Boat speeds

[Manie B]

I came across this paper on the 200 mile per day stories

excellent reading for those interested in passage making and cruising and the realities thereoff

many boats just dont go that fast - enjoy

Manie,
with a few exeptions (Windhorse is one) that is valid for most power boats too. After nine years of continuous cruising, going three times round, and clocking 112000 nautical miles, I found out that I had done a mere average speed of just 9.17kn. On a vessel capable of 17.4kn! We just calculated engine hrs. vs mileage. Less than 0.5% of the voyage was in canals or other speed restricted areas and less than 1% of the time we had really adverse weather conditions.
Despite the fact that I was at the helm for about 40% of the voyages and therefore had a first hand "knowledge" of our speeds, I would have guessed we made a average of above 11kn before our calculation was done! So, even if you know you made several poor 24hr runs you can have the impression of being relatively fast over a long leg.

Regards
Richard

[masalai]

Academically interesting... I plan to sail slower averages than that, just island hopping the shortest daily distances possible during daylight hours and enjoy the "peaceful" anchorages as long as I can, before moving on... That does not mean I will not enjoy the occasional burst of speed in favourable conditions for the sheer thrill of it (or hopefully not too often, to quickly find shelter up a mangrove creek, from a storm)...

[wannabeboater]

cool a lot of valid information