Question for the PROS?????

Im new to sailing and was wondering how long it would take to get 5 miles just using a standard engine on a 27' sail boat??? Is it even possible? It would be crossing a bay region of water on LOng Island

Re: Question for the PROS?????

If it's pretty much straight line motoring with minimal current/wind then figure how fast your engine pushes the boat in miles per hour divided by the distance. It's probably safe to assume that you can motor at least 5 mph so that's an hour.

Double it to be safe, and allow you for getting underway and getting tied up/docked (or whatever) and your probably good at 2 hours.

Re: Question for the PROS?????

I've never sailed in your area, but a good basic safety tip is to take along a hand-held GPS and make sure you're making headway in the direction you want to go. If you find the boat is not going forward in relation to the real world, the current is exceeding the through the water speed of your yacht. So either speed up (if you can) or turn around and think again. It's all a matter of current speed versus boat speed and the GPS will instantly tell you how you're going. If you're powering along with the current (ie going really fast) think about what the return journey will be like against the current, and to check your boat's ability, simply turn through 180 and check the GPS speed again. Simply put, if you're doing 10mph on the way to your destination, and when you turn around you're doing 2 mph, the current is 4 mph and the boatspeed is 6 mph. So it'll take you 30 minutes to get there, but 2.5 hours to return, assuming the current stays the same. If it's tidal current, then work out the best times to do both journeys - preferably with the current behind you both ways!

TII