Bryan Tuffnell wrote:

What are people's thoughts on using a drifter in combination with their junk rig for those times when the wind barely makes it out of bed, a la PJR? That seems to me to be the ultimate combination, and would certainly tempt me if I was contemplating engineless coastal sailing.

I have noticed that the lighter weight, camber panel sail on Footprints does a very good job of finding wind when there is not much about. I imagine Fantail might be the same(?)

This discussion of engineless sailing has reminded me of something I witnessed back in the 1980's when I worked on The Opua wharf in New Zealand's Bay of Islands. I was running a yacht charter company at the time. The Opua wharf has very strong tidal flows across the wharf and we used to have a lot of entertainment during the busy summer season watching the catastrophes at this difficult wharf by boat operators who did not know their stuff. I remember an American sailor named Bill Sellers who sailed an Atkin 'Tally Ho' design and was resident in New Zealand but went off cruising up to the Pacific islands each winter. Bill had an engine, but apparently removed the propeller for ocean crossing so as to maximise the speed of his boat.

Anyway one year I witnessed him arrive from overseas and come into the Opua wharf to clear Customs. He approached the wharf under headsail only, and then when about 50 metres from the wharf dropped his anchor and let the chain run out. He dropped his sail and drifted beautifully alongside the wharf. totally calm, not rushed, and very professional. Several hours later when he had completed Customs formalities and it was time to leave he cast off his dock lines, casually winched in his anchor chain till it was up and down which pulled the boat away from the wharf, hoisted the headsail again, pulled up the rest of the chain and anchor, sheeted in and sailed away from the wharf. No fuss, no bother, and certainly no shouting at his crew.

After all these years that very relaxed and competent act of seamanship without the use of an engine still stays in my memory.

Annie Hill wrote:

Well, personally I would put in for a minimum of three anchors; losing one then leads to lots of bad language rather than the risk of losing the boat.  But for engine free sailing, there is a lot to be said for a small kedge - about 7 kilos, with a bit of chain and a lot of warp - about 100m.  It only needs to be fairly light stuff - 10mm octoplait (eight-strand) nylon has incredible strength, but will easily dump into your dinghy for kedging off.  Alternatively, you can unshackle it from the chain and go and tie it to a distant strong point.  If you have a good winch fairly high up on the cabin (like many junks that are sailed from a pram hood do), you can lead it to this and haul yourself off.  A couple of decent snatch blocks complete the system.  Also useful for shifting berth in a crowded anchorage.

Bryan mentioned 'concensus' so I'll cautiously propose:

A boat with an anchor, some warps, a motor and a sailing rig, all in good order, is safest and most versatile and convenient. To lose one or two of those, by choice or by failure, increases reliance on the others for safety, and may involve some sacrifice of versatility and convenience. Ultimately, safety depends upon the fallible human who's running the boat.

The near-concensus among boats out on the water seems to be to omit the sailing rig, or only use it when convenient. But in the JRA we tend to value sailing, even more highly than concensus... maybe.

Cheers, Kurt

I guess I am the guilty one in running this thread off the original track. Could I suggest we continue the outboard-engine discussion under this Outboard Engine topic?

Arne