The affect of wind on a vessel without a sail

[Grattaway]

Neta hi

A practical example - a rower in a kayak coming from Australia to New Zealand has traveled 2500 km in 53 days. So under 50 km per day. Yesterday with a tail wind he covered 70 km and expects the same today.

And no idea why he would row across this ocean when he could sail!!

As has been stated don't use average current information as tide and seasonal changes make a big difference especially in coastal regions and closed water bodies.

Practical experience is that in coastal waters current can have a bigger impact than wind on a small boat in usual boating conditions ie on nice enough days to go out in a small boat

Good luck with your research

Regards Wayne

[knockabout]

if you are patient enough and you have food and water protection from the elements tide, current, wind can take you anywhere you want to go / you may need good ground tackle while waiting for a tide change / the best we got out of our boat bare poles was 9kts north of south east cape Tasmania / the Kontiki expedition from USA to east coast Australia was a success in proving migration using basic vessels is possible / the surviving raft is in Ballina museum NSW Australia / we watched a viking ship row past mackay a while back then noticed an article asking for assistance for them in USA trying to exit customs / although they had a large ford lees engine for emergency / they tried to rely on wind and oars plus seafaring skills / a huge vessel with vegetable gardens, livestock, strong shelter from the elements is mentioned in the scriptures the Ark

[jmschmidt]

There are people who have developed mathematical models to track ocean debris such as that from the disappearance of Malesia Air 370. These models forecast where a piece of debris may be found if acted on the winds, currents, sea states and other factors existing at the time of disappearance. Or, conversely. if some debris is found, from where it could have conceivably originated. There was work done on this in Germany regarding MS370 and at the University of Hawaii regarding the case of a fisherman who claimed to have drifted in an open boat from the coast of Central American to the Marshall Islands where he turned up. In both cases the data developed indicated that it was entirely possible the debris found near Africa came from MS370 and that the fisherman's story as to how he got to the Marshal Islands was plausible.

In both cases these experts had weather and sea state date from actual records for the periods and areas in question. Since your research is concerned with ancient times, this data would have to use best estimates as to the conditions existing at that time.