Friend needs to move sailboat, I have some questions.

[TrentePieds]

Make yourself a "sailplan". Do it as a table where you note the departure time from each "way point" in one column and the ETA "Expected Time of Arrival" for the next way point in another column. Each etape (passage between way points) gets its own line in the table. Further columns can be introduced for "comments" such as velocity and direction of current for the particular etape you are dealing with. Charts will tell you where suitable way points are, places where you can either tie up to a float or buoy, or put your anchor down so you can wait out an unfavourable current without "losing ground". And places where you can stay safely in the night time.

With two of you aboard, and planning to motor all the way, make your etapes of 6 hour's duration, and take 2-hour turns on the helm. In the Buccaneer with a 15HP engine you'll be going 4.5 knots THROUGH THE WATER. Where you are going, the current will run 5 knots quite often, and therefore, if the current is against you, you'll be going BACKWARDS in relation to the land. If the current is WITH you, you'll be going 9 knots forward in relation to the land.

The direction of the current will change every 6 hours, or so, in the waters where you are going. The precise times at which the current changes, the times at which it has maximum flow, the times at which it has NO flow (called "slack water"), and its velocity at maximum flow, you can pick up from the current tables which you can find by googling or by buying them in hard-copy from a chandler's.

Being new to the game you shouldn't be out there at night. So plan to be moving only in daylight and on a current that runs the way you want to go. You plan these etapes by looking at the current and tide tables. Don't try to "buck the tide". You'll just make a frustrating misery of the trip rather than a pleasure.

IF you can get in 2 etapes in daylight on a given day, AND if you motor, your effective speed in relation to the land will be about 7 knots, maybe 8 for the each of the 6 hour passages so that in 12 hours total running time (2 favorable tidal flows) you can get in 12 hours x 7 knots = 84 miles, i.e. very nearly the entire distance.

I said IF :-)! So get out your tables and plan your passage. When you've done that you take it to your dad and say: "SEE!" You might even convince him that you know what you are doing :-)

Even after 60 years of sailing I STILL do a "sail plan" ALWAYS. If I'm in waters I know intimately I can usually keep the "table" in my head, and the Tide Tables and the Current Tables are ALWAYS on my navigating table, just in case I mess up and have to go back and do the plan over again. When I'm in unfamiliar waters I ALWAYS do it on paper, and I plot my intended track on the chart.

I have a little retro-fit Garmin GPS in my car. I take it with me aboard. I set it to read out the co-ordinates, and every fifteen minutes or so, I amuse myself with plotting the coordinates from the GPS on a paper chart. That shows me how close I am to my intended track and if I need to make course corrections. My silly little el-cheapo GPS is accurate to within 2 boat lengths or so. It takes me 10 minutes to go a mile through the water when I'm going full bore, so plotting every 15 minutes I ALWAYS know exactly where I am.

Someone else said make sure you have a VHF. Second that! One reason I plot every fifteen minutes is that if I should ever need to send a PAN-PAN or, God forbid, a MAYDAY I have the last plotted coordinates still in my head and can give them without having to look them up and that should bring the Coast Guard so close to my current position that they could actually see me.

Bon voyage!

TrentePieds

[Cheechako]

If the 88 miles is accurate, I would give myself 3 days in that small boat, about 30 miles a day. With 10 hour days, and some adverse currents that's 3 knots, but your places to stop are not in perfect spacing.. Keep motoring hard unless it's blowing well and go in a decent weather window. You don't want to go when a south/westerly storm is going thru at 20-50 knots of wind on the nose. I assume the engine works well. Leave at daybreak each day and push hard. Time the narrows as best you can. Maybe stay at Quartermaster Harbor on Vashon the night before the Narrows or Gig Harbor if they still allow anchoring there. Depends on your first night stop I guess.
Some advice:
Test the motor long and hard at the dock before leaving.
Test the bilge pump.
Make sure the bottom and prop are clean if it's been sitting a long time.

[hamburking]

Is this what the boat kinda looks like ?...attached.

[hsi88]

When I got back into sailing after a 20 year "break" for marriage and family, I bought a 27 foot Catalina for almost no money, put a motor on it and sailed it 40 miles to its new home. Everything that could happen pretty much did on my journey with my brother. This is what happens when you "think" you are prepared, but are not. Based on my prior years of sailing I should have known better. But then again, it was April Fool's Day!

The story starts with: Hi Luke and Rachel,

OurWaterLog.com : Life On The Chesapeake : Zanadu Lives On

[Sailorbob8599]

Originally Posted by skarz

He was going off 90 - 100 miles at 4 knots and then factoring in tides/currents. I also kind of misspoke, I meant a 'week' as in 5 days, sorry. A business week.

Also as I said, I've only ever sailed a Laser and my friend has never sailed this area. He has not been sailing in quite some time. I think my dad was just being very paranoid and didn't want me to go.

Hello skarz, welcome to the forum. I would guess you may be right. You don't tell us your age or sex although, I did see one post in which someone addressed you as "Peter". I'm not sure where he obtained the name from. I didn't see it on your public profile ... But as far as your Dad is concerned, I think all Dads would be concerned given the information you have provided. All this means is, he cares for you and wants you to stay safe.
No matter how old children get to be, they're still our sons and daughters so yes, we do tend to worry about them; particularly if what they are about to do sounds a little dodgy. But don't let this stop you from going on an adventure.
I encourage you to be adventuresome, but never allow a friend talk you into anything foolhardy. Trust your instincts and stay safe. You can do that by heeding all the valuable and excellent advice posted here. Let us know how it went.

[darylat8750]

Another note. That 15 hp motor will push that boat as fast as it will go with about 1/2 throttle. Increase throttle slowly and pause, a little more and pause. Until adding more throttle has a smaller effect on the speed. Back off a little and that will be a pretty good throttle setting for cruise.

I think it is really important that you spend a couple of days very close to your departure dock checking out the way the boat handles and the engine runs.