NavList:

I have to admit that this is my guess: when you leave port with a square rigged vessel and you have to be somewhere about 2 weeks later about 1000 miles away the reason is that you are trying to meet the schedule. Or would you think that he was sailing into a severe storm just for fun and to amuse his crew and passengers?

Apart from that: with a sailing vessel you cannot - in most places - calculate to arrive at a certain time. The only place I am acquainted with where you can do that most of the time is the Carribean: you can rely on the trades coming from the northeast quarter blowing at force 3 to 5. Then you can head out of a bay and be fairly certain that you will arrive at your destination in a given time. In most other places - including the East coast - during a trip lasting several days it is fairly certain that you will encounter variations in wind speed and direction. So the prudent decision is to leave port as soon as you are ready. And that is what I think he did. He just didn't abandon his original plan when things started to turn ugly and run for shelter, which clearly was a mistake.

Wolfgang
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