La Vagabonde's crossing

[Exile]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Hey! What happened to


??

Poor example you're setting

Poor example who's setting?

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Rubicon King

It’s a great thing she is on a zero carbon footprint boat. No petroleum based products on that vessel, not a single zero carbon emitting processes used to make any of that technology.. Pffft

Please take this to the other thread, where the usual suspects are slugging it out, and keep this one about the crossing.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by gamayun

It would be fun to hear what a newbie really thinks about taking a racing sailboat over and then a cruising catamaran back. Some of my broker friends might be interested in this, too.

Especially since they seem likely be hit by gusts in the high 30s and possibly 4+ metres seas some time in the next couple of days.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Greta Thunberg sparks surge in sailboat hitchhiking

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...at-hitchhiking

OT, but I laughed at this bit:
"He is seeking funding to build a sustainable sailing ferry capable of transporting 200 passengers 480 nautical miles in 24 hours"

[john61ct]

Originally Posted by StuM

Please take this to the other thread, where the usual suspects are slugging it out, and keep this one about the crossing.

closed long ago, at least at the time I checked

[Breaking Waves]

Routing says they can tack and start heading E or ENE anytime now.



They should be able to pick up a lot of speed, and looks like they will pretty quickly move out of the stronger wind field. But it may be bumpy at first with speed and some sea state. At least they are into warm water now, as that always makes things a bit more pleasant. Been a bit of a rough start for the seasick prone folks, but they needed to get underway when they did, otherwise, this low would have been more of a problem.

The full routing is a bit faster and a bit lower latitude than before but not major change. Right now they are looking at pretty good wind angles most of the way (thus the faster speed) . . . . I still dont know how fast they will push the boat. It has decent reaching speed potential, but anything over like 8 or 9kts will still be a bit bouncy and they have an infant on board.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by StuM

OT, but I laughed at this bit:
"He is seeking funding to build a sustainable sailing ferry capable of transporting 200 passengers 480 nautical miles in 24 hours"

they already have ferries in the med that can do that,20,000kw and you are good to go at 20 knots,the bigger ones will do 40knots and have 4x10,000kw engines

[Breaking Waves]

This is what the wind speed profile looks like over the most recent route:



bottom line obviously you can not depend on the exact details because of the long time frame of this forecast - but - a lot of 25kts true reaching. With perhaps one true (light) gale force on about the 21st.

[DeepFrz]

Originally Posted by atoll

they already have ferries in the med that can do that,20,000kw and you are good to go at 20 knots,the bigger ones will do 40knots and have 4x10,000kw engines

Norway has committed to converting all of their ferries to electric propulsion. I don't know the time frame and what the impact of a recent fire on one of the ferries is but they are headed in that direction.

There is also a ferry running between Denmark and Sweden that is propelled entirely by battery power.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by atoll

they already have ferries in the med that can do that,20,000kw and you are good to go at 20 knots,the bigger ones will do 40knots and have 4x10,000kw engines

Note the words "sailing" and "24 hours"
Can those ferries run non-stop for 24 hours?

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Breaking Waves

Routing says they can tack and start heading E or ENE anytime now.

It's happened. They turned a bit before the 0600Z update. Latest heading 70°

[Barbaria]

Originally Posted by StuM

Bahamas? More likely Bermuda

Yepp

[Budawang]

That's a sharp turn. Still only doing 7.1 knots despite what looks like 20 knot winds on the beam. Maybe they're being quite cautious.

[Snowgoose35]

It looks more like a close reach than a beam reach right now and the speed will bring the apparent forward ...

Meanwhile to go OT answering a few queries from above - some cargo ships were fitted with automated kites that they could deploy and control at the press of a button which saved around 40% in fuel but then the oil price crashed and interested waned but the company still exist and hopefully will see more interest again .

A friend of mine is working now for Sailcargo in Costs Rica who are building sustainable wooden cargo ships on enormous scale to try and show that much of the shorter cargo shipping (between the Americas for example) is viable under sail and maybe one day we could move back to major shipping routes under sail. Lets keep to the OPs rules and not discuss whether that will be a viable/crazy thing - the fact is that people are trying to see so we can all wait and find out if it is... The good news on all of this whatever your belief (in the face of facts) is that lots of money will go in to sail research, hull forms research and battery technology which will all make our sailing lives better over time

[Breaking Waves]

Pretty slow speed. 5.8 kts with 20-25ish kt reach.

I’m going to have to tune my polar way down. I presume this is crew related rather than a boat limitation.

A bit surprised. Perhaps their “sweet spot” is with a bit less wind and seas. But boat speed in exactly their current condition is real useful for weather routing/avoidance.

I guess is possible they are just taking a “let’s get a good nights sleep” break since they “turned the corner”.... or have broken something.