All boats are sets of compromises chosen by the owner. Of course a diesel with a full tank of fuel will take you much further and probably faster than even a state-of-the-
The safety issue is a red herring in my opinion. People made trips on big sailboats for hundreds of years with no engine at all. There are still thousands of people with engineless daysailors safely enjoying their boats. We have traded the cost and hassle of an engine for the ability to (sort of) keep to a schedule, weather be damned. You hear this same arguement use to defend obscenely large engines in powerboats - "But honey, it's fast enough to out run bad weather and get you home safely".
I'll bet there are a lot more problems coming from a sailor relying on an engine that suddenly doesn't work than there are E sailors running out of juice and blowing up onto a lee shore. The E boat does not have the range or speed of an ICE but its performance is much more predictable if you just pay a bit af attention to the battery state of charge, easy to do with a $200 meter.
Far and away the most critical safety item can't be purchased - it's the skipper's seamanship skills.
Denny Wolfe
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