At 10:48 PM 11/11/01, you wrote: >What Georgs is experiencing is that the boat speed has been down to 3.8 knots >at RPM that by the calculations should be giving them closer to 6.5 knots: >Thus the fuel consumption is more than expected, the range is less and >progress On the long passages I have made, where we estimated fuel consumption from engine consumption curves and any other information that we could factor in that was available, consumption was usually about as predicted in calm conditions. With increasing swell height and wind speed, speed would drop for a given RPM. The drop that the Nordhavn is having of about 2.5 knots is not atypical for wind speeds of about 20-25 knots and 10-15 feet of swell, if on the nose. In a small slow displacement boat like a trawler, there is no technical reason that ground speed can't come virtually to a halt, even if the current is not against you, given enough wind and steep enough swell. A little aggravation from a cross sea, will help even more. They may even be getting some current against them, though unlikely. No one in their right mind would set off to do something like this, on a schedule. I suggest a fund be started to buy them all straight jackets. Since they can't sail very well with them on, we can just hold them until each crew member returns, from his/her leg. If they object to wearing them on return, they can always fly them from the yardarm. Now won't that look pretty! Regards, Mike Capt. Mike Maurice Near Portland Oregon.

Me thinks that perhaps Patrick misunderstoon what Georgs meant. If you go to the Nordhaven web site the plan was to average slightly over 6 knots and cover the rumb line in 14 to 15 days days. In fact they are now out 8 days and have only covered less than half of the distance. This holds for the entire voyage--and is actually very critical for the weather windows. In fact I think that some of their calculations are a bit optimestic--for instance 7 days for the Red Sea. What Georgs is experiencing is that the boat speed has been down to 3.8 knots at RPM that by the calculations should be giving them closer to 6.5 knots: Thus the fuel consumption is more than expected, the range is less and progress slower than the predictions. As I recollect the predicted speed at 1100 RPM was slighly over 6 knots--yet they have not be able to obtain this (except for a brief peroid when the wind and seas were behind them). This is normal for ocean voyaging. One cannot set absolute schedules, unless one is on a very large boat that has an excellent reserve capability. Schedules are the down fall of many cruises. None of this implies that there is anything dishonest about the specs given--they are correct for conditions such as what Patrick described--However rarely does one encounter perfect conditions in world cruising or even on the ICW for all that matter. Now the critical question is if the Nordhaven 40 will have good weather, make all of its weather windows and complete the voyage in or near the time allocated. Frankly this type of trip is basically a delivary--and not a bunch of fun. I have made some of the passages that they are attempting to make, in a considerably larger boat and in a similar time frame--not easy to do. Bob Austin