I’m sure this varies widely by jurisdiction, but at least in my part of the states no. I just have a (smaller) sailboat and my “backup” is just ors and the coast guard haha
Even if it weren’t a legal requirement I would hope people would have the common sense and desire for personal safety that they would have it there for a backup. I imagine our knowledge and surveillance of weather makes it a lot easier to sail if you have that information, but you could easily be stuck for a very long time if you only relied on sailing. From what I have read the Mayflower was delayed for over a month at sea due to the changing of the winds.
Aren’t you legally required to have some kind of backup propulsion source anyway?
You do to sail into some ports, for example, but there are a lot of sailing vessels that are pure sail.
I’m sure this varies widely by jurisdiction, but at least in my part of the states no. I just have a (smaller) sailboat and my “backup” is just ors and the coast guard haha
Even if it weren’t a legal requirement I would hope people would have the common sense and desire for personal safety that they would have it there for a backup. I imagine our knowledge and surveillance of weather makes it a lot easier to sail if you have that information, but you could easily be stuck for a very long time if you only relied on sailing. From what I have read the Mayflower was delayed for over a month at sea due to the changing of the winds.
You want to rely on motor in really bad weather, or when you get stranded in the middle of nowhere with no wind.
Not sure about legal requirements but it wouldn’t surprise me