Some time ago, during the epic engineless sailing thread over at the Wooden Boat Forum, I created a poll to see what folks thought about the safety of engineless sailing. Results trickled in little by little but today we reached 100 votes. So I thought I would pass along the results.
The results of this poll ended up being quite a surprise to me. Granted, my little blog is a very small and unique subset of the general sailing public, but having read all the safety concerns and fears about sailing without an engine, I thought the results would have been more much tilted towards engineless sailing being unsafe. In the end, only 9% of the visitors, and voters, from Knockabout Sloops thought engineless sailing was unsafe.
Cool.
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2 comments:
I sail on the Hudson River in a scaled down J Class, known as an Endeavour J (20'4"LOA, 12'LWL, 3'6"Beam and Draw). This classic has no other power than wind. You have to know the tides and the currents and stay clear of the shipping chanel, but I have no issues sailing her. You can see photos of her on the boatdesign.net (http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/sailboats/mini-j-class-32980.html)
Glad to know I am not the only "crazy" one out there.
An 1978 Islander 36, which had been sunk at berth in Portsmouth, VA, was sailed to the Key Bridge (Baltimore) in a little over 48 hours (anchored the first night and moved early when wind shifted). It was then threaded up Bear Creek and backed into the berth there at Sheltered Harbor. Experienced sailor though and single handed.
My engine-less experience is based on knowing the weather window that I am sailing in. I wouldn't just head out without a favorable expectation of good weather (breeze) to return. An anchor is important. Remember that there have been sails long before engines so a real history of engine-less sailing exists to support the survey. thanks!
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