Where are all the trawlers
I've always loved this old quote from Norrie Hoyt, erstwhile editor of
Yachting, as quoted in Voyaging Under Power:
"So many people cross the ocean in sailboats, and sailors are so inclined to
write about it, that the world sees sailboats as passage-makers and motorboats
as coastwise cruisers. The fact is that a well-designed motor vessel makes a
cinch of a passage, and offers no opportunty for heroic postures. I suspect
that motor passage-makers arrive casually for lunch and move on to the next
port, unnoticed--no baggywrinkle, no tattered canvas, no ragged beards. no
stormcloths."
Sadly, that may be more poetic that realistic.
In our cruising aboard our Nordhavn, Judy and I have seen few trawler yachts
in distant places. Down to the Caribbean then across to Venezuela, we saw an
only occasional passagemaking trawler yacht. In Bermuda at the height of the
Atlantic crossing seasson in 2006 and again in 2007, the only other trawler
yachts were Nordhavns, a 43 in 2006 and our three Med Bound yachts in 2007.
When the MedBound Nordhavns arrived in Horta in June 2007, there was only one
other trawler yacht, an ancient Grand Banks 36 with plastic fuel barrels on
deck, among hundreds of sailing yachts jam-packed in the only marina. And
when we arrived in Gibraltar, we spotted a few marina queen trawlers but
nothing that looked ready for sea. That was borne out in our two summers of
traveling across the Med and back to the Balearics: we saw lots of local Grand
Bankses and a handful of local Flemings, but the only powerboats that had come
on their own bottoms were Nordhavns and a single salty Diesel Duck--at least
as far as we could see.
Lots of trawler owners like to walk the walk and talk the talk, but the truth
is few seem to go more than a couple of hundred miles offshore in their boats,
at least not on a regular basis. I think a big part of it is many simply
don't feel comfortable "out there". Otherwise, Dave nailed the reasons
nicely!
It's a rare treat to meet trawler owners like Heidi and Wolfgang Hass who have
completed two circumnavigations on their 1995 Nordhavn 46 and have begun their
third. When I last heard from them a month or two ago, they'd crossed to Nuku
Hiva, an uneventful and comfortable 15-day passage they said in an e-mail.
Before their two powerboat trips around, they also completed one in a small
sailing yacht--a salty and competent crew to be sure.
--Milt Baker, Nordhavn 47 Bluewater, Fort Lauderdale
[PUP] Where are all the trawlers?
Dave Cooper swansong at gmn-usa.com
Wed May 13 13:22:14 EDT 2009
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This has been the case over our 20+ years of cruising the Caribbean. The
power boats are either motoryachts or go faster than trawlers. There was a
time in the late 70's and early 80's when the charter companies had a few
trawlers but they soon stopped putting new ones in the fleets.
Privately owned trawlers are few and far between. Why?
First, it's off the beaten path for most East Coasters with range and a
desire to punch up wave/current/wind on a schedule or have the time to wait
for the weather windows.
Second, fuel has always been expensive in the Caribbean so that boats with
less than 4-500 gals of fuel capacity have to buy frequently and that runs
the cost up from our experience.
Third, square stern boats without decent keels don't like the following seas
that one encounters quite often cruising the Caribbean. This was bourn out
after many years in the charter business with the trawlers. White knuckles
on the milk run from Anegada back to Tortola was often a guests comment ;-)
Running from the BVI to Puerto Rico with Trades up in a non-stabilized 7 kt
semi-planning hull trawler would certainly require your undivided attention
to steering and throttle(s);-0
Forth, people with sailboats expect to heal/roll and the sailboats are
set-up for this. Trawlers that roll 20 degrees or more or run at a 10-15
degree heal in 20-25 kt beam winds don't fit the mindset of most trawler
owners, their significant others nor their contents. They need to be
stabilized in some fashion or secured better than most stock trawlers are.
The series of full displacement boats you describe are built for these
condition, have longer legs and their owners a bit more in tune with what
kind of boat they need to go where they wish to go.
Very few trawlers make the Trans-Atlantic run from the Canaries/Cape Verdes
so there aren't going to be many Europeans in the mix. Contrast that with
the 200+ sailboats in the ARC alone bringing boats from Europe plus the
others that come and you have in the order of 4-500 sailboats arriving
annually compared to a handful or trawlers. Most of those Europeans boats
stick in the Caribbean for 3-5 years before moving on so we have a base
right there of ~1200 to 2500 "foreign" sailboats.
During the ~5000 nm from Venezuela to La Paz, Mexico we saw hundreds of
cruising sailboats and perhaps 10, but I doubt it, trawlers. David on Jenny
(Nordhavn 46) was one whom we met in Cartagena. Hobo (KK42), Aloha (Willard
40), (Discovery Nordhavn 46) are some others are here in La Paz as I write
this....not in the Caribbean however.
The Saintes are a wonderful place, run in and say hello to Yves at the
Mahogany shop right at the head of the dinghy dock. Tell him Nancy Terrell
and Dave say hello. Nancy wrote an article on him a few years back.
As always YMMV.....and your choice of vessel may too ;-)
Dave & Nancy
Swan Song
Roughwater 58
Limin in La Paz