Chrysler Sailors Forum

I am a bit embarrassed to even ask this question but since I am new to sailing and this is my very first boat I am curious.

What kind of speed do youguys normally see out of your boats. Granted this all depends upon sail configuration and wind direction and speed.

I normally sail between 3 and 6 knots. I just wonder what kind of max speed I could see with perfect conditions.

We do mostly afternoon/evening sailing on Mobile Bay where the winds are generally 10-15mph in the Summer. Our speed averages around 5 to 6 in these winds. I'm not sure of our sail sizes, but they appear to be of the average size for a 26 footer. Nothing special about our rigging; no spinnaker sailing. We're not breaking any speed barriers here, just a good booze cruise speed.

If you are new to sailing and making 6 knots, you're doing fine ! I always wondered why EE only ran about 4-5 knots max until I saw the bottom after the haulout <lol> !

You can find a pic of Windward's GPS showing current speed of 5.7 kts and max speed of 7.6 kts over a 16 nm trip on Jeff's site at
www.windward.lizards.net. Look for the link to "Inland, huh? Get much wind there? "

As far as maximum possible speed, some interesting notes on that subject and a link to the formula for maximum hull speed are on Avocet's site at:
http://users.accesscomm.ca/gbabish/racing.html

Regards,
Beau

Thanks guys. I am around that same speed so I think I am doing well. I did see the pic of the bottom of your boat. It looked almost hairy. I am a bit shocked you could go that fast.

Thanks again everyone.

R