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Old 11-10-2015, 07:27 PM   #58
Bay Pelican
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City: Chicago, IL
Vessel Name: Bay Pelican
Vessel Model: Krogen 42
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,993
Some of you may have heard this from me before. It is my explanation of why I run slow.
I am simplifying the numbers as fractions are difficult to follow.

We have a number of jumps which are approximately 65 nm. Generally I do these at 6.5 kts, way down from our higher cruise speed of 8kts.

However at 6.5kts we burn two gallons per hour, at 8kts it is close to four gph, almost double.

Thus for a 65 mile trip:

6.5 kts, 10hrs, 20 gallons burned at $6 per gallon (Caribbean prices) $120 US
8 kts, 8 hrs, 32 gallons burned at $6 per gallon, $192 US

Since we will leave at approximately 6 am in all conditions, the difference in arriving at 2 pm, or 4 pm is $72 US, more than enough to buy us dinner.

This may or not be important to all of us, but I consider it a free meal for an extra two hours of watching the world go by.
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