Sailing a Downeaster 38 without a motor

[Tarnacc]

When I was a kid we had a Hughes 38 which by comparison is a lighter more nimble boat. The engine never worked and we essentially sailed engine-less. We were not serious cruisers and just bounced around Corpus Christi, the Gulf of Mexico and south Texas. Looking back on it now as an adult I dont know how we pulled it off. It certainly wasnt due to being good sailors. How does that saying go about God protecting idiots or something like that? We would sail upwind through a winding narrow marina inlet and sail right up in to the slip. I thought we were really something.

Then there was the time we were coming in to the T-Heads in Corpus... I dont think they are there anymore but there used to be park benches on the bulkhead. People would sit there to admire the bay and sailboats coming in. We were coming in hot (engineless of course) and this part is a bit fuzzy but as I remember, in an effort to depower and not crash headlong in to the bulkhead we let go the mainsheet and the boom swung all the way out as we raced along the bulkhead. At the time as a child I thought the scene of all these park goers diving from the park benches as our boom swept over them was great fun. Being a bit older and a bit wiser I dont look on that memory in the same way and I have NO desire to repeat it.

Now, this event in Corpus was clearly a result of our irresponsible behavior but I also know that should I choose to go engineless again (I wont) I know that there would be times I would want to be somewhere that the conditions were not favorable for. There would be times I would want to execute a maneuver the conditions were not favorable for and I would wind up making a bad memory.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Even the people noted for being "engineless" and writing books about cruising secretly carried a small outboard.

...and if it's the people I think you are referring to, also had a number of people tow them into an anchorage before dark on a windless evening.

[jeanathon]

Thank god Colombus, Magellan, Cook, and the rest of those guys had engines and charts or all those natives would be less enlightened.
It is very doable will make anyone a better sailor. Let me know if you need crew.

[Fore and Aft]

Jeanathon not sure that Cook etc were sailing into crowded anchorage's or marina's? Plus I am sure Cook etc didn't have to be back at work on Monday.
Sure it can be done, but you better make sure you have good insurance.
Cheers

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Jeanathon not sure that Cook etc were sailing into crowded anchorage's or marina's? Plus I am sure Cook etc didn't have to be back at work on Monday.
Sure it can be done, but you better make sure you have good insurance.
Cheers

And Cook et al had large professional crews who often towed the ships with rowed longboats when needed. And didn't he have a few mishaps that required considerable repair... done by the on board experts?

I reckon the comparison is pretty silly and surely does not support the OP in his aims.

Jim

[PirateFoxy]

I got cured of the romance of no motor as a kid when we were sailing in Conneaut Harbor in some tiny little something I forget the name of. (4 people maximum, if you didn’t mind sitting right next to each other, to give an idea of size.)

Conneaut Harbor was and is an active port for Great Lakes freighters. BIG freighters. One was just coming in to get unloaded, but the skipper (who was maybe 19? I was ~12, boat full of dumb kids) judged we had plenty of space to zip across, and a nice breeze, and we would have been fine except about a third of the way across the harbor the wind died completely. Oops.

Now, I’m reasonably sure that we still had plenty of distance between us and the freighter, but when you are in a much smaller vessel, stuck in front of the thing that does not have a great stopping distance is NOT a reassuring place to be. There is nothing romantic about thinking “if I don’t get moving we’re going to get squished.” And you feel very squishable around things of that size, or at least I do.

(What actually happened is we waved down the other group with us, who were in an identical tiny boat but with an outboard motor. Usually they towed us in/out of the slip, so they were able to come tow us out of the way fairly quickly once we got their attention. I imagine someone else in the harbor may have helped if they hadn’t been there, there’s usually a few people coming or going from fishing in the lake. We also had an emergency paddle, though you were in kind of an awkward position for efficient paddling.)

In any event, now I want to be the one in the boat with the option to go even if the wind isn’t cooperating. Just in case.

[Bycrick]

If you sail without a motor, you’d better have a lot of patience and make sure that any crew or companions do also. Once, when I was trying to figure out how to sail in light winds, it took me almost two weeks between Manzanillo and Zihuateno. Another time, trying to avoid using the motor because of a temporary repair, it took 10 days to do the last 300 miles into Manzanillo.

Just imagine the six-year-old in the back seat asking "Are we there yet?" every five minutes for two weeks.

[jeanathon]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

And Cook et al had large professional crews who often towed the ships with rowed longboats when needed. And didn't he have a few mishaps that required considerable repair... done by the on board experts?

I reckon the comparison is pretty silly and surely does not support the OP in his aims.

Jim

Sailing without a motor requires planning and patience with some more patience and more planning.
A motor and all the newest gadgets are nice to have, but most often distract and take away from actual sailing skills and being THE on board expert.
As far as being at work on Monday. You should never sail or fly to a schedule with or without a motor. You should never sail to a schedule.
Last week I was on a boat that was motoring into Charleston with the main up as a container ship was coming up fast from astern. The wind was such that the ship was going to rob us of wind when she passed. Just before reaching the jettys the engine died and wouldn't restart with the current against us we would have been screwed if the main had not been up. As it was we were able to turn out of the channel at a safe depth with a minute to spare, circle around behind the ship, unfurl the jib, sail into the harbor, up the river, and into the marina slip.
With or without a motor sailing requires planning and patience and many more things.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by jeanathon

Sailing without a motor requires planning and patience with some more patience and more planning.
A motor and all the newest gadgets are nice to have, but most often distract and take away from actual sailing skills and being THE on board expert.
As far as being at work on Monday. You should never sail or fly to a schedule with or without a motor. You should never sail to a schedule.
Last week I was on a boat that was motoring into Charleston with the main up as a container ship was coming up fast from astern. The wind was such that the ship was going to rob us of wind when she passed. Just before reaching the jettys the engine died and wouldn't restart with the current against us we would have been screwed if the main had not been up. As it was we were able to turn out of the channel at a safe depth with a minute to spare, circle around behind the ship, unfurl the jib, sail into the harbor, up the river, and into the marina slip.
With or without a motor sailing requires planning and patience and many more things.

Then there is the real world...true, you should never be on a schedule but if a storm is approaching and it's a choice of starting up the engine 30 miles from port or bobbing like a cork, engine-less, saying "come get me", the choice for me would be obvious. Nit-picking about patience and planning can be weighed and balance with trip inspection of routine maintenance of engine and diesel filtration to ensure proper engine operation. But you see, that's nit-picking too and **** happens and when it does you just have to deal with it.

So as far as the Op's question...it's safer to have a running engine rather than not. If one wants to practice engine-less sailing, sail a dinghy. It will teach you a lot and without the pucker factor.