How far do you go?

[JD Ray]

In another thread, someone is musing on the idea of converting their boat to hybrid electric. I mentioned that a key factor is how far someone wants to go on a cruise. This begs a question about how people most commonly use their boats. I believe that our (imagined) use model for a boat would be to hop from spot to spot for time ashore in interesting locations, chilling at anchor in our mobile home out in nature, and generally enjoying life aboard. The idea of hard-charging trips at hull speed twelve or twenty-four hours at a time seems to me like something we'd only do a few times rather than every week we're on the boat. Our cruising grounds are in the PNW, and the N-S length (Olympia, WA to Campbell River, BC) of 200-ish miles provides a lot in the way of places to go and things to see.

So, for a given weekend (or whatever time period) aboard, how far do you go, and how long do you spend at anchor during that period? Does a typical itinerary look like a fifty mile trip to an interesting spot, hang out for a day, another fifty to a new spot, another day of hang out, then back to your home marina? Something different?

Paint your picture for me. Help me imagine what I might be looking at if I was going to do what you do.

Thanks.

JD

 

[rslifkin]

For a weekend, we don't usually go far at all. Either a pair of short day trips or a single overnight, usually within 30 minutes of home. Maybe move to a different spot for a few hours one morning to watch some sailing races. If we take a long weekend, I'm fine going up to maybe 2 hours, although not too frequently (fuel cost). For a week or more, I'm willing to go a lot further depending on how much time we've got and whether the trip is about the destination or the things along the way.

 

[syjos]

We cruise in the PNW

We stopped weekend cruising 15 years ago except for Yacht Club cruises.

For the summer, how far we travel in a day depends on where we are going and logical stops on the way. Some days we travel an hour, other days 4 to 6 hours. And if we are going north and the weather and sea conditions are good, especially crossing straits, we will keep going 12 to 16 hours. We've been in too many situations where we are cruising in flat water but stop for the night and the next day blowing hard.

We stopped going way north several years ago and spend 2 to 3 month during summer in the San Juan's and Gulf Islands. Our routine has been to anchor 5 to 6 days and go to a marina or reciprocal for two days.

 

[RCook]

So many different ways of cruising!

Living in Utah, we never did weekends. While we were still working, and cruising in a C-Dory 22, it was always at least a week, usually two or three, on either a big lake like Powell, or the San Juans or somewhere around Vancouver Island. First time up to SE Alaska, 2 months. We moved up to a trailerable 26-footer after my retirement, and would typically go 2-3 months on the Inside Passage. Now in our larger boat, 4-5 months.

For the last 18 years or so, cruising mostly at 6-7 knots, we have typically traveled 30-40 nm in a day. A few days much longer - such as about 85 nm to cross the Dixon Entrance in one day.

We anchor in some lovely cove 75-85% of the nights. We don't hang out in one spot too often, but rather are underway, fishing, sightseeing, or just enjoying poking along maybe 85% of the days. We stay in the same spot overnight sometimes to do dinghy or shore exploration, but more often when weather suggests we'd be better off to stay put, when we need to do chores like laundry or grocery shopping, or when we're in port early to make sure we are on time to meet some crew's airplane.

 

[Larmex99]

We are retired so our trips last 5-10 days and for May-August we are on the boat for over 20 days per month. We head out of Whittier, AK into Prince William Sound to my favorite spot in the Sound. It is a 45 nm trip and we soak our shrimp pots overnight and never get less than 3 gallons of Spots. Then we head 75 nm south to where the halibut are plentiful and the anchorages are remote enough to not run into another boat In an anchorage unless it is a commercial fishing boat. Once near the Gulf of Alaska we move around every day trying new anchorages and looking for shrimp. The run back home is usually done in 2 parts, with the first half getting us close enough to port that a sudden change in weather won’t keep is from getting back to port. We have been doing variations of this trip since 2001 and never get tired of it because the place is so amazing. If any of you are thinking about making the trip across the gulf give me a heads up. Always happy to share a few good shrimping spots.

 

[Leonard Atkins]

Prior to retirement we averaged 80 miles on weekend trips probably 8-10 times a year and about 700 miles on our summer vacation cruise.


We retired this year and are unsure for 2020. We had planned to do about 3 cruises for about 3-4 weeks each with total of about 1,700 miles and would probably complete a half dozen weekend trips.


Need clear information by 6/15 to cruise by 7/1 or likely stay out this year.

