From: William Lee
Sent: July 20, 2021
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Hydrovane on Hinckley 42

Hi Will,

I had to lock the main rudder to centerline position to reduce any stress because it was dropped a couple of inches due to loose set screws on the upper bearing. The Hydrovane was jury rigged because of a missing bolt at the beginning of the race. I replaced the missing bolt with a Dyneema soft shackle and with the support of two lines port and starboard winched from the lower bearing of the Hydrovane. The two winched lines were essential to holding the Hydrovane in place. They were as tight as a steel cables and there were still sub millimeter movements which contributed to chafing of the two lines. I think that’s why adding this “A bracket” would properly hold it in place without any sort of movement.

I have to say the ride under Hydrovane was much more comfortable because there was erupted jerky movement comparing to the Raymarine autopilot. And there was never an accidental gybe under Hydrovane comparing to about 5 times of accidental gybe under Raymarine autopilot (set to heading). The only downside during the