And while we’re on the subject of “Big Game”
fishing tournaments and
conservation
In
the above referenced Asbury Park Press article about the Mid-Atlantic $500,000
tournament, Dick Weber, the tournament organizer, was quoted "there's
so many things that depend on government policy in terms of protecting the
fish, maintaining an adequate fuel supply, and keeping a regulatory posture
that allows the sport of offshore fishing to continue to be what it is."
We’ve always been mildly interested in the fuel consumption of the boats
that tournament anglers use in pursuit of their quarry (and their hundreds of
thousands of dollars in prizes), but Mr. Weber’s concern over “an
adequate fuel supply,” coupled with the recent fuel “crisis” brought
about by hurricanes Katrina and Rita really brought the issue to the fore.
While digging up information for this FishNet, we came across a website that
has “road” tests of various yachts (go to http://powerandmotoryacht.com/boattests
and select the appropriate vessel, then go to the “specs” page). Each of
the evaluations includes a table detailing the particular boat’s fuel
consumption at varying speeds.
Using
sport fishing boats of varying sizes (according to Dick Weber in the Asbury
Park Press article, in the Cape May tournament “most of the participant's
boats are 45 feet and larger”), we found that with their motors running
at 2000 rpm, a reasonable cruising speed, the fuel consumption of these
typical vessels was as follows:
|
Boat
model/length
|
Fuel
consumption @ 2000 rpm
|
|
Grady
White Express 35
|
27
gallons/hour*
|
|
Egg
Harbor 42
|
58
gallons/hour
|
|
Bertram
51
|
76
gallons/hour
|
|
Rybovich
60
|
118
gallons/hour
|
|
Viking
Convertible 74
|
136
gallons/hour
|
*The
Grady White 35 Express was powered with outboard motors, so we used the
fuel
consumption at what was reported as the most “economical” speed.
The
reported mileage varied from 1.37 miles per gallon for the Grady White moving
at 8 miles per hour to 0.22 miles per gallon for the Viking 74 manufactured by
RFA Chairman Bob Healy at 44 miles per hour. It’s kind of hard to imagine a
boat burning well over 75 times as much fuel to move a single mile than a
Chevy Suburban or Ford Expedition SUV so four or five anglers and a crew of
two can fish, but apparently that’s what offshore “big game” fishing is
all about.
We
can now relate much more realistically to Mr. Weber’s concerns about having
adequate fuel supply.
|
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