 

[MYTraveler]

Currently, my boat has three primary uses: 1) long weekends with the family at Catalina, 2) hanging in the slip with family and friends, and 3) long range fishing trips with buddies and paid crew. Those fishing trips are generally 4 - 9 days, and typically depart from and return to my home port, but only after venturing 100-200 miles from port, and trolling most of the time after arriving on the grounds. The longest trip was from San Diego, down the "Ridge" off of Baja, around Cabo and up to La Paz. About 8 days without landing, several days of 24x7 running, a few nights of "sea" anchoring, and only one night of actual anchoring. We used half of the boat's fuel capacity on that trip. Although we have the range to get to Hawaii, and although I do enjoy running the boat days on end, through the night, I have about zero desire to go to take my boat there. We have relocated the boat for the summer a few times, twice in the Pacific Northwest, and once to Puerto Vallarta. Mexico is currently off of our agenda, but Alaska is a possibility for next summer. If I ever retire, we will probably take the boat through the canal and up the east coast.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

We cruise at least two weeks per month all summer. Of course our plans call for more cruising this summer, but we shall see.

We average about 50 miles a day unless the water is real bumpy. We usually stop for two or three days at a time.

Our plans are always flexible. And we usually have a "Plan B" ready in case of poor weather.

pete

 

[tiltrider1]

If it’s just an over night we will motor 1-2 hours each way. If it’s a 3 day weekend we turn it into 4 days and we motor 6-7 hours each way. If it’s a week or more we will motor from 6-14 up and then 3-4 hours on days we move.

 

[syjos]

When we went to the Broughtons from Port Orchard every year, we did it in 6 days to 10 days depending on conditions. There are a few "gates" that need to be timed or weather dependent. We wanted to spend 6 to 8 weeks there and did not lollygag on the way. We cruise at 8 knots.

We went home one year in 5 days! We're like salmon; when we start heading home, we go in a straight line and in the least number of days. On that run, I think we did a 16 hour day from Sullivan Bay BC to Pender Harbor BC. And from Pender Harbor to Sidney BC. It was absolutely flat both days which we did not want to waste. And we were able to hit all three rapids plus Dodd Narrows at plus or minus a safe time from slack.

If your boat is comfortable and the driving station is out of the weather, relatively quiet, equipped with an autopilot and chartplotter and driving is shared with wife/partner/crew, a long day on a calm day is not fatiguing and doable. Being able to cook hot food or regular meals underway is a big plus.

There really is no "average day" in boating. You make daily decisions based on where you're going, weather and current, especially in the PNW.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

You are right, there is no "average" day. We made one 14 hour trip with a cool following wind which made for a pretty nasty long ride, we had good natured guests on board.

We pulled into a marina only a couple hours from home because we knew the marina, It has a nice pool,restaurant, showers, etc. It was our reward for an uncomfortable day on the water. It was worth it.

pete

 

[C lectric]

The trip lengths are entirely dependent upon you, the boat, weather and seas, our destination, needed timings for fast water passes.

For destination changes we have run as little as a half hour to as many 12 hours.
Prefer in the lower to mid range. All depends upon the above.
No overnighters though.

 

[Ken E.]

My MO is similar to Richard's (RCook) above. We typically go to SE Alaska in the spring up through the Inside Passage, returning in the fall. This is a trip of about 600 miles from Bellingham to Ketchikan. Most travel days are about 50 miles, around 6 hours running time, but sometimes with bad weather on the way we might start early and cover 70-90 miles, although it's not our preference. Our opinion is that it stops being fun after about 6 hours. Most nights are anchored out. Two or three marina stays on the way up are for leg stretching, maybe a restaurant visit and perishable provisions. Once in Alaska, we are anchored out most of the time. We do a lot of kayaking in remote locations, as well as fishing for salmon and halibut. We are pretty self-sufficient and can easily stay out for a couple weeks. Frozen food from 2 freezers is drawn down and replaced by fish. No trip this year thanks to the virus.

 

[johnma]

Normally we will go a few miles and drop the hook. A few times a year we will take a two or more week cruise for a total of 200-300 miles from New Jersey into the Chesapeake. About a third of the time in different marinas in different towns, The rest on the hook. We're retired now so we don't do overnight runs. when we were still working we would often run overnight at the begining and end of the trip.
John

 

[Lou_tribal]

Depends on the time we have...
For a day we usually go to anchor in a bay 1h from home port, spend the day there, have a bbq and be back.
For a weekend we go in a bay at 3 to 4 hours from home port, spend the weekend there and back.
For vacation we jump from one point to another, mostly 4h distance except if we have a specific spot we want to reach.
Longest shift was 8 to 9 hours non stop, enjoyable but was a bit exhausting to be at the wheel non stop. More would not be a pleasure anymore for me.

L

 

[Beaverlake]

We try to keep our days to less than 7 hours running. We’re retired, no schedule, hit marinas as needed. We like to run around in the dinghy, fish, crab, prawn, whatever. The PacNW up to the Broughtons has so much variety. This year is a crap shoot re Canada but then there’s a whole world of cruising in the South Sound. We had planned for 40 days up north then I was going to take 3 weeks for Barkley Sound. Oh well. Again, being retired with the dirt home well tended means we can pretty much stay out as long as we want.