Cruiser performance needed?

[wannabe4]

How well does a cruising boat really need to perform when cruising the caribbean or the south pacific?


A couple of things I get hung up on is how much performance I really need in a cruising boat, specifically hull speed and ability to sail to weather.


I ask that cruisers who have been out there bluewater cruising respond to this inquiry.

Do you often find you are hard on the wind?

How often do you find its important to have the ability to point high?


How important is hull speed? Is it really that important to have a boat with a PHRF lower than 140 or is a PHRF in the range of 170-200 a non issue?

Best regards and thanks in advance!

[tager]

I don't recall whose blog it was, but he kept a very tight ship's log, and had a bar graph showing that his time on the wind was in the majority, or at least the point of sail on which he spent the largest amount of time.

The sample was an eastabout circumnav, I believe.

[Zanshin]

In terms of safety, a fast boat will get you to safe harbour quicker and make long passages shorter. This is great when crossing oceans where weather can catch up to you.
In the Caribbean, the longest passage is just over 70nm, so begin able to go 8 instead of 5 knots makes a difference of just over 5 hours sailing time, well within the range of weather forecasting.

Compare that to a passage of 1000nm between islands in the South Pacific where that same speed difference results in over 3 days separation between the fast and slower boat. Not only is the slower boat at sea longer and thus more likely to encounter adverse weather, but is most likely hard pressed to outrun a storm as well.

There is a big difference between island hopping in the Caribbean where speed is more a matter of comfort vs. ocean crossing in the South Pacific. That being said, I opted for a bigger boat not because I needed the space but because I wanted more LWL to make passages faster and thus safer. My thinking was that, even in the pacific, satellite weather forecasting is sufficient to give at least 3 days warning of a storm large enough to be worrisome and that ought to suffice to sail/motor out of harms way, assuming 6 knots while 5 knots or below might not be enough speed.

[Livia]

You might be interested in Beth & Evans article discussing whether longer boats can really outrun weather systems.

200 mile day

[mitiempo]

I don't think speed in general is very important when cruising the Caribbean. But being able to beat to windward can be very important. Lee shores won't move out of your way.