Sometimes I wonder if I’ve been living in a different world than others.
Cruised a 46’ built for me Outbound pretty much full time for nearly a decade. “Wind is free” is a bad joke.
It was a constant financial drain to keep the boat ready for blue water sailing. Although we started new replaced running rigging piece by piece. Had multiple visits to the sailmaker for things like washes, stitching, even one patch where a reefing hook went through the tack of the main sail. UV covers replaced on various sails as well.
Blew up a vang (kicking strap) and replaced seals on the hydraulic running back stay. Replaced sheets several times. Crew blew up a block being heavy handed with a power winch.
There’s absolutely nothing free about wind and it’s new owner is due for replacing the standing rigging, main sail and Solent if he wants to continue to do blue water.
Then there’s the same systems as any cruising boat. Watermaker, hydronic heat, air conditioners, two heads, engine, genset, solar, TV and stereo, KVH, electronics, SSB, dinghy etc.
And the same trickle of boat bucks when you hit something you can’t fix or don’t have the tools. We didn’t need to replace the standing rigging but every few years has a professional rigger go through the rig in detail. Both for a professional tuning but more importantly to make sure there be no problems on passage or off cruising away from yards.
The expense drip is never ending. “Wind is free” but capturing it and using it is sure not free.
Have a friend who’s a mega yacht captain for sail. The annual trip from the eastern Caribbean to the Med is done under power not sail. Why? Because it’s cheaper. That’s right cheaper. Sails that big are hugely expensive. Only a few places in the world make them so can charge what they want. Each sail is custom made. No stock sails. Just getting sails that big on and off is a specialized task and quite expensive. There’s a reason ships use rotor sails not fabric. Fabric has less service life and is more expensive. Fabric is for aesthetics and beauty not to be cost effective. Magnus effect is cheaper, more reliable, needs less crew, makes more sense once you get up to that size.
Engines are engines. Servicing is cheaper as they’re the same stuff as engines in other vessels that size. So trans Atlantic is cheaper under power than sail for yachts that size. Also needs less crew. Owners rarely do such long trips. So sails may go up only when owner or charter is aboard.