Jay Fitzgerald

[toad_oftoadhall]

No idea who he is or what he's done but he made me sit up and think a bit. Maybe someone else will enjoy what he has to say:

http://media.libsyn.com/media/noeld/furledsails-podcast-141.mp3 (Large file)


Taken from: http://www.furledsails.com

 

[SAWDOC]

Give us a clue - might or might not download!

 

[robin_99]

He is quite a character, but he does tend to ruffle some feathers! He founded a club for engineless sailors some years ago (the Oar Club). Their website seems to be offline, but you can get the gist of his philosophy here http://web.archive.org/web/20041206200447/www.oarclub.org/page8.html.

I would have to agree with him about sailors becoming too reliant on their engines. I seem to recall reading somewhere that more than half of the callouts to the RNLI are made by sailing vessels suffering engine failure.

Best regards,
Robin

 

[SAWDOC]

Have to agree with over reliance on "auxilaries" - everyone living to deadlines, home by 5 etc, must check this guy out!

 

[toad_oftoadhall]

Give us a clue - might or might not download!

Sorry Sawdoc, rather than download you can stream it from here:

http://www.furledsails.com/article.php3?article=772

Sorry should have thought that some people might not want to download 20megs on the off chance!

 

[toad_oftoadhall]

I would have to agree with him about sailors becoming too reliant on their engines.

To be honest, in my view anyone in a job who wants to cruise reasonable distances at weekends is reliant on the engine for a million reasons.

What I hadn't considered until I heard Jay say it, was that if you are lucky enough to have the time to cruise with no engine then there are significant advantages - space, weight and cost among them. (A dead engine would be what, 5 grand off a 30 footer?)

 

[blackdogsailing]

To be honest, in my view anyone in a job who wants to cruise reasonable distances at weekends is reliant on the engine for a million reasons.

What I hadn't considered until I heard Jay say it, was that if you are lucky enough to have the time to cruise with no engine then there are significant advantages - space, weight and cost among them. (A dead engine would be what, 5 grand off a 30 footer?)

Between december 1988 and June 1989 I was lucky enough to be cruising around the Caribbean then up to bermuda and back towards the azores. No time restraints, no rush and no need to be anywhere. The boat was a 33 foot wooden sloop with a siezed MD2 in it. The only time I really missed it was arriving off bermuda and the wind died to nothing. took me 16 hours to eventually sail in !! My seamanship undoubtedly improved and sailing in and out of harbours, anchorages and berths became second nature.
Nowadays, we run our present boat in charter where the day is run by the clock and the engine is essential.

Chris