Oz1 wrote:


Would the outboard push you to windward in those conditions? ;-


On which topic: a fascinating small book which you may be able
to get out of a larger library is Ron Thiele (1987) "Ketch hand:
the twilight of sail in South Australian waters" Main'sle Books,
PO Box 316 Portland, Victoria 3305 (Australia) ISBN 0-7316-1551-4

One of the interesting facets is that quite a proportion of the
remaining mosquito fleet of coastal ketches and schooners after
1945 were lost, because they were bought, cheap, by non-sailors
just back from the war planning shark fisheries or tourist
ventures or just wandering. On the SA lee coasts, hit by westerly
changes (always on delivery/pickup voyages) they forgot that they
were sailing a sailing ship and relied not on the sails but on
the auxiliary motors, which being crank, or ancient, or simply
inadequate, lost their small ships. If they'd sailed them,
they'd mostly have survived.

In neither of my admittedly iconoclastic craft has the motor ever
been the device to rely on in times of trouble. Many tell me
that this is _not_ the case in a _proper_ sailboat, where the
auxiliary is _always_ to be depneded on, and indeed started at
the first sign of trouble. But somehow, I fail to be convinced.

PS. I must say, the ancient 9.9 Honda renders the miseries of the
more ancient Tadpole seagull to distant memory. But there is
always a sail up, except in the marina where they won't allow it,
and in there, there's always an anchor for that happy day when
the motor dies unexpectedly. And no: the 9.9 would be totally
inadequate to push to windward directly in that chop. It
wouldn't be in the water long enough...I did use it as a sail
assist at one stage though.

Flying Tadpole