jimi
Well-known member
Could'nt understand it yesterday. Cracking F4 in Solent, fair tide & good angles on the wind for easterly beat up the western Solent yet about 40% of yachts were either motoring or motorsailing ... why?
Motorsailing
- Thread starter jimi
- Start date
vyv_cox
Well-known member
Gentlemen only sail downwind! Those beating were presumably either plebs or ladies.
castaway
New member
This question is always being asked, and the answer is Im sure, that whilst you and I and many other yachtsmen would love to be cracking along to windward, lee rail awash, our wives kids dogs etc...that we take along so that we can go sailing at all.... Just dont appreciate these simple pleasures.
Therefore we compromise.
However I must say that on Sunday PM I was returning to Portsmouth with (shame) Just my genoa unfurled, but was steadily overhauling just about everything in sight, even those with their gunwhales under; ... everyone was happy and smiling, even the dog.
So the moral of this is that with luck Ill be allowed to go and play next week as well....Regards Nick
Therefore we compromise.
However I must say that on Sunday PM I was returning to Portsmouth with (shame) Just my genoa unfurled, but was steadily overhauling just about everything in sight, even those with their gunwhales under; ... everyone was happy and smiling, even the dog.
So the moral of this is that with luck Ill be allowed to go and play next week as well....Regards Nick
tony_brighton
New member
Probably cos it was raining!
It was a good sail (we did SAIL) - usual game of dodgning Sunsail and having a laugh at the guy flying his chute from the top of the mast only.
It was a good sail (we did SAIL) - usual game of dodgning Sunsail and having a laugh at the guy flying his chute from the top of the mast only.
G
Guest
Guest
I was on the Medway over the weekend, F4-F5 winds - perfect. But same story, many yachts motoring with bare poles. Others had their mainsail up - flapping as they motored into wind. We overtook a few of them - Hah!
I reckon there is money to be made selling a range of 'Motorboats with a Stick' for those people who buy sailing yachts to go motoring in. They would look nice but no need then to worry about rigging, keels or those triangular bits of cloth...
I reckon there is money to be made selling a range of 'Motorboats with a Stick' for those people who buy sailing yachts to go motoring in. They would look nice but no need then to worry about rigging, keels or those triangular bits of cloth...
G
Guest
Guest
I love these "I must be a better sailor than all you lot " observations. There could be a great many reasons why other people do not choose to make progress in the same way as you on any given occasion. You just enjoy your sail and allow others to do as they please in their own boats.
Chris_Robb
Well-known member
I was one of them - wanted to be in Salcombe (from Plymouth) by 5 - so motored - also a long 25 mile beat - and I would probably have no wife coming next time.
We are a heavy motor sailor which doesn't go that close to the wind, so whats the point when you can do 6 knots into a force 8 in using up time none of us have anymore in flogging to windward when I could get there in half the time?
I know which boat will get to Brest this year and not be weather bound because of days of strong westerlies!
We are a heavy motor sailor which doesn't go that close to the wind, so whats the point when you can do 6 knots into a force 8 in using up time none of us have anymore in flogging to windward when I could get there in half the time?
I know which boat will get to Brest this year and not be weather bound because of days of strong westerlies!
jimi
Well-known member
No criticism intended just curious as to why so many people motorsailing when with the boats that most of 'em were in they would be there quicker & more comfortably if they sailed rather than motored with a flogging main. In fact I had 3 daughters downstairs colouring their colouring books & reading whilst sailing.
claymore
Well-known member
Similar response really and agreeing with Vyv, we have the engine off sailing off the wind and tend to motorsail upwind because we don't sail too quickly or too closely under sails alone. There is perhaps an interesting point coming out of some ot the responses in that reference has been made to sails flogging. There's little point in having the sails up if you are sailing within the 'no go zone' to use old RYA instructor parlance. The art of motorsailing is to have the main drawing so that it gives you an extra knot, means you can cut back the throttle and steadies the boat. You are not going directly upwind but should be a point or two closer (and moving more swiftly) than if under sail alone. It may have been Jim Saltonstall who said that the sound of sails flapping is the sound of a sailmaker rubbing his hands together!
