CATCHING THE BREEZE

Solar panels or wind generator? There’s little doubt that for Stateside cruising, especially down South where the amount of sunshine outstrips the strength of the wind for much of the year, solar is top of the list for liveaboard and long-term cruisers. Having seen what even a small 50W panel can do in a Northeastern summer, I had been planning to bump up the solar capacity on our Pearson 39-2 project boat to 250 watts, but wondered if this alone would be enough.

I hadn’t seriously considered a wind generator until I cruised the Grenadines on a charter boat a couple of