Roughly how long to sail from essex to holyhead in a 26footer?

chinita said:
Even ocean passage planning is not guaranteed.

A few months ago I was invited on a trip from Canaries to Barbados. I thought seriously about taking a month off to do it. Sadly, had to decline.

Last week I got a text. They have been stuck in the Cape Verde Islands for the past two weeks!
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I believe there were cases of sailing ships leaving the east end of the Panama Canal, drifting around the Pacific for weeks or months and then staggering back for supplies.
 
I once did a few miles in a hobbie cat in a few minutes. About 25 mph.

So that is 600 miles in 24 hrs.

I think we should use that as a planning figure - as good as any other.

Innit :nonchalance:
 
On my single handed trips I tend to sail a day & rest a day. That way I can cover 60 miles per trip but do a quite few of 80+ miles
I have been round UK twice single handed & both times did 6 legs 100-120 miles all being in under 24 hours in a 31 ft yacht. On trips of that length I rest for 2 days so average is still only about 30-40 miles per day. Then add some time for weather & places of interest if just cruising.
Bradwell to Channel Islands, which I do quite often, typically takes 10 days. Dover, Boulogne, Dieppe, le Havre, Cherbourg, St P Port
Longest SH I have done is 25 hours for 145 miles Bradwell to Ijmuiden

So if the Op is fit & able to sail every day & not need to rest so much between stops - still need to do shopping, showers etc- then allow 50 miles per day for a 26 ft yacht for a hard slog
 
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Simple way of calculating it.

1) Take the elapsed time for the closest boat you can find in the Fastnet Race (obviously no 26 footer, but by this I mean pick a smallish heavy displacement boat rather than something with a canting keel). Look at a few years results to get some form of average.

http://www.rorc.org/raceresults/2015/ircoverall11.html

2) Find out what their IRC handicap is and correct for a typical handicap on the boat you want to do it with.

3) Multiple by the rhumb line course you want plan to sail divided by the Fastnet course length (says 603 miles on website - I thought it was more)

4) Multiply by a fiddle factor for the condition of your boat/sails compared to an offshore racer

5) Multiply by a fiddle factor for your sailing speed compared to a full offshore racing crew (hint OD fleets can be spread by as much as 25%)

6) Correct for the number of hours per day you want to sail.

7) Add an allowance for the number of days you expect not to be able to sail.
 
I have covered the Shoreham to Newlyn part in less than 48 hours and more than 5 days, both with brief respites in harbour, the variation depending on the weather. Strong easterlies tend not to happen other than in winter, August, or whenever I am sailing eastwards. The predominant wind down here is south westerly, which makes westbound down the channel an into wind slog or a boring motor sail. The best wind of all is a strong northerly, but clearly you would want that to stop before you rounded the corner.

This might be of use: https://www.windfinder.com/windstatistics/shoreham-by-sea (click on the months)

You must maintain ~5kt to make all of the tidal gates in succession, otherwise you would want to stop and wait it out, which would add considerably to the time.

I think it would be rather more pleasant to stop off at various places on the way rather than treating it as a delivery trip. Done properly it could take years ;0)
 
lpdsn said:
Simple way of calculating it.

1) Take the elapsed time for the closest boat you can find in the Fastnet Race (obviously no 26 footer, but by this I mean pick a smallish heavy displacement boat rather than something with a canting keel). Look at a few years results to get some form of average.

http://www.rorc.org/raceresults/2015/ircoverall11.html

2) Find out what their IRC handicap is and correct for a typical handicap on the boat you want to do it with.

3) Multiple by the rhumb line course you want plan to sail divided by the Fastnet course length (says 603 miles on website - I thought it was more)

4) Multiply by a fiddle factor for the condition of your boat/sails compared to an offshore racer

5) Multiply by a fiddle factor for your sailing speed compared to a full offshore racing crew (hint OD fleets can be spread by as much as 25%)

6) Correct for the number of hours per day you want to sail.

7) Add an allowance for the number of days you expect not to be able to sail.
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In other words have a guess;)
 
Daydream believer said:
I am amazed. I have just scanned through the entry list & not a single Centaur.
Would have expected their own class of the little rockets.
Considering the speeds some owners claim, one would have thought they would have cleaned up on a jaunt like that, no problem.
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They have their own OD class. Results are kept secret to avoid embarrasing the others.
 
It's all about this mysterious technique called 'working the tides.'

The south coast has a series of tidal gates. If you can go just fast enough you get to cross each gate with a following tide, hence I have seen 13kt on the gps several times. If you go just too slow you are stopped dead and might as well wait a few hours on the anchor. You then cross each large bay against the tide, but that is no big deal.

The Centaur can only manage to achieve this feat in a strong beam reach or following wind, preferably northerly to easterly for the direction the OP wants. Hence the wide range of passage times and my replacing the Nanni 10hp with a VP 28hp after missing several gates in a flat calm last year.
 
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