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Date Posted: 12:12:24 02/01/09 Sun
Author: robert
Subject: Re: Engineless Sailing Motto
In reply to: Mike 's message, "Re: Engineless Sailing Motto" on 08:28:23 02/01/09 Sun

An engine is not a safety device, nor is it a convenience device, it is a propulsion system. A fossil fuel driven propulsion system. The system includes the fuel, the engine, the battery, the transmission, and the prop. The sails, spars, rigging and the hull shape are the components of the wind driven propulsion system. The oars, the oar lock, and the human body are the components of a human driven propulsion system. To point out the majority of rescues have to do with engines is a little bit suspect. Are you saying that these engine failures would not have happened if they didn't have engines? Duh. How many of those boats had only engines and no sails? How many of those engine failures were due to a lack of maintenance? Cars break down on the highway all the time, is it better to ride a bicycle so one never has to call on a tow truck?

The history of sailing before auxiliary engines is full of accounts of becalmed sailing vessels being swept onto rocks, or unable to make it the last 5 miles to shore while running out of food and water. Many of the ships that brought the Irish to America, had desperate times when they were becalmed for weeks off of New York, or Halifax. I find it interesting that except for museum pieces and in the poorest parts of the world there is almost no commercial sailing craft working daily on the water. Why have all the fishermen, the shipping companies, and the coast guard, switched to fossil fuel propulsion systems? I do not believe it is JUST because of money or market forces unless you account for insurance claims bringing about safety advances. They use engines in all those commercial boats in part because it is SAFER. Less death, less pain.

It seems to me that propulsion systems are propulsion systems. Be they wind driven, or fossil fuel driven, or human driven. Propulsion systems must be maintained and breakage can happen in all of them. Say one has a fall and loses the capacity of an arm, no rowing. Say a halyard breaks or one is becalmed, no sailing. I fail to see how this is any different than having an engine breakdown. A prudent boatman plans for all consequences. A competent boatman maintains all his vessel's systems. A poorly maintained propulsion system will break down more often, be it wind, human, or fossil fuel based. To take pride in being an engineless sailor because you can't or won't maintain your engine, or because your boat did not come with one is a little suspect to me. One could frankly admit that it takes knowledge and money/time to maintain all the systems on a boat be they sails, oars, or engines. Of course engines have a higher degree of mechanical complexity that can make them difficult to maintain and repair, but is that a good reason to avoid them?

Engineless sailing has many restrictions that can make it an exciting and rewarding challenge. But there are restrictions. The engineless sailor will be at the dock more often than the boat with an well maintained engine. Of utmost importance I feel is the response to being becalmed in an area with tidal currents. On the SF bay during the winter there are large changes in tidal height with the accompanying increase in current velocity, there are none of the steady thermal winds of the summer. Unless you can row your boat at 5 knots and are very cognizant of the tides then as an engineless sailor in these conditions you ARE SAFER on shore and not going out. If you take your engineless boat out of the SF city front on an ebb tide with a light wind you ARE going to go out the Golden Gate. You WILL be passing over the potato patch shoals on an ebb tide which will stand up the waves, or you WILL be drifting in the shipping channel. Drifting is not sailing. Sailing at 4 knots against an opposing tide of 6 knots is going backwards. Not every one has the sailing skills and knowledge that Mr. Fitzgerald has. Nor does every one on the water have the same level of local knowledge. A boat with a properly maintained fossil fuel based propulsion system will not only be able to move out of the harbor, it WILL BE SAFER for MOST skippers given these conditions. Of course ignorant people will continue to make bad decisions that will cause harm regardless of whether there is an engine involved or not.

I myself follow the adage of the surfers in Hawaii who felt that one had to do more than surf to be a complete waterman. One had to be able to sail, to dive, to fish with a spear, to know first aid and rescue techniques. The waterman ideal allows me to not harbor resentment for inanimate things like engines, and it lets me search for knowledge in the broadest way possible. I feel that to be a competent boatman in the 21st century involves some knowledge and skill at maintaining and repairing fossil fuel based propulsion system. This is of course in addition to the skills of helmsmanship, navigation, sewing, carpentry, sail trim and selection, provisioning, leadership, and first aid.

The cause to promote sailing skills is noble. The use of fossil fuel has many bad consequences. One does not need to defend competent and knowledgeable behavior. A fossil fuel propulsion system on a sailing boat extends the range of conditions that can be safely encountered. In other words, an engineless boat has several conditions where it is not as safe as a boat with a well maintained engine, and the intelligent decision of the engineless skipper is to stay on shore. If both an engineless boat and one with an engine are out on the water in these conditions then the boat with the engine is safer. I would still not call an engine a safety device but consistent propulsion is an clear aspect of safe boating.

r

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