If you think you can sail upwind single-handed in a 30' wide channel in 35kts - more power to you. Yet I did sail in - because I had enough knowledge of the topography and wind patterns to risk going outside the channel - and only bothered with that because I was trying to make a birthday party - I could always have dropped hook.
I don't pretend to be the world's best sailor, but suggest you save your armchair sailing advice for after you convert. You lack credentials otherwise.
-K
--- In electricboats@
>
> I have to chime in since I've sailed on the SF Bay since I was 10, 40+ years. You have to expect heavy weather on the Bay most every day Spring through Fall. As I see it, electric (or diesel) power is "auxilary" power and a sailboat is meant to sail. We used to sail into our birth 50% of the time, I'd be happy with 2 gallons of gas. Boating is a challenge and there are always risks, if a person isn't comfortable with sailing most of the time, perhaps a sailboat isn't the right vessel. I'm not conservative enough to need a gas/diesel as a back up to my sails.
> Sorry to sound so negative, but I'm going with electric.
> Napa Scott
>
>
> --- In electricboats@
> >
> > Here's a little thought experiment to help you decide if electric is right for you. Think about all the trips you've had with diesel/gas in various weather/current conditions. Now imagine that you started those trips with only (1 gallon of diesel/2 of gas), because that is about equivalent to what you will be able to carry in electric energy. Would you have comfortably finished all those trips?
> >
> > Now...you can bring a generator, but they must sit on deck to be safe, and they really only extend range - the don't help much if the batteries are already low and that is, I bet, when most of us grudgingly turn them on. I know I wait until the last minute.
> >
> > In very rough conditions - such as I hit yesterday afternoon returning to Brisbane when the SF Bay "wind machine" went full throttle - you may find you lack the punch to even turn into the wind. I had Vessel Assist on standby but I ended up tacking in under jib-only at low tide - somewhat hair raising.
> >
> > Now...some of my batteries are shot, and I put in 14NM that day - but the problem is conditions can change on a moments notice, and you find. as I did, that fast currents, 3/4 of the day with no wind and the last 2 miles at 35kts in the face makes for a rough finish.
> >
> > -Keith
> >
>
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