Does anyone sail now or have sailed before without a motor

[double u]

"What did they do without engines in the days of sailing two hundred cannon galleons and no tide tables GPS's or reliable charts ??? Hundreds of years without motors and they made it back and forth most of the time "

luckily their ships were made entirely of biodegradable material, otherwise the world's shorelines would be covered in wrecks 3-deep! their drop-out & wrecked-rates were excessive!
re the no-motor sailing I can contribute a passage up the Red Sea: from the Sudanese-Egyptian border until Marmaris in Turkey we were with a 2hp yamaha outboard from the dingi as only "engine". as it is now far in the past (spring 93) most memories are blurred a little (generally it was tough going into the anchorages (w-coast of Red Sea) in the afternoon against the westering sun, & going out in the morning against the sun rising in the east too, calms could not be used in the "usual" way going north flat out under engine, headwinds were very strong at times, luckily our boat went to weather very well for a 37' cruiser, navigation could be demanding too - no gps - ) but a few "anecdotes still stand out clearly in my mind:
getting a tow by the Superyacht Philanderer the last bit up the Gulf of Suez, towrope bartight & boat making hullspeed
the borrowed outboard (from a classic schooner that the name escapes me now (crew: "...this boat is a f... submarine") stopping in a narrow part of the canal & we tacking against headwinds between oncoming ships, the pilot continuously yelling "stop" & accidentally dropping a cigarette into the cockpit that was full of 20 liter gasoline jerrycans...
being towed into Antalya marina by two "marineros", one on the controls & the other one holding the towrope in his hand, turning downwind into a deadend-lane of the marina at the head of which a wooden boat was alongside - & dropping our towrope...

memories now - at the time intense, INTENSE stress, a little wrong move could have cost us the boat, which was pretty much all we had then. the responsibility for "the-little-feller", then 2,5 not lightening the load.
we were pretty good at handling the boat then, in all modesty...

[picklesandjesse]

I sailed the east coast of Australia with my then wife in a 34ft cold molded boat without an engine but this was 30 years ago and it was a very fast and maneuverable boat designed by Bob Miller ( Ben Lexan ) and Joe Adams. We already had many years of experience. You become super aware and live very much like a wild animal. It's a very intense way to live. If you go ahead with your plan I wish you all the best but your boat will be challenging. Take extra food and water and be prepared to stay out at sea until conditions are 100% in your favor.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Cavalier

I'm not sure the OP has space on-board for 200crew! ;-)

Sent from mTalk

With long boats and lots of oars.

[Estrellita]

Thank you everyone for all the advice and experiences. If any of you want to add me on:
Facebook: tommorgan342@gmail
Or
Instagram: sailing_dreams
You can see how all the madness works out and I'm always happy to find other boat friends.
I'm off to get some work done.
Tom

[Scout 30]

A healthy person rowing can produce 1hp for a short burst & .1hp for several hours. That means a dinghy with a 5 hp engine is the equivalent of 50 rowers. If your diesel's not running that would be pretty handy to have lashed to your aft quarter. Also pretty handy to have when you need to get parts & supplies to your boat at anchor. Also good to keep in mind that the anchorage at Key West is notoriously rough in a blow.

https://www.quora.com/How-many-horse...-during-a-race

[Cadence]

Tom,

I may have missed it. What is wrong with your engine? That may be a better question to ask adout.

[Dave9111]

I read almost all of the responses.

Several problems:
I haven't heard mention of an autopilot. Any solo sailor will know that if you are doing it alone, you need an autopilot.

Lack of engine; Probably not a problem unless you run into bad weather or have a failure. You are doing this solo with a large heavy boat. What are you going to do if your rig gets tangled at night during heavy weather. No engine, no additional hands, you could easily get yourself in trouble to the point where you can't recover.

Getting to port:
Say you run into rough weather. You have no engine and a boat that will not easily go to windward and you decide you need to make a run into a port. This will not end well unless you get a tow into port. As has been said, marinas are not setup for engineless boats.

I still haven't heard a good argument for not hanging an outboard on your boat.
You have a steel boat, they are the simplest boats to modify. Weld on some steel on the side of the boat or the transom so you can raise and lower a 15-20 hp outboard. I don't see any reason for not doing this unless you are flatout broke, which in that case will not work well when cruising to Florida. The great thing about steel is that you can weld something on temporarily and then later cut if off without a trace. If you don't know how to weld, there are literally millions of people out there who do.

Find an outboard, use it, and sell it in Key West when you no longer need it.

