What's the difference between a gentle and moderate breeze?

Gentle breeze, everyone out on the water. Families on motorboats feeling sick. Children throwing up.
Moderate breeze, sailors sailing, motorboats suddenly find they need to stay in to check the gin stocks.
 
DanTribe said:
Force 6 used to be regarded as a Yachtsman's Gale.
But nowadays for me, anything over 20 knots (force 4/ 5), is a gale.
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For all our bragging, I suspect that many of us are pretty wimpish when it comes to deciding whether to set out or not. One disadvantage of having a wind meter is that it pulls the rug from under our attempts to exaggerate, and it can be a shock to find out how lively it can be at the top of F4. The chief difference before sailing is whether one is on a lee or weather shore. Many years ago when we had a Sadler 29 we wanted to sail from Brighton to Cherbourg, a fairly easy crossing if you play the tides right. It had been blowing a bit during the night from the NE and the forecast on LW was for it to moderate a bit. Accordingly, I did a bit of bluffing and we set off with a scrap of jib. Before long I had to deploy the whole jib, then the main, and finally the spinnaker. Even this failed to push us on and we ended up motoring, but the comical bit was that the midday weather report at that time was F7 at the Royal Sovereign, a mere 50 miles away.
 
SaltyC said:
A gentle breeze is sailable, 5 knots ish? A moderate breeze is good sailing, Mile munching weather (direction dependent) with minimal sea. (Even in the Irish Sea).
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That 5kn requires a proper sailing boat. You, I presume, own such a craft. In 5kn, we can show 85 sq m of white sail to propel our 2 tons, we might exceed wind speed on the right point of sail. But I find most others motoring in that.
 
Chiara’s slave said:
That 5kn requires a proper sailing boat. You, I presume, own such a craft. In 5kn, we can show 85 sq m of white sail to propel our 2 tons, we might exceed wind speed on the right point of sail. But I find most others motoring in that.
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If passage making I will resort to iron topsail go keep average up. However, if pottering/ day sailing I can achieve 4 knots plus in 6 knots of breeze (with a clean hull) and wind forward of the beam, downwind urgh! Once true wind hits 10k I can achieve 6k plus.
I have noticed, particularly in the Solent, i tend to be in a minority sailing not motoring.
 
SaltyC said:
If passage making I will resort to iron topsail go keep average up. However, if pottering/ day sailing I can achieve 4 knots plus in 6 knots of breeze (with a clean hull) and wind forward of the beam, downwind urgh! Once true wind hits 10k I can achieve 6k plus.
I have noticed, particularly in the Solent, i tend to be in a minority sailing not motoring.
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The tidal streams are challenging if you need to be somewhere before the pubs shut. I assume that’s why so many people resort to motoring. We have a club lunch to attend next week. It’s going to be a close call whether our code 0 can save us from an uninspiring motor. On the plus side it is upwind with the tide behind us. Homeward, we can only hope for a change of direction. 16 miles or so with the forecast well below that 5kn. We’ll give it a shot.
 
johnalison said:
Their tops’ls went to the great sail graveyard in the sky many years ago after they sought shelter in harbour and their skippers sought solace in the local taverns or in the arms of the barmaids.
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It’s not the same…..westerly centaur F1. Full sail

Westerly centaur F4. Running for shelter……Under reefed main and rolled Jib…..🙁
 
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