Article by Dave Zeiger
In this day and age, why choose slow?
When I think back over the years, our average speed under sail has got to be well under one knot. This is the result of a number of choices. I'm going to explain them, not defend or push them on you.
Here are factors which contribute to our slow boatin':
Our cruising grounds are prone to calms
The entire Inside Passage, broadly speaking from Olympia, WA to Skagway, AK is a place of highly variable weather. Dead calms can linger at any time of year. Non-motorized sailors in our grounds are going to drop their averages right down.Our cruising grounds are prone to sudden winds
Those calms can be punctuated by sudden onset squalls and prolonged winds of gale and storm force. Winds near the complex shorelines are flukey in strength and direction. Williwaws (avalanches of wind) spill off surrounding glaciers. We prefer a relatively snug rig to hedge our bets against the ambush of wind.
Our rig is Junk
That's a joke, sort of. Junk Rig has a bad reputation to windward. While it's not entirely deserved, there's a grain of truth. And we dumb ours down to maximize simplicity and lower costs. The result is an easily handled but less powerful rig.
Payoffs are listed in an earlier post, Why We Love Junk Rig.Our hulls are short
A displacement hull's top speed is a function of its length of sailing waterline. All things being equal, the bigger the boat, the faster it goes. But we choose small.
Payoff is a hull cheaper and easier to build, maintain and keep house. The scale of physics to human muscle favors the human. Likewise, gear requirements are less, especially if you can handle the anchor and rode without a winch. Small is simple. Temptation to fill it with gizmos and gew-gaws is self-limiting.Our holds are full
We don't have any storage, shoreside; it's all aboard. Plus, we carry a lot of on-board insurance in the form of anchor gear, heavy movers (jacks, come-alongs, BB winch), tools, spares, food and clothing ahead. All this adds to displacement. On a small boat (even a barge), it slows ya down.
Payoff is that such insurance is at hand when we need it. We don't pay rent ashore, nor have to make a voyage to get our hands on our stuff.Our (barge) hulls are boxy
Curvy hulls are slipperier, no doubt about it. Water slides more easily past the hull, with less friction on given overall dimensions. While box barges are surprisingly fast and able, when laden and rigged for cruising, they are unlikely to be front runners.
Payoff is maximum carrying capacity, interior volume and form stability (heels less) on a given footprint. Curvy hulls have to be larger to achieve the same qualities. Boxy hulls have efficient (rectangular) storage spaces and high, inherent lateral resistance. Also, boxy hulls are astonishingly fast and cheap to build, without requiring much in the way of tools and shelter. Use of foam-board insulation and other sheet materials is simplified. If you're already living on the fringe, box barges are in easier reach.We tow a 16-foot dory
Dragging a tender is an effective way to slow a boat down, on any point of sail. Maybe a full knot off progress to windward, which is a big chunk of a small boat's allotment. Just hold the painter in hand while charging along, and you'll see why.
Payoff is that we (who anchor up most nights) don't have to endlessly launch and retrieve a necessarily smaller tender. The long length is a better match to our LWL. It can cover some serious ground, hauling a load while it's at it. This lets us explore an area or make longer runs, on occasion. If guests show up, it can handle the extra. Should we somehow lose our vessel, we've got a serious lifeboat.We're a pair of daydreamers
Serious sailors stay focused at the helm. No one steers a perfect course, but most probably do better than we. We often wake from a reverie to find ourselves a smidge high or low on the wind. Maybe a whole smoose. Tsk, tsk.
Payoff is that it's awesomely beautiful all round about; beauty that's easily missed if our focus is speed made good.
The top speed-over-water of displacement vessels under sail (most monohull cruisers) is limited by Length Water Line (Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL). In other words, the range of speed most of us are talking about is from 0 to a single digit of knots. A bicycle is faster without breaking a sweat. From a power boating perspective, we sailors are all slow!
The curve of resistance is low at lower fractions of hull speed…relatively low power input drives us to about half hullspeed. After that, it climbs to near vertical at hullspeed. One consequence of this is that human power and half-throttle engines can potentially drive a vessel economically at or near half hullspeed.
Since all such vessels are in the same boat, as it were, a fast boat is one that is easily driven AND generates ample wind-power across its small range of speed, affording higher averages of speed. Choice and handling of sailing rig is often considerably more important than that of hull.
Seacraftiness plays a role, as one can play tides and currents to augment speed-over-bottom.
Note that a fast boat sailing toward the wind (a racing priority) may be the slower boat off the wind, and vice versa. Cruisers and racers have very different priorities.
Every vessel is the result of a whole string of trade-offs and compromises, made to suit the life and style of her owners. Speed under sail is a strong pull toward one set of trade-offs. Shoe-string sea-steading is another. Some (maybe most) find a middle path somewhere between extremes. What we find to be a pile of payoff may not impress the next sailor.
Sailing to windward, Anke and I have to substitute craft and patience for mere velocity, given our other choices. We maintain our sea-room, suss harbors near at hand and keep a sharp eye to weather.
But all winds are fair, depending on where we choose to go. Our other choices help give us the freedom to sail full and by the wind's whim. Anchor up and away! Spread sails wide to run wing and wing, or broad reach 'n jibe.
Catch us if you can! •SCA•
Dear Dave Zeiger,
I was impressed by your writing style and narrative. You covered an area of boating rarely asked about. I was equally mesmerized as I learned of the peculiarities of the different sailboat models and forms for an ocean passage.
It's my thought, (or maybe just my hope?) that folks like this form a large part of our more experienced small boat shipmates. Understanding their boats and accepting the trade offs, so that time on the water yields the best of satisfying experiences. I have yet to find many of these sailors in circumstances that need of lot of outside assistance if something very unusual has not interfered with them and when found in an anchorage they are usually a welcome addition. Even the stories they present or comments on most any small boat subject is an inspiration to me to try harder to be that kind of on the water neighbor.