[The Way]

Originally Posted by Estrellita

Thanks Jim
I'm actually going to have a buddy with a power boat giving me a little tow to the harbor/inlet. It gives me a Chance to clean all the growth off my anchor line and secure the anchor on the bow properly. I have 100 pound CQR that is a challenge in strong winds and narrow rivers. I'm planning on getting a nice skiff when I make it to the keys but For now it's a kayak.
This is my 7th boat. I just took a big jump from 28 to 41 ive been cruising the east coast for the last 5yrs. I think this is a good first passage for me. Charleston to Fernandina roughly 30 hr non stop. With some luck I'll catch the in going tide at Fernandina.

Lotsa luck in Fernandina if you're going to the marina. Very strong currents at times, and dock space on the river at a premium. I'm sure they won't let you try for an inside slip, as it is very narrow. I've had trouble there in my 36-footer WITH an engine.

Fair winds,
Jack

[hellosailor]

"Also making sure I have a incoming tide when I get to the inlet I need to enter. "
That's also called "NO BRAKES! NO BRAKES!"
You might very much consider entering AGAINST the tide, before low slack.

"How would I be endangering anyone elses if I'm single-handed?" Ergh...what happens when you have NO BRAKES! and your boat is about to t-bone someone else?

I'm not saying it is dangerous to SAIL a sailboat. Just that especially when it comes to strange inlets and marinas and mooring fields...sailing without an engine, single-handed, means you'd better be confident that you will have the boat under control, regardless of wind and tide.
Having at least a second hand on board to fend off the bow or grab a line, can be a big help. I confess, I've single-handed a 32', but only doublehanded 42's and 45's.

[Christian W.]

I sailed for nearly 30 years without engine, in my Serrafyn sister ship. I got an outboard when my little daughter started her toddler years, nothing quite so enervating as a whingeing child when you're 500 metres from the anchorage and totally becalmed in hot weather after sunset.

Several years ago I moved from my little Lyle Hess to a 10 ton Tahitiana with a sewing machine Bukh diesel. It took me little time to realise I no longer had a nervous stomach ache.

More seriously, the maritime world inshore no longer has the patience for engineless yachtsmen and women. Back in the day I used to make a big thing about sailing gently onto the boatyard haulout cradle to cheers from the yard crew. Nowadays you'd get much arm waving and yells to b.....off along with warnings of banishment! And with youth no longer on my side I wouldn't try it anyway.

You do learn how to sail though!

[double u]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

A healthy person rowing can produce 1hp for a short burst & .1hp for several hours.

https://www.quora.com/How-many-horse...-during-a-race

1hp = 735Watts
whoever sat on an ergo-bike knows, that this amount of output with hands & upper body is total phantasy even for 2sec-bursts except for olympic athletes. Only top athletes will reach this with their legs. (disbelievers please get on an ergobike & see for yourselves)

[double u]

one of the worst experiences on an engineless boat, the one I dreaded most:
to reach an anchorage one has to pass miles of reefstrewn waters (reefs could be close together like in some places in the Red Sea or further apart like the Tuamotus, but steep to without anchorage) & despite carefule time-planning the wind quits, the anchorage cannot be reached before nightfall & one is left drifting between reefs - no good-nights-sleep will be had...

[StuM]

Originally Posted by double u

1hp = 735Watts
whoever sat on an ergo-bike knows, that this amount of output with hands & upper body is total phantasy even for 2sec-bursts except for olympic athletes. Only top athletes will reach this with their legs. (disbelievers please get on an ergobike & see for yourselves)

To put it into perspective:

A top Tor De France cyclist will average about 200 Watts, can sustain up to about 500 Watts for 5 minutes or so and will peak at over 1000 Watts in a short burst. (with a heart rate around 170+!)

[barnakiel]

You do want a sailing boat that sails well for that. Not a "cruising" boat.

You may in fact find it hard to find a cruising boat to buy without an engine. And to buy one with an engine and get rid of the engine ... ok, but WHY?

An ex racer perhaps.

Mind if your area is sail-friendly: if there are plenty of marinas and few anchorages, you want a motor. Most marinas do not want/allow you to sail in.

Cheers,
b.

[roland stockham]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but I found they key to close quarters/docking with no engine (or a broken one) is to use warps. Learn to sail up to the end of a dock and guide her in on lines, use a line from a windward dock and use a 'tripping line'. A couple of long floating lines are almost essential. It is a very good technique for anyone to practice and part of the boat handling syllabus for courses like the RYA coastal skipper.