Charelston, SC

Absolutely the fastest day ever!

The fastest day ever

So, how fast is fast anyway?  Obviously for sailors, fast is somewhat relative. Relative to other sailing vessels and other sailors, not to Suzuki Hyabusa’s or F-18 Hornet jet fighters.  For Dancer, we usually figure on making about 5kts during a passage. That’s about the same as a good brisk walk, but string 24hr of those together and you have moved 120 nautical miles through time and space.
When we spend any time traveling at above 6 kts, it was”a good sail”. Above 7.5 and we were “hooked up” and  “in the groove.”
Since Dancer has a hull speed of 8.5 kts, that is as fast as she is ever supposed to able to go, so when we see 8.4 or above on the knot meter….  well we go home and write about it in our Blog!

If we could actually hold 8 kts for a full 24 hr period, we would travel 192 nautical miles. There are boats that can do this, but they are not 47feet long and carrying the crews entire life along with them. This is beyond any but specialty built race boats and crews.
So what do you say when your third day at sea turns up to be a 229 nautical miles “Boomer?”  That my friends is an average of 9.54 kts every single hour for 24hrs. That is an average that is 13% faster than the boats supposed top speed.  And yet that is EXACTLY what S/V Country Dancer did on April 6, 2013.  From Miami to St. Augustine. 229 nautical miles in 24 hrs.

Absolutely the fastest day ever!    Watch the HD Video

Did I hear someone say “wait a second?”  Yes, yes, you in the back there. What about the Gulf Stream?  Well, yes it does run from Miami to St Augustine.  Well yes It does sometimes move at 4kts.  Well yes, I suppose it does mean we were actually sailing at just over 5 1/2.  Please sit down sir. A record is a record after all. Any other questions?

Please tell us how you like the videos.  The crew is beginning to rebel at my constant ideas for a  “cool” shot.

P.S. After blasting up the coast, the wind died completely some 70 miles from Jacksonville, and we had to humbly motor our “super boat” into the anchorage.  Dooh.

2 thoughts on “Absolutely the fastest day ever!

  1. Ben Genovese

    Fantastic video Jodi and Gary! Keep em coming please. I was really impressed with the go-pro technique to see the prop. Pretty creative.

    cousin Ben in Austin

  2. Carla

    Jodi is there anyway to tell which blogs you’ve written and which one Gary has? Picking mom up for church and then she’s coming over. I’ll show her the blogs then


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