Gasoline engines on sailboats and butterflys

Bill Zeitler (WZeitler@compuserve.com)
Fri, 24 Sep 1999 18:21:12 -0400


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Gang, ;-D>

I was out last weekend with the East Coast Potter Association wherein I am
the CLC " Courtesy Launch Captain "....ie....I motor about with with them
with my 5 HP/4 cycle Honda powered Was-a-Bay Hen 21 catboat ...now a
shallow water cruising launch.

I was shocked when at cruising rpms....out in the middle of the wide
Choptank river that leads out to the Chesapeake Bay , several monarch
butterflys were cruising on the same heading as I was on. They slowly
not only gained on me but eventually passed me by. I think they had
must have had a tail wind [ ie...do Monarchs have tails ? ]...and zero
frictional and other effects of the water on my displacement hull.

Question: Do I need a larger engine, change props, sprout wings, more
octane fuel or what ? ;-D>

My estimated speed at the time of this humiliation was about 5 knots.

Bill Zeitler
A Potterer at heart
ECPA
Wilmington, Delaware