View Single Post
  #11 (permalink)  
Old 02-26-2008
sailingdog's Avatar
sailingdog sailingdog is offline
Telstar 28
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: New England
Posts: 27,075
Rep Power: 5
sailingdog is a jewel in the roughsailingdog is a jewel in the roughsailingdog is a jewel in the rough
Fighting the current is generally a losing proposition in a sailboat, which has a relatively low top-end speed to begin with. If the current is running at 5 knots against you, and you can only make 6 knots... the chances that you get into trouble are a lot higher than if you're trying to make the same passage at slack tide. A lot of the boats that make those passages against the current have a lot more horsepower and much higher top-end speeds... making a passage into a 5 knot current is much simpler in a boat that can do 20-30 knots as a top-end speed and has 10-30 times the horsepower you do.
__________________
Sailingdog

Telstar 28
New England

You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.

—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)

If you're new to the Sailnet Forums... please read this POST.

Still—DON'T READ THAT POST AGAIN.
Reply With Quote