Some people might say that Cap'n Steven has reduced the metacentric height.
For what it's worth I heartily concur with the Cap regarding the practical safety an engine in a sailboat - they are not just a convenience, they can be essential. Things happen-that's nature's rule... Even in places like SF Bay you can get in trouble, weather is seldom ideal and always fickle, and traffic can compound problems.
More seriously, does anybody know anything about the Petter whatiz is talking about?
Oh no, I never said unpredictable things wouldn't happen. A fishing boat was sunk by a cow falling from the sky. Like the broken flywheel in another thread parts fail due to hiden faults. What we were talking about was the engine being necessary to operate a sailboat. Don't misconstrew that as condoning sailing without one. I don't condone it any more than sailing single handed. Yeah I did both and I am the first one to say that anybody who does either is an idiot. Like I said, if I was stupid enough to get into trouble, I am not going to ask somebody else to risk their life to save mine and I have been in trouble out there.
The point is this, If you have a seaworthy boat with the proper equipment and the proper compliment of sails and the knowledge to use them all, That boat is going to do what it is designed to do and the engine is not going to make any difference. If you do not have the proper sails to keep the boat standing upright, the keel is not going to prevent you from going sideways. Then you do not make any headway. Yes, an engine will help make up for it. Seatbelts help keep you alive if you drive sleepy, fall asleep and run off the road too.
The same goes for the weather. There is no reason to find yourself on a lee shore being blown ashore. Even traveling throughout south america where weather reports were not even available and navigation charts were questionable at best, I never found myself in the position. Even when I found myself involved with hurricanes, none of the instances would have been helped with an engine. At best an engine gives a false sense of security that it will replace proper preparedness and planning.
On the few times I took people day sailng on a saturday morning I always told them, "if you realy have to be to work monday morning, you might not want to go". The reason for that as well as the fact that I didn't get killed, is that I don't take chanches on a boat. You ever watch somebody running under power downwind towards a bridge and the engine quit and the sail covers are on the sails and they are tied down to the boom? if you are in too much of a hurry to at least have your sails ready to raise or have them up, then you dont belong out there. If you don't have time for the wind to drop or change directions you don't belong out there.
If you have to depend on an engine to get you out of trouble, why have a sailboat with far less power than necessary to do much more than get you in and out of the marina and built by the lowest bidder. If you put an engine big enough that you don't need sails. the weight will destroy the boats sailing ability. There is an old saying that you should "never have a sailboat engine any bigger than one man can remove and throw overboard as an anchor because that is all they are good for" Why do you think they put two engines in power boats. They are not nearley as dependable as a sail. You can fix a sail with a needle and thread. A lot of people say they wouldn't go on the ocean without an engine. Yes it is smart, but I personaly would not go on the open ocean without a sail and a mast.