Power vs sail?
Keith Wheeler calls on four decades of boating experience to help in making the decision on whether your next boat will be power or sail
Should your next boat be power or sail? A helpful guide to deciding...
With boating, like everything else in life, you will find your experiences, ambitions and lifestyle change in tune with family and finances. This is why I have ended up owning a succession of boats from homemade kayaks to dinghies, trailer sailers, yachts, motor-sailers and motor cruisers. One thing they have in common is that they have all given me enormous enjoyment and been right for me at the time.
But how do you know what boat, or even type of boat, is best for your future self? Well, start with the logical questions: where do you live, where do you want to go boating, how fast do you want to go and what is your budget? Then ask yourself: what does your heart tell you? Then perhaps there is a compromise to be had that works for you.
For the purposes of this article I am restricting my thoughts and comments to cruising boats from 16-40ft with a cabin you can sleep in without being too much of a contortionist.
Where do you go boating?
Many people dream of selling up, setting sail and making exotic landfalls – me included. If you really want to go long-term blue water cruising, then a yacht wins pretty much every time. It’s perfectly possible to sail transatlantic in an inexpensive small yacht (less than 30ft), whereas the smallest motorboat you could feasibly run for more than 2,000 sea miles would be something like a Fleming 55 or a Nordhavn.
But is your dream boat for exotic landfalls right for the coastal cruising you are probably actually going to be doing? If your boating area is somewhere like the Essex coast or Morecambe Bay and you like anchoring in creeks and bays rather than marina hopping, you are most likely going to want a boat that can take the ground, and this will naturally lead you towards a bilge/swing keel yacht. Your motorboat options are limited to a displacement boat where the rudder and props are protected by a skeg and you will also probably need legs to assist in drying out upright. If you must have a planing boat (power) or fixed keel (sail) yacht your options on where to overnight are much more restricted unless you’re cruising somewhere like the West Country with plenty of deeper anchorages.
Size, speed and cost
Size to a large extent is determined by budget, not just for the initial purchase but also mooring and running costs. Length for length powerboats will usually give you more space than yachts by virtue of their respective shapes, and more natural light below. Nevertheless, things are changing with modern designs – life below decks in a yacht can be less mole-like than it used to be. Also, size for size, motorboats are generally more expensive than yachts initially, so motorboats win on space but lose on cost.
If you like having lots of family or friends aboard who are not necessarily boaters and entertaining is important to you, the size of cockpit, saloon and galley are vital attributes. This will tend to steer you towards a motorboat, which on these attributes will generally trump a sailing boat of the same length – unless the sailing yacht is a catamaran, of course.
I’ve found the old saying ‘the smaller the boat, the greater the fun’ does have a ring of truth to it. For inspiration, look up the adventures of Shane Acton aboard Shrimpy, an 18ft plywood Caprice designed by Robert Tucker which he bought for £400, or Charles Stock in Shoal Waters his 16ft 6in gaff-rigged boat built on a Fairey Falcon cold-moulded wooden dinghy hull he bought for £137.50.
For some people their choice between power and sail is determined by their attitude to fuel costs. The real question is how far do you want to go and how fast do you want to go? If you don’t want to go particularly far or particularly quickly then fuel costs become less of an issue. If you want a displacement powerboat, fuel costs are at least half of those you’ll face with a faster, planing cruising boat.
But planing boats are allowed to go slowly too. I recently cruised my planing motorboat from Plymouth to the Inner Hebrides and the majority of that time we travelled at displacement speed (8.5 knots) as we coast-hopped in order to enjoy the scenery and to save fuel. We only elected to travel at planing speeds on the longer open-sea passages such as Milford Haven to Arklow where we were at greater risk from unexpected changes in weather conditions. The advantage is that when you are in a planing powerboat and it starts to lump up you can get to port more quickly than you could in a displacement boat.
Which is safer at sea Ð sail or power?
The range of positive stability of a sail or power vessel primarily depends on five main factors: shape, centre of gravity, windage, prevention of flooding, and position and security of moveable weights, which includes crew. Never underestimate the impact of a large
crewman on a small boat’s stability! A large and somewhat clumsy father-in-law led to some interesting times on my 5.5m (17ft 6in) Pirate, often testing family unity!
Sailing boats are typically understood to be more stable than powerboats, as their keels make them self-righting. But looks can be deceiving.
I once delivered a Scandinavian-built motor-sailer with two pals and the owner’s son aboard. We were due to take it from Birdham Pool to Dartmouth. It scared the hell out of me in moderate weather. I believe two versions of this particular boat were offered, one a displacement motorboat and the other a motor-sailer. It would appear this boat had been converted by a previous owner simply by putting a sailing rig on a motorboat version but without any additional ballast. To say her motion at sea was ‘lively’ was a gross understatement.
On the other hand in my little Fisher 25 motor-sailer I feel confident that I would survive a storm even if I was shaken rather than stirred! I bought this boat in 2006 and love her to bits. In fact I couldn’t bear to part with her and still own her today, although she is now in partnership with my son.
Whether they are displacement, semi-displacement, or planing types, most powerboats, if given sufficiently strong and watertight superstructure, windows, hatches and doors, will have an enormous range of positive stability. Many will actually be self-righting. As far back as the 1940s one Captain Robert Beebe wrote a book called Voyaging Under Power in which he concluded that ‘a properly designed and built motorboat is safer in most conditions than a wind-powered craft for long ocean passages’.
But even the best design is useless without maintenance. Some years ago I went to the USA to help deliver a Cheoy Lee 63ft motor-sailer back to Europe. This is a tough, 50-ton globetrotter with a huge ketch rig and twin diesels offering transatlantic range under power. Yet as we entered the Gulf Stream there was a lot of water shipping over the bows and a lot of it was pouring straight into the forecabin. The yard that had allegedly prepared the boat for the trip had failed to reseal the hatches, which meant a diversion into Grand Bahama to get things fixed.
Head or heart?
Boating is as much about the heart as it is about the head for most people. Pride of ownership is important for many boat owners – it is for me – and I am a great believer in the old adage that if it looks right it generally is right.
Consider whether you derive more enjoyment and satisfaction from just being out on the water or the whole ownership experience? If you are happy to tinker and are practical, in my experience there is more to do if you own a sailing boat than if you own a motorboat – although many motorboaters seem to spend a lot of time polishing their boats.
With a motorboat, at the risk of stating the obvious, the engine is your sole source of motive power, so the majority of any tinkering (assuming you are competent) is usually devoted to keeping it in tip-top condition.
Weather and passage planning
When I am planning an offshore passage in my motorboat I look at the weather forecast with even greater interest, especially the speed of any approaching fronts. In a planing boat you can take advantage of much smaller weather windows, yet, conversely I also start to think about abandoning my planned passage at lower forecast wind strengths than I would if I was going in a yacht.
More often than not when I have made long passages in yachts the wind has been on the nose and when I got to my destination, blow me if it didn’t go around 180° and I ended up motoring back. I love sailing but not to the extent that I want to double the distance travelled by beating, being dowsed with icy water every few minutes and perspiring heavily in my high tech very expensive breathable oilies.
If you don’t like being outside when it is wet and cold get a motor cruiser and enjoy the comforts of a heated wheelhouse. Some yacht builders have now recognised that not everyone wants to be sat out exposed to the elements and are building models with deckhouses and internal helm positions.