Why the endless need for speed?

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by boatman61

For me speed = breakage.. more stress on rigs that are of dubious quality so slow and steady wins the race..
Weather and sea state do not bother me overmuch as I'm quite happy heaving to with some good books for a few days while it passes at its average 12kts while I drift at 1kt.. leave all the running to those with lesser understanding.. one owner could not understand how I could sleep while wind, waves and lightening raged.. he was sure we should be fighting the elements.. 😂
Thats for rich folk.

I agree with you Phil regarding breakage and stress on the boat, but sometimes it's beneficial to get out of the way in a hurry. Or at least have the abilty to get out of the way should the need arise.

[El Pinguino]

Of course fast is fun... and no-one would ever want to go to sea on a slug... however....

On a passage of any consequence the idea that making 8 knots instead of 6 is going to get you out of trouble - when fronts can pass through at 30 knots - is fallacious at best.

It's not.

I'm with Boatie.. the need for speed can lead to breakages which can ruin your entire day voyage.

[Kenomac]

The larger or faster boat making 8 knots rather than the slow boat going 6 knots will be under the same amount of stress. But at the end of the same day, the faster boat will be 48 miles closer to a safe port/anchorage or that much further out of the way.

I believe this was demonstrated three years ago during a storm between Rhode Island and Bermuda, when all the faster boats made it in time but the slower IP got stuck in it, resulting in a death.

Fast boats can go slow, but slow boats can't go fast,

[El Pinguino]

And if you are on the Queen Mary you will be back in Southampton in the bosom of your family....

I'm not looking at it from the 'my boat is bigger than yours' point of view... but from the 'driving her hard' side of the issue.

I have no trouble cranking my boat up to something in excess of theoretical hull speed but in so doing I know there is a fair to middling chance of it ending in tears... and 48 miles closer to destination is neither here nor there when you still have a DTG of 3 or 4 thousand miles....

Would I want a racing sled the same size as my present boat? No.. I would not.

But then I would not want a tubby little canoe sterned lead mine either...

[Kenomac]

'Nuff said.

[noelex 77]

The real passage making speed is not the time taken to do the crossing, but rather the time taken to do the crossing and complete the repairs to get the boat back into the condition is was before leaving.

By this standard a lot of fast boats are, in reality, consistently very slow.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

'Nuff said.

Should have had AIS....

Tail-enders in races getting into trouble is nothing new... 79 Fastnet being a good example...

Don't worry about speed ... just avoid racing and she'll be right...

[conachair]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

The real passage making speed is not the time taken to do the crossing, but rather the time taken to do the crossing and complete the repairs to get the boat back into the condition is was before leaving.

By this standard a lot of fast boats are, in reality, consistently very slow.

Cruising boats tend to define passage success more in how much broke rather than how quick..

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by boatman61

For me speed = breakage.. more stress on rigs that are of dubious quality so slow and steady wins the race..
Weather and sea state do not bother me overmuch as I'm quite happy heaving to with some good books for a few days while it passes at its average 12kts while I drift at 1kt.. leave all the running to those with lesser understanding.. one owner could not understand how I could sleep while wind, waves and lightening raged.. he was sure we should be fighting the elements.. 😂
Thats for rich folk.

Sure, but it also depends on the boat, doesn't it?

A strong boat with modest SA/D doesn't care too much about sailing fast.

A cheap boat with a lot of sail area, especially with an old, unmaintained rig, is a different story, of course.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by conachair

Cruising boats tend to define passage success more in how much little broke rather than how quick..

Fixed it for you..

[daletournier]

Two boats left here (cocos keeling) for Rodriguez. One was an Amel 53 and one was a smaller older boat. The Amel took 12 days the other boat took 18. At the moment it is a particular rough passage, seems more so this year from reports im getting. No one that I know has got to Rodriguez and said" I wish it didn't go so fast and id still like to be out there".

Give me the option of speed within reason anyday, I can always slow down.

[daletournier]

In regards to breakages. I had a small stealy racing me in far north qld recently, I think it was approx a 50nm passage. We got there the same time. The difference was he was pushing that small boat to the limit to sustain 7knots, everything was up and he was adjusting continuously, I had a furled genoa only, which boat was under more strain and more likely to break?
Having a faster boat dosent mean you need to push it to its limit, in fact that's the beauty ,you can sail it well within its limit and still have fast passages.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Sure, but it also depends on the boat, doesn't it?

A strong boat with modest SA/D doesn't care too much about sailing fast.

A cheap boat with a lot of sail area, especially with an old, unmaintained rig, is a different story, of course.

And... the majority of folks out there have the cheap boats.. the percentage of $100k/200k+ cruisers is pretty small when you look at it..
CF tends to cast a false picture of reality.. got to go to Yahoo Groups, YBW etc to find the hidden majorities.. ��

[El Pinguino]

This has developed into a 'big is best' pissing contest..

Bigger isn't always best... its all to do with how you use it.. or so a young lady once told me..

Back on topic... I once sailed into a big 'High' and ended up 'glassed out'... this really really big boat that was nearby set a spinnaker or two and sailed out of the high... into the back of the front on the far side... and copped a hiding and blew out her spinnaker and her mast fell down and the boat sank and they all died...true story... honest..

Big and fast isn't always best....... or so the young lady said

[BandB]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Bigger isn't always best... its all to do with how you use it.. or so a young lady once told me..

Wifey B: Well, I once heard that those who said "Size doesn't matter" are those without.

I think there's some of that in speed too. If we can only go x amount, we try to say we wouldn't like more. Sometimes it's true, sometimes it's not.

I don't want to cruise regularly under 18-20 knots. I like 35 knots. I'd really like 45-50 knots. I don't have any desire to go beyond 60 knots as I've been 90 mph on water and it really was beyond my comfort level. Control was poor, boat walked and one wave hitting wrong would have been scary. Fastest boat we've ever owned had WOT of 55 knots and cruised 40-45 and I loved it.