Several reasons, Tommy.
We are a 7-8 knot boat. The wind is often blowing at least that hard.
The wind tends to channel down the fjord-like waterways of the PNW.
So when you are traveling up or down those waterways, its often that
you have the wind very close to your bow or stern. I'm certain its a
much higher percentage likelihood than out on the open ocean, where
the your direction of travel versus wind direction is likely to be
more random, and you can more easily adjust your course to avoid a
nearly dead astern wind.
If I could run at 20 or 30 knots, even 12 to 15 knots, I could almost
always outrun the prevailing winds from astern.
John Marshall
On Feb 20, 2009, at 5:11 AM, Tommy Terrific wrote:
Why would going slow have anything to do with the wind being
frequently at your back?
TT