Wow... this boat is fast!

While we had intended to stop at Fairlee Creek on the upper Eastern Shore near Chestertown, MD, we found the Delaware Bay surprisingly calm and the Chesapeake Bay to be surprising rough. But we made such good time anyway, we decided to give ENCORE an opportunity to make a longer run and headed further south to St. Michael’s, MD.

The best!

The Crab Claw - St. Michaels, MD

Here are a couple of interesting points about ENCORE and how it performs. ENCORE is 44 feet long and has a beam of 14 feet. She weighs 26,000 pounds (empty) and carries 380 gallons of fuel and 140 gallons of water. She is equipped with twin 380 HP Cummins diesel engines with new high efficiency Zeus Pod drives. The hull is a "modified" deep V which basically means she can putt along like a trawler at slow speed or get up and go on plane at 38 mph at wide open throttle. At "cruise" speed, which is about 80% of throttle (2700 rpm), ENCORE runs a very comfortable 32 mph and burns about 28 gallons per hour.

The result of all this is that ENCORE is a faster boat, covers more ground in less time and burns less fuel to get there. She also seems to handle most sea conditions well and while I don't have plans on cruising in anything more than 3 to 4 foot seas, ENCORE could handle it if needed (of course, the resulting mutiny by the Admiral might be more painful than the pounding seas).  


As a result of this, I am already starting to rethink the trip south on the ICW in late September and how that might impact our distance and timing. Of course, much of that trip is in speed-restricted channels so it might not matter all that much, but in "open water", we can take full advantage of the Sabre 40 design and propulsion.