Answered · 9 minute read
A charter yacht in Dubai cruises at about 10 knots, which is roughly 18 km/h. Most will do 20 knots or more, but fuel consumption climbs steeply and the ride gets uncomfortable, so routes are planned around cruising speed. A rigid inflatable on a tour runs at about 30 knots, which is why it covers the same coast in a third of the time.
By Roshan Shriwastav · Published
A knot is one nautical mile per hour, about 1.85 km/h. Ten knots is therefore around 18 km/h. Slower than city traffic, and it does not feel slow on the water because there is nothing to measure yourself against.
At that speed the boat is quiet enough to talk over, stable enough to walk around on, and burning a fraction of the fuel it would at twenty. That combination is why almost every charter runs at it.
Fuel consumption on a planing motor yacht does not rise in a straight line with speed, it climbs steeply. Going from 10 to 20 knots can more than triple consumption, and on a charter priced with fuel included that is the operator's problem, which means it becomes the route's problem.
Comfort is the other half. At twenty knots a 48ft in any chop is loud, wet at the bow and hard to stand up on. On a charter where people are eating, drinking and taking photographs, that is not an improvement.
At cruising speed the Palm is about twenty minutes from a Marina berth, the Burj Al Arab about thirty, and the World Islands forty to forty-five. Those numbers are what actually determine what fits in a two, three or five-hour charter.
The Marina channel itself is a low-speed zone, so the first and last twelve minutes of every charter are slower still. That is not lost time. It is the stretch where the towers are closest and where most photographs get taken.
A motor yacht has two quite different ways of moving through water and the speed at which it switches between them explains most of what follows. Below about ten knots the boat is pushing water aside and riding in it: displacement mode, efficient and quiet. Above roughly fifteen it climbs up and skims across the surface on its own bow wave, which is planing.
The awkward part is in between. The transition speed, somewhere around twelve to fifteen knots on a 48ft, is the least efficient and least comfortable place to be: bow high, stern down, engines working hard and burning fuel for very little extra distance. A captain will either sit below it or push through it, and almost never cruise in it.
This is why charter speeds cluster at about ten knots rather than spreading evenly. It is not an arbitrary limit, it is where the boat is happiest, and it is why asking to go a little faster usually produces either the same speed or a considerably faster one.
Yes, and the answer is often yes. A short burst up onto the plane is something crews are happy to do, it is genuinely good fun, and on a flat morning it is worth asking for once during a charter.
What will not happen is running the whole charter at twenty knots. Fuel is inside the rate you paid, the route was planned around cruising speed, and at twenty knots nothing on the aft deck stays where you put it: drinks, plates, phones and anyone standing up all become a problem. The noise also ends conversation entirely.
The exception is weather. If conditions are deteriorating or you are running late back to the berth, the captain may push the speed up without being asked, and that is a decision rather than a favour.
The charter yacht is the slowest thing on this coast, and deliberately. If speed is what you are actually after, the other products are far better at delivering it, and much cheaper.
Speed and comfort are related in a way that is not obvious: slower is not automatically smoother. At cruising speed a boat meets waves at a measured rate and the motion is a long, predictable roll that most people tolerate well. Sitting still at anchor in any swell is the motion that makes people ill, because it is slow, rotational and has no rhythm you can anticipate.
This is why the swim stop, not the transit, is where anybody who is going to feel unwell usually starts to. It is also why the crew will sometimes get under way again rather than sit it out: five minutes of moving fixes what twenty minutes of anchoring caused.
Pushing the speed up in chop makes it worse, not better. At twenty knots a 48ft stops riding over a short sea and starts slamming through it, which is both uncomfortable and the fastest way to turn a mild queasiness into a real problem. A captain slowing down in rough water is doing the right thing.
Ten knots is about eighteen kilometres an hour, which is slower than a bicycle, and yet almost nobody on a charter complains about the pace. There is a reason for that and it is worth understanding before you book something faster than you need.
Speed is perceived relative to nearby reference points, and offshore there are none. There are no verges, no lamp posts and no oncoming traffic. Just a coastline that changes slowly. The result is that ten knots on open water feels unhurried rather than slow, while the same speed through the Marina channel, with towers passing a few metres away, feels quick.
The practical implication is that booking a faster boat rarely improves a sightseeing trip. A RIB covers three times the coast in the same time and you see considerably less of it, because you are holding on, facing forward and being rained on by spray. For covering ground it is excellent. For looking at things, ten knots is the right number.
Charter yachts cruise at about 10 knots, roughly 18 km/h. Most can do 20 knots or more, but fuel consumption climbs steeply and the ride becomes uncomfortable, so routes are planned around cruising speed.
About 18 km/h. One knot is one nautical mile per hour, which is 1.85 km/h.
About twenty minutes at cruising speed. The Burj Al Arab is roughly thirty minutes and the World Islands forty to forty-five.
The Marina channel is a low-speed zone. It is narrow, busy and lined with moored boats. Clearing it takes about twelve minutes each way, and it is the stretch where the towers are closest.
About 30 knots, roughly 55 km/h, on a rigid inflatable. That is three times a charter yacht's cruising speed, which is why a RIB covers the whole coastline in ninety minutes, and why you get wet.
Yes, and a short burst up onto the plane is usually welcomed: worth asking for once on a flat morning. What will not happen is the whole charter at twenty knots: fuel is inside your rate, and nothing on the aft deck stays where you put it.
Below about ten knots a boat pushes water aside and rides in it, which is efficient and quiet. Above roughly fifteen it climbs onto its own bow wave and skims. The transition in between is the least comfortable and least efficient place to be.
For covering ground, yes: a RIB does the whole coastline in ninety minutes. For looking at it, no. At 30 knots you are holding on, facing forward and taking spray. Ten knots is the right speed for actually seeing things.
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