{"id":251,"date":"2012-10-17T04:35:41","date_gmt":"2012-10-17T08:35:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/?p=251"},"modified":"2015-07-12T14:10:28","modified_gmt":"2015-07-12T18:10:28","slug":"comfort-afloat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/comfort-afloat\/","title":{"rendered":"Comfort Afloat"},"content":{"rendered":"

First published in several Maryland newspapers, 6\/23\/89 \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0004\u000e\u000eComfort afloat<\/strong> \u0004\u000e\u0003<\/span><\/p>\n

by \u0004\u000e\bTom Dove<\/span>
\n When we go out for a weekend on the Bay, we are looking for \u0004\u001ca bit of adventure, but not too much. We are willing to take a bit \u0004\u001c of discomfort, but not too much.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

How much comfort we have depends on how well suited our \u0004\u001cboat is to the conditions of our cruise. A perfect sailing weekend is \u0004\u001cdifferent from a perfect powerboating weekend.\u0004\u001c All but the most fanatic racing sailors will admit that sailing \u0004\u001con the Chesapeake in August is generally pretty bad. There is \u0004\u001crarely enough breeze to make a sailboat go and temperatures in \u0004\u001cthe upper 90s are enough to wilt your spirits in a hurry when \u0004\u001cyour boat won’t exceed four knots.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as a refrigerated sedan is the best vehicle to cross a \u0004\u001cdesert, an air-conditioned powerboat is the star of the Dog Days. \u0004\u001cIt’s far from the outdoor life, but cruising across glassy waters in a \u0004\u001cfloating condominium is solid late summer comfort.\u0005\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

A roomy, high-sided powerboat is excellent at a marina or \u0004anchorage, too. There is plenty of room to socialize or not, as each \u0004\u001ccrewmember prefers. A generator provides all the comforts that \u0004\u001c\u0019115-Volts AC can provide.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

On windy days, including most of the spring and fall, the \u0004\u001csituation is reversed. When the breeze pipes up to twenty knots, \u0004\u001cthose square-sided planing powerboats take a real beating. They \u0004\u001cpound going to windward and roll going with the swells.\u0004\u001c On a rough day, the only way to minimize the unpleasant \u0004\u001cmotion of a planing powerboat is to slow down to displacement \u0004\u001cspeeds. When the skipper thinks about paying $25 per hour for \u0004\u001cfuel to go the same speed as a sailboat, it aggravates the matter.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

In a breeze, the sailor can reduce sail area and be perfectly \u0004\u001ccomfortable while the long, narrow hull slips easily through the \u0004\u001cwaves with minimum fuss. Best of all, the fuel is free.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many compromises in the range between planing \u0004\u001cpowerboats and cruiser\/racer sailboats. The most common are \u0004\u001c\u001amotorsailers and trawlers.\u0004\u001c Trawlers (or more properly, trawler-style yachts) are heavy \u0004\u001cpowerboats designed to run at displacement speeds. That is, they \u0004\u001cdo not rise on their own bow waves and skim, or plane, across the \u0004\u001csurface of the water. In this way, they are akin to sailboats.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

Planing requires a lot of power. Since trawlers do not plane, \u0005\u001cthey can use small, efficient engines and run nearly as efficiently \u0004\u001c\u0018as motoring sailboats. \u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

A trawler-type hull can be made both efficient and roomy \u0004\u001cand this makes it ideal as a floating home for long-term cruisers.\u0004\u001c Trawler yachts are much more comfortable than planing \u0004\u001cpowerboats going to windward in rough water, but they will roll \u0004\u001cwith a following sea, although to a lesser degree than their \u0004\u001cskimming cousins. A steadying sail on a short mast may reduce \u0004\u001c this rolling.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

Closer to the sailing end of the equation, motorsailers range \u0004\u001cfrom powerboats with large steadying sails to sailboats with \u0004\u001coversized engines. They are an attempt to combine the reliability \u0004\u001cof power with the seakindliness of sail.\u0004\u001c The best motorsailers will sail reasonably well in a good \u0004\u001cbreeze and power easily in light airs. Generally, the better the \u0004boat sails, the smaller its interior volume will be and the better it \u0004\u001cpowers, the more it resembles a motoryacht.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

Like trawler yachts, motorsailers travel at displacement \u0004\u001cspeeds, giving them fuel efficiency and the ability to plow through \u0004\u001crough weather with ease. Like sailboats, they have sizable rigs \u0004\u001cand narrower hulls than trawlers, enabling them to make use of \u0004\u001c\u001cthe wind when it is present.\u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

We discovered another solution to the comfort problem this \u0005\u001cweekend when a northwester whistled through with 25-knot winds. \u0004\u001cWe had a wonderful, comfortable trip in CRESCENDO, our 33-foot \u0004\u001csailboat, to rendezvous with friends who had driven their planing \u0004\u001cpowerboats through three-foot waves to reach the agreed-upon \u0004\u001c\u0005cove.\u0004\u001c Once there, we moved the party onto the spacious decks and \u0004\u001ccabins of PAT SEA and RUBAIYAT and had a wonderful time. \u0004\u001c<\/span><\/p>\n

We return the hospitality by taking some of our motoring \u0004\u001cfriends out daysailing on breezy days. There are comfort benefits \u0004\u001call around when you put aside the traditional rivalry between sail \u0004\u001cand power<\/span><\/p>\n

\u000e — The End —<\/span><\/p>\n

Note: The reference to spending $25 per day on fuel seems quaint today. Multiply that by about ten to get the cost of running a medium-size powerboat in 2012.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
<\/span> This beautiful classic Trumpy motoryacht defines comfortable cruising.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First published in several Maryland newspapers, 6\/23\/89 \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e \u0004\u000e\u000eComfort afloat \u0004\u000e\u0003 by \u0004\u000e\bTom Dove When we go out for a weekend on the Bay, we are looking for \u0004\u001ca bit of adventure, but not too much. We are willing to take a bit \u0004\u001c of discomfort, but not too Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":632,"href":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions\/632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/tomdove.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}