RichardS
N/A
Talking about sailing boats here .... I assume that motor boats cover greater distances, although that might be an incorrect assumption.
Each evening or morning I usually sit down with my electronic charts, cruising guides and the weather/wind forecast and decide which anchorages we might head for the next day. I then put my selections to the family/crew and we decide which we fancy.
After 10 years of doing this, the pattern of distances and the expectations of the family are so well understood by all of us that we have a evolved a sort of common language as follows:
The short hop - this is 10 Nm and usually follows a long slog or a windy/rolly night or when I spot something very interesting in the guide which is close by. This is a rare passage and in our month cruise perhaps only happens once or twice as no-one feels it's worth pulling up the anchor and moving for less.
The day sail - this is 25Nm and is our standard distance. I usually set the measure facility on the chart and sweep round an arc of 25 Nm until I find something interesting a mile or two either side of the arc. Probably a dozen passages of this length during our summer cruise.
The long slog - this is 40 - 60Nm and is usually only attempted if the wind is guaranteed to be in the right direction and I can persuade at least one of the crew to get out of bed an hour or two earlier than usual to help me weigh anchor and set the sails. The rest usually emerge from their pit once we are underway. Probably only 3 or 4 of these during the month as they are not that popular!
The overnighter - this is more than 75 Nm but, after discussion, usually gets broken down into a "day sail" plus a "long slog" as most of the crew prefer their beds at night. Most years we have no "overnighters" even though I enjoy them ..... but that's democracy for you!
The "missing" days of our cruise are spent at anchor for two or three days consecutively in a spot we have taken a fancy to.
When we used to charter in the Caribbean I would say that the same above Med parameters would apply. However, I've never sailed in the UK or Northern Europe and I'm intrigued as to whether these distances have some sort of "universal" application or whether N European sailing is different.
Richard
Each evening or morning I usually sit down with my electronic charts, cruising guides and the weather/wind forecast and decide which anchorages we might head for the next day. I then put my selections to the family/crew and we decide which we fancy.
After 10 years of doing this, the pattern of distances and the expectations of the family are so well understood by all of us that we have a evolved a sort of common language as follows:
The short hop - this is 10 Nm and usually follows a long slog or a windy/rolly night or when I spot something very interesting in the guide which is close by. This is a rare passage and in our month cruise perhaps only happens once or twice as no-one feels it's worth pulling up the anchor and moving for less.
The day sail - this is 25Nm and is our standard distance. I usually set the measure facility on the chart and sweep round an arc of 25 Nm until I find something interesting a mile or two either side of the arc. Probably a dozen passages of this length during our summer cruise.
The long slog - this is 40 - 60Nm and is usually only attempted if the wind is guaranteed to be in the right direction and I can persuade at least one of the crew to get out of bed an hour or two earlier than usual to help me weigh anchor and set the sails. The rest usually emerge from their pit once we are underway. Probably only 3 or 4 of these during the month as they are not that popular!
The overnighter - this is more than 75 Nm but, after discussion, usually gets broken down into a "day sail" plus a "long slog" as most of the crew prefer their beds at night. Most years we have no "overnighters" even though I enjoy them ..... but that's democracy for you!
The "missing" days of our cruise are spent at anchor for two or three days consecutively in a spot we have taken a fancy to.
When we used to charter in the Caribbean I would say that the same above Med parameters would apply. However, I've never sailed in the UK or Northern Europe and I'm intrigued as to whether these distances have some sort of "universal" application or whether N European sailing is different.
Richard
