How much Time is spent Actually Sailing?

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Great post! Sailing is just "being there". In which case I amend my estimate... I sail 100% of the time! haha

[seandepagnier]

We already know most people rarely sail. I have seen 20 cruisers in the last 3 months, and only 2 were using their sails. I'm 99.9% sail and .1% sculling oar.

What I want to know is how much time when you are on CF are you also sailing? Currently I am close reaching at 4 knots in 7 knots of wind.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by carstenb

I'm going to get flamed for this - but a typical coastal cruiser (note the word coastal) will use his (her) engine about 40-50% of the time.



Why?



Because coastal cruisers generally don't sail more than 4-6 hours per day, and if the wind is low or dying - the engine is started.



Not just my opinion - several studies have been done here in DK and they all show about the same thing.



The more experienced a cruiser is and the more and different types of weather he (her) has been exposed to - the more time is spent with the sails up and the engine off

I would agree with the 40%- %50. But I do t think the facts support your last paragraph. If anything, anecdotally , I d suggest , more experienced sailors motor more then newbies.

Dave


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[mrohr]

Look out on any coastal body of water…Boats sailing are invariably local and out for the day. Those motoring parallel to the coast are usually trying to get somewhere; I say 'usually" because there is a large segment of sailboat owners that almost never turn their motors off or put their sails up even in the most favorable conditions.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I would agree with the 40%- %50. But I do t think the facts support your last paragraph. If anything, anecdotally , I d suggest , more experienced sailors motor more then newbies.

Dave


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Don't think so either. I definately motor more now than earlier in my sailing career. Decades ago I would happily coast along at 2-3 knots in a light breeze just for the joy of sailing. Now, in cruising mode, which means if underway I'm working toward a specfic destination and maybe arrival time, I often fire up the steel genny if boat speed drops below 5 knots for more than a short time. Unless I am back home sailing the H33 just for fun (which I usually sail sans outboard anyway).

[weavis]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Don't think so either. I definately motor more now than earlier in my sailing career. Decades ago I would happily coast along at 2-3 knots in a light breeze just for the joy of sailing. Now, in cruising mode, which means if underway I'm working toward a specfic destination and maybe arrival time, I often fire up the steel genny if boat speed drops below 5 knots for more than a short time. Unless I am back home sailing the H33 just for fun (which I usually sail sans outboard anyway).

Its a case of familiarity breeds contempt. Not contempt for sailing or the boat, more so for wasting time.

I love sailing, I think we all do..... but having pulled sails up a few hundred times in nix winds and waiting a long time before switching on the engine.......

Now its.." screw this for a game of soldiers" and a reach for the engine first because of experience learned.......

[carstenb]

Different strokes for different folks

I find as I get older that I care less and less about when I get there, and I enjoy the journey more and more.

[forsailbyowner]

Originally Posted by carstenb

Different strokes for different folks

I find as I get older that I care less and less about when I get there, and I enjoy the journey more and more.

Ditto here. If I have a whisp of enough wind to keep the boat pointed in the right direction im sailing. I detest the sound of the diesel and the motion of the boat is much more pleasant while the sail is up. What gets me is watching people motor by with their sails up flapping slowing them down. I guess they must like to look like sailors to the people on shore.

[lifeofreilly57]

I love sailing, I love just being on the water whether sailing or not. If I have the time I'll sail, but if there's no wind at all the motors going on, unless it's a race where you must finish under sail.
Like many of the previous posts have said I think many people would be surprised if they actually recorded the amount of sail/ motoring time in their average year.
I've enjoyed drifting along at a leisurely pace at times, to the point of having to wake up the dozing crew from their naps on the rail to tack the boat, other times I don't have the patience and fire up the iron jenny.
It's all about the mood at the time, and that's the best part, you can do whatever you want, if the mood hits you, just put out the big drifter, drift along and and have a cocktail, as long as your having fun.
In the end it's all about what you want to do as long as your having fun even when your not.
Ah, to be on the water.......

[sailorboy1]

I love the "everyone motors except for ME" posts

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I love the "everyone motors except for ME" posts

I believe the guy with the sculling oar, maybe not so much the others

[weavis]

Always sailing, thinking about sailing, and preparing for sailing..

[donradcliffe]

Even racers motor. The latest leg of the Clipper RTW race was shortened by 500 miles, and all the boats are motoring to Panama.

[Cowboy Sailer]

In four and a half years we put 1000 hours on the engine. We went from the southern tip of Texas to the southern tip of Florida and back two times. At first we used the Inter Coastal Waterway, which is nearly all motoring and then we cut across the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi to Tampa, Florida in three and a half days and burned 2 gallons of diesel keeping the batteries up.
One trip back we followed the curve of the coast and stayed in about 40 to 60 feet of water. That put us about 6 miles offshore. On that trip we anchored every afternoon and grilled our dinner and met on deck for sundowners. We had a good night sleep and one night I left the main up all night long. That leisurely trip was the best! It was slow; we only made about 50 miles per day, but it was great. I used the motor to make weighing anchor easy but the actual trip was under sail. We used our Honda 2000i to keep the batteries charged.
I think we motored 1000 hours and sailed about 1500 hours during our live aboard period.

[tuffr2]

This explains when a sailboat owner told me they motor sail a lot. From my tally on the replies that if you really really like to sail you sail 60% of the time. If you really like to sail it will be 50%.

I guess I am surprised but this is what I have heard from other sail boat owners. That they use the motor at about 50% of the time.

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