Electric mind shift

Fon Amtrup is a high-latitude sailor who dreams ofa life without diesel, and in between the daydreams, he prepares for an electric future by sailing more often without a set destination

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I barely move. The slightest ghost of a breeze is nurtured for every tenth of a knot. 1.2 knots kicks up to 1.5 knots and my smile gets wider. The evening will soon turn into night, and I would like to reach an anchorage before dark. I can see the anchorage just ahead. It will take me two more hours to get there. Ten minutes if I turn on the engine. Three hours later I drop the anchor and pour myself an anchor dram to toast the sail, my newfound patience and the sunset.

I was not planning to drop anchor in this bay when I started in the morning. I had potential anchorages written down from last night, along a route in the general direction of favourable winds in the forecast. My week-long mini holiday was a taste of things to come, and what used to be. The green revolution is coming to us sailors in the form of electric propulsion.

That shift is what I am preparing for. I am trying to train my mind to have patience enough not to turn on the diesel engine to get me that last mile.

The green revolution for sailors is more of a shift of mindset back to the days when sailing was sailing, without inboard engines. The days when you could only sail when it was windy.