability to finesse the sails - I do so in the racing dinghy - I get a noticeable benefit if I manage to close the gap on the boat in front or extend my lead on the boat behind ... My races usually last between 1 and 1 1/2 hrs so not too hard to concentrate for that level of time...
But when "cruising" for hours and hours can you really concentrate on the sail trim to that level? It's fun for about 5 minutes until you realise that the difference it'll make on your arrival time can be measured in minutes and you're not racing anyone anyway.
Then all the effort can be negated by having to avoid a ship or even boiling the kettle ... so why bother to start with .... unless you're racing of course!
Mrs Springy
Well-Known Member
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
If you're sailing to windward - and Murphy's Law means that tends to be a lot of the time - then it isn't about speed, it's about making ground to windward. If you can keep to windward of a point you have to round, then you can save a tack - and that might make a difference in arrival time of half an hour or more, especially if it complicates the navigation so one tack won't do. As a cruising sailor, it is ingrained in me that I don't willingly lose ground to leeward unless that happens to be the direction I'm going! Of course, off the wind things can be more relaxed, but the sea is ever changing, and I can enjoy it in silence - as far as I'm concerned, the moment we can stop the engine is the moment I start to relax.
In any case, my boat is faster under sail than under engine - I can do 7 knots under sail; the engine will only do 6 (if I'm pushing it).
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
No! Absolutely not! I really, definitely...I would never...I...I...
...alright, yes.
I do. I'm very embarrassed to admit it openly. 
I think motorboats are excellent bits of kit for rescue, & for the urgent business of delivering people to places they need to get to in a hurry, when pleasure or use of the driver's sensitivity aren't priorities......but as a thing to buy, to actually own? For personal pleasure? I can't understand it. Big, artless, noisy chunks of white flotsam, whose effortless use is 'sold' to buyers as a benefit, to disguise how laughably unengaging they are as a way to spend time.
Now, sir, that's my opinion of the vessels...as for the owners, I feel sympathy, because they swallowed the saleman's line.
There. I'm genuinely sorry to be so undiplomatic. But I think your choice of boat restricts the fulfilment you experience.
But look on the bright side...there's six months of winter to find a buyer for your motor-boat, and replace it with sail...
fireball
Well-Known Member
You're welcome to your choice of vessel - and even to question why someone has chosen theirs ......alright, yes.
...but as a thing to buy, to actually own? For personal pleasure? I can't understand it. Big, artless, noisy chunks of white flotsam, whose effortless use is 'sold' to buyers as a benefit, to disguise how laughably unengaging they are as a way to spend time.
Now, sir, that's my opinion of the vessels...as for the owners, I feel sympathy, because they swallowed the saleman's line.
There. I'm genuinely sorry to be so undiplomatic. But I think your choice of boat restricts the fulfilment you experience.
But look on the bright side...there's six months of winter to find a buyer for your motor-boat, and replace it with sail...
I don't own a mobo and probably never will - but not because they're "boring" ...
If money wasn't an object I'd probably have a mobo too - just so I could blat across to the CI's or the like without the hassle of taking a whole day to get there ...
Greenheart
Well-Known Member
But that's the point, isn't it? The motorboat makes sense only because it shortens journey times...
...but if (as with a sailing boat) the journey itself was the reason for going, why would you want to cut it short?
And if reaching distant destinations is the priority, why use a twenty-tonne noisome fuel-thirsty capsule to get there?
Probably cheaper (and lots faster!) to own a light plane, and stay in a decent hotel when you arrive.
