If planning a long-distance (many days) sea journey, mostly with a fair wind, what is your expected VMG assuming at least minimal crew (2-3) in a 45-ft yacht? Say, route from Cape Flattery to Cabo San Lucas or Southern California to Oahu, etc.
Cruising Yacht VMG
- Thread starter Kings Gambit
- Start date
In a trip from MdR to Puerto Vallarta, just under 1300 miles, in a 42' ketch, with excellent conditions all the way down, we made it in under 9 days, so between 140 and 150 miles per day. In my experience sailing to Ensenada from Newport beach in N2E, my time was, for 125 NM, from 18 hours the fastest down to close to 35 hours for the slowest or 165 miles and 85 respectively. What's your experience? You have plenty of miles under your keel.
In our h-27, we average about 5 knots over a long cruise. A 45 footer has a hull speed of around 9.2 knots, 150% of our 6.2 knots. So an equivalent average for a 45 footer would be 7.5 knots.
When we are cruising (as opposed to day-sailing), we take action if our average speed falls below 4 knots. On a reach or run,, that means deploying our asymmetric spinnaker. If that doesn't keep us above 4 knots, we turn on the "iron jenny" and motor-sail. We average about 5-5.5 knots motor sailing. Also, if the winds and waves are forecast against us, we stay in port for a day so we are only fighting wind and waves in an unexpected wind shift, which also improves our average.
On the Great Lakes, there is always a marina or anchorage within a day of sailing, and we do not sail through the night. This means that we do not sail in the lower winds that often occur at night. I understand that this (and maybe long hours of motor sailing) is not possible/desirable on a trip to Cabo or Oahu.
Fair winds and following seas!
When we are cruising (as opposed to day-sailing), we take action if our average speed falls below 4 knots. On a reach or run,, that means deploying our asymmetric spinnaker. If that doesn't keep us above 4 knots, we turn on the "iron jenny" and motor-sail. We average about 5-5.5 knots motor sailing. Also, if the winds and waves are forecast against us, we stay in port for a day so we are only fighting wind and waves in an unexpected wind shift, which also improves our average.
On the Great Lakes, there is always a marina or anchorage within a day of sailing, and we do not sail through the night. This means that we do not sail in the lower winds that often occur at night. I understand that this (and maybe long hours of motor sailing) is not possible/desirable on a trip to Cabo or Oahu.
Fair winds and following seas!
On some examination, Rick D.’s response is much better than mine. Cruising marina to marina simply does not compare to an offshore cruise.
Here is Henk Meuzelaar’s answer of 120 to 150 nm per day: Att: Henk Meuzelaar: How Many Miles/Day...
Henk is no longer posting, but he sailed his h-43, Rivendell, 10’s of thousands of miles in the Pacific, and was certainly a great authority on offshore larger Hunters.
Here is Henk Meuzelaar’s answer of 120 to 150 nm per day: Att: Henk Meuzelaar: How Many Miles/Day...
Henk is no longer posting, but he sailed his h-43, Rivendell, 10’s of thousands of miles in the Pacific, and was certainly a great authority on offshore larger Hunters.
I haven’t done much overnight distance traveling, such as HaHa, or SFB to Long Beach, for example. N2E about what you report; 30 hr in moderate to light average wind for the Bavaria, which is less than 5 kt VMG. Yes. We have predictions based on theoretical hull speed, when achieved; and then there’s what is actually realized in conditions.
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Yes, OK. Maybe generally expect about 5.4 kt VMG in a 45-ft cruising yacht going distance. Maybe less for a yacht under 40 ft even though hull speed limitations are probably not in play for either.
However, I suppose the smaller yacht could be limited by its hull speed more of the time than the larger one in best (i.e., not average) wind conditions; thus reducing its VMG to far destinations.
You can do this very easily with Windy.com
It will compute VMG and forecast in front of you.
I set 4 knot speed in this example, but you can change your route too to maximize VMG.
We are helping @dLj cross the Atlantic, so far his 41 foot boat is half his theoretical Hull Speed or 4 knots.
Jim...
Hey,
How much fuel do you have and how badly do you want to be at your destination? The longest trip I have done was a 5 day passage from Bermuda to NY. We carried about 100 gallons of diesel, not enough to motor the entire way, but if the speed dropped below 5 kts the engine was on and we were motoring at 6 kts.
That wouldn't work for an ocean crossing, but for a trip under 1000nm it would be fine.
Barry
How much fuel do you have and how badly do you want to be at your destination? The longest trip I have done was a 5 day passage from Bermuda to NY. We carried about 100 gallons of diesel, not enough to motor the entire way, but if the speed dropped below 5 kts the engine was on and we were motoring at 6 kts.
That wouldn't work for an ocean crossing, but for a trip under 1000nm it would be fine.
Barry
Definitely! Even under lesser conditions. Hull drag is a continuous function, and “hull speed” is just a point where the slope gets really steep (also where the bow wave length matches the waterline length).
A bigger boat carries proportionally more sail, meaning proportionally more force, but is operating at a lower percentage of its maximum drag for a given speed, so it goes faster.
If you’re towing a dinghy the effect is even greater since the dinghy drag doesn’t change (your SA/dinghy ratio goes up).
My C34 is much faster than my old H25 given the same wind, even more so in lighter wind, although it’s also carrying a bigger jib (135 vs 110) and I took all the weight out of the dinghy, so it’s not quite a fair comparison.
sail grib will use your vessels polars and the forecast winds, add in loss of efficiency at night and in high winds and give you a better guess, or 5 knots.