Of course when there is no wind - then there's no point in hoisting the main - don't know why I said that - obvious really isn't it! - Oh yes - it was to counter the viewpoint that you should always hoist the main in case the engine conks.
regards
JohnS
Of course when there is no wind - then there's no point in hoisting the main - don't know why I said that - obvious really isn't it! - Oh yes - it was to counter the viewpoint that you should always hoist the main in case the engine conks.
regards
JohnS
bedouin
Well-known member
There is a reason to hoist the main even when there is no wind - having it up damps the rolling of the boat and so makes the motion more comfortable.
claymore
Well-known member
Hmm... can't say I've noticed much effect really.
regards
JohnS
regards
JohnS
jimi
Well-known member
Och Aye .. agree with everything you say .. but point I was making was that many of the boats motoring or motorsailing were not motorsailors, but expensive sailing yachts designed to go as close to the wind as Jeffrey Archer. The wind angles were such that some little bilge keelers were making excellent progress under sail alone straight up the Solent without having to tack. What surprises me is not that some people elected to motor with their sail up (rather than motorsail with their sail helping progress) but that so many were. I too have often heard the siren calls from the lasses .. "Can we not put the engine on & get there faster?" ... often it is the case that we'll be doing a knot or so faster under sail than we would at comfortable revs under power
claymore
Well-known member
Well - it is a bit of a faff and then everything spills when the boat tips - the boom is nothing short of dangerous and you cannot see where you are going when the genoa is up, so someone has to be put down the leeward side, probably getting wet into the bargain, just to make sure that some silly sod doesn't sail into you. Winches nip your fingers, there's a good chance of blisters from the mainsheet - all the ropes have to be uncoiled and then they get everywhere - and what for? Just to get somewhere. Well the boat engine is probably more expensive to buy than the sails so why not get value for money and use it a bit - and anyway, that stops the battery from going flat, the fridge can stay on, as can the vhf, gps,radar,forwardfacing fishfinder,log,wind,navtex,plotter and eberspacher - so all in all - I think that proves some point...doesn't it?
regards
JohnS
regards
JohnS
Viking
New member
I think thats 'Gentleman only Fart downwind'!
Viking
New member
If you've got it - use it?
Chris_Robb
Well-known member
Re: Motorsailing All flogging
Off the 4 boats we passed motor sailing last weekend - all had flogging sails - yes the sail makers must be rubbing their hands together!!!!!
Off the 4 boats we passed motor sailing last weekend - all had flogging sails - yes the sail makers must be rubbing their hands together!!!!!
tcm
...
Re: so...
perhaps a nice powerboat, so no ropes to bother with, and none of that mast thing to slow down progress! (runs away leaving unfinished drink...)
perhaps a nice powerboat, so no ropes to bother with, and none of that mast thing to slow down progress! (runs away leaving unfinished drink...)
claymore
Well-known member
Re: so...
Nah
I'd have to change all me wardrobe - get a shell suit and a baseball cap, buy some gold bracelets and rings with gold coins in, develop a gut, buy white shoes...
I'm happy in the Blazer and Captain Curreys and the old Breton cap - worn square, pipe clenched in manly fashion and square jawed to the winds that blow....
regards
JohnS
Nah
I'd have to change all me wardrobe - get a shell suit and a baseball cap, buy some gold bracelets and rings with gold coins in, develop a gut, buy white shoes...
I'm happy in the Blazer and Captain Curreys and the old Breton cap - worn square, pipe clenched in manly fashion and square jawed to the winds that blow....
regards
JohnS
tcm
...
Re: so....
....wind straight over the bow with engine at steady 2000rpm. Heave hard me hearties, bellows the cap'n, but the freezer tray is completely frozen....
Did you ever go on that Grand Banks, claymore?
....wind straight over the bow with engine at steady 2000rpm. Heave hard me hearties, bellows the cap'n, but the freezer tray is completely frozen....
Did you ever go on that Grand Banks, claymore?
bedouin
Well-known member
I suppose it varies from boat to boat. It certainly makes life a lot more pleasant on Bedouin when motoring into 'moderate' seas. Particularly if you are heading enough off the wind for the main to fill on one side or the other.