What boatspeed should I expect, as a percentage of True wind?

[smj]

Originally Posted by GRIT

Still 12 miles out. But it was a decent passage. Very slow at first, with winds of 5 to 7 knots, building to 30 knots on Saturday night.

Cheers.
Paul.

Nice average speed. Was that the singlehanded trip from St Augustine to Beaufort NC? Was the top speed surfing, and was it a comfortable ride?

[GRIT]

Yes, I took that photo this morning, just before deciding I'd better slow down, or suffer the current coming out of Beaufort.

I never saw the 23 knots, it must have just been for a minute, maybe while I was brushing my teeth or something.

The most steady speed I saw was 13 knots, with the odd surf to 16 or so. Though I didn't have my eyes glued to the knotlog either, so it's possible.

Yes, single handed, St Augustine to Beaufort. It was very comfortable, except for about 3 or 4 hours when I got caught in a counter current, with 30 knots from the South (current opposing). That was unpleasant, but when I managed to get out of it, things were fine again.

Cheers.
Paul.

[fxykty]

Max speed, especially GPS, is prone to spikes both up and down, so it is possible that you never actually hit 23 knots. Averages and actual 24 hour runs are better ways to gauge speed.

[GRIT]

I agree.

When it comes to outliers like that one, after spending most of the night at 13 surfing to 16, I tend to think it was a gps error.

Cheers.
Paul.

[multihullnz]

Beautiful boat!!!

[GRIT]

Thank you, Multihullnz.

It's always nice to hear that.

Cheers.
Paul.

[RunawayC47]

Our best was 9 knots in 5 knots of wind at 120 to 140 degrees.

[GRIT]

WOW!

I have no illusions of my being able to get anywhere near that.
I'll be glad if I can sail at windspeed, on a regular basis.

Thanks for that.

Paul.

[smj]

Originally Posted by GRIT

WOW!



I have no illusions of my being able to get anywhere near that.

I'll be glad if I can sail at windspeed, on a regular basis.



Thanks for that.



Paul.

Yeah, at the point you think you have a performance boat you realize performance is a relative thing!

[RunawayC47]

I have found that the longer I own my my Conser 47 cat (20 years now) the less I try to go as fast as possible. In the beginning every time I went out I was looking to sail over 20knots. Now it’s just looking for a nice comfortable sail.

[GRIT]

Originally Posted by smj

Yeah, at the point you think you have a performance boat you realize performance is a relative thing!

How true!

Paul.

[GRIT]

Originally Posted by fxykty

LFR = low friction ring


On our boat we get quite a lot of spray onto our salon front windows in waves (not flat water) in 12+ knots TWS upwind and decent speed. The spray comes mostly from the lee bow and occasionally from the windward bow. Maybe it’s just us? We do have the traditional Danson wide-rounded bows - no sharp cutwaters for us!

At anchor we do have two large salon front hatches and yes, the wind whistles through! With the propane hob we would have to close the hatch on that side to keep the flame from getting blown out.

Fxykty: I took this video for you yesterday. We took some spray from a single wave, while I was reefing. But the water coming up to the nets, as you see on the video, is higher than it normally gets; though we usually slow down more than we did yesterday.

This was in 20 knots of wind, at 60 degrees true. Two reefs in the mainsail, and a couple of turns on the jib. Boat's doing 9 to 10 knots or so.

https://youtu.be/H-4Ig0FAfSA

TWS top left, SOG top right, STW second from top right.

Cheers.
Paul.

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by GRIT

Fxykty: I took this video for you yesterday...

Nice

But quite good sea conditions, if I'm right I don't see any whitecaps?

Your boat does seem quite dry though.

[GRIT]

Thanks.

Few whitecaps, with no real explanation. You can see some if you look closely.

We were about 3 miles or so offshore, with the wind coming, more or less, from shore. You can see the windspeed on the instruments on the top left. Previous to taking the video, you could hear the wind whistling through the hatches that were open just a crack.

I don't think there was a current.

Overall, it was a pretty good sailing day; though it would have been better a little more off the wind.

Cheers.
Paul.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by GRIT

Thanks.

Few whitecaps, with no real explanation. You can see some if you look closely.

We were about 3 miles or so offshore, with the wind coming, more or less, from shore. You can see the windspeed on the instruments on the top left. Previous to taking the video, you could hear the wind whistling through the hatches that were open just a crack.

I don't think there was a current.

Overall, it was a pretty good sailing day; though it would have been better a little more off the wind.

Cheers.
Paul.

Offshore flat water in a decent breeze is awesome. Usually just wind ripples until 20+ TWS steadies for a few hours. Boat feels like it is slicing through the water, lovin’ it!

For us, we don’t care where the wind is coming from and anything from close hauled to 150* TWA is painless - closer means tacks, not bad at all, more open means gybes or DDW wing and wing or spinnaker or main down - decisions, decisions, decisions. Hence the fun of a sailing boat rather than a point and sit motor boat.

Great video.