Why the endless need for speed?

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by AnglaisInHull

Yep. Next time out we're putting out the 130% foresail; probably manage 6 knots instead of 5.

Love the comment.

[oleman]

What I like best about entering a port is fresh pastries, veggies and leaving to go back to sea. I have been in many harbors as a crew member and did not go ashore. I have found that with most of the crew ashore, it is a great time to write a letter home and get in the post prior to departing for the next destination.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

As others have said -- Speed is Fun!
[...]

A sailboat going fast points higher.

All else being equal, a boat going faster will point *lower*, since the apparent wind moves forward as the boatspeed increases. Look at the recent America's Cup races: The boats were sailing upwind on very broad angles to the true wind, but the apparent wind was virtually on the nose. The only way they could point higher was to slow down.

Of course they were making the best VMG upwind by going fast and sailing "fat". A faster boat will get to the destination quicker, but it may not be pointing any higher. What's also true is that faster boats are often more close-winded, due to design, sail shape, and good trimming. But that's not the same thing.

Compared to many fast sailboats I can sail my little dinghy *very* close to the wind, but that's because it goes slow!

[Paul Elliott]

And has been mentioned, another component of "faster" is the ability to move in very light winds. When you are slatting around in leftover swells and close to zero wind, there's a huge difference between drifting sideways and actually sailing at 1 or two knots. A clean hull, good sails, and good technique do matter.

[BandB]

Wifey B: It's really just different strokes for different folks and who cares what the other person likes. I hope everyone has what they enjoy, not what makes sense to me.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by BandB

Wifey B: It's really just different strokes for different folks and who cares what the other person likes. I hope everyone has what they enjoy, not what makes sense to me.

[a64pilot]

I don't see how faster equates to light wind performance necessarily.
I thought light wind performance to a great degree came from big, light weight sails, not say from a planing hull or very fine hills?

Now fast often means light and light I can see means good light wind performance, but light and cruising don't seem to go together? How many race boats carry around a hundred meters of chain, an oversized anchor and a huge amount of water and food?

[Don C L]

Hmmm... I am guessing you were looking at maybe buying a Flicka?
Jim beat me to it,
Faster is funner

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by BandB

Wifey B: It's really just different strokes for different folks and who cares what the other person likes. I hope everyone has what they enjoy, not what makes sense to me.

Sailing isn't to satisfy the other guy.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Sailing isn't to satisfy the other guy.

Wifey B: Neither is powerboating.

[El Pinguino]

Size related speed may well get you out of trouble on short sea passages but it is no silver bullet on longer trips. There it is not so much how fast you go but where you point the boat.
Both my South Pacific trips were completed at an average speed of spot on 5 knots. For most of the time the speed was above that but it only takes a few days of very light conditions to bring the average down.
Last trip, yes, we got a smack and broke stuff but that wasn't down to going slow, in fact slower would have been better ... if I had a faster boat I would have found myself further south and received a bigger smack and broken more stuff....

Other yachts doing the crossing? I've known a few larger boats to do it in the low 30 days which is an average of six and a bit. I've also known larger boats ( and smaller ) to get knocked down and also larger( and smaller ) boats that have taken up to 60 days for the same crossing. Indeed when we last crossed we had another longer , lighter and supposedly faster boat just ( maybe 500 miles ) to the north of us... she took exactly the same number of days as us.

Its not just about size and nominal speed.... knowing where to put her in relation to the weather systems is very important and that is a strategic thing more than a tactical issue... a few extra knots is not going to help all that much with a fast moving front with a face of maybe 400 miles or so. Unless you sail due north ( in my case) but that isn't going to get you to your destination any sooner ....

BTW .. The young lady I was speaking of earlier sailed Mirror dinghies... still does... not sure what you lot were going on about

[El Pinguino]

A front.... extending from about 30*S to 45*S.... not sure how a few knots of boat speed is going to get you out of the way of this.... and as you can see its poking along at 25 knots.....

[jrbogie]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Bill Lee of the Santa Cruz ULDB movement years ago summed it up for many:

FAST IS FUN

Works for me!

Jim

what he said. it's all about what blows your skirt up in sailing. as a long time racer I now have a center cockpit hunter passage 42. not what you'd call a racer and I don't race her but I recently ordered a new warp drive radial cut main and genoa and an assymetrical spinnaker with top down furler. I sail a lot single handed and my kick is getting everything I can out of the boat. i'm sure there are lots of reasons people have boats but a big reason for me is to sail as fast and efficiently as possible. i'm near the channel islands in California and my day sails take in quite a bit more scenery than anybody I know here. I suppose another question; why not an endless need for speed.

[angelfish2]

This is an interesting thread...so many view points. I've been giving it some thought and I think the "need for speed" was a fact of life when we sailed our little Santana. If the lee rail wasn't in the water, we weren't going fast enough. It was a blast! However, putting the rail in the water on our IP wasn't fun at all.

We are not doing long passages these days, but I can see how a faster boat might be an advantage...but is it comfy? Perhaps there has to be a happy medium. Personally, I would rather have more stability and less "tender-ness" that seems to come with the faster boats.

I think it simply comes down to ones priorities (and illusion of safety).

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

All else being equal, a boat going faster will point *lower*, since the apparent wind moves forward as the boatspeed increases. !

They may point lower, but they will generally track higher because leeway is a lower component of their overall motion.

A basic mistake that many beginning skippers make when they start racing is pinching up to lay a mark. They see that they are pointing higher but don't appreciate how much their leeway has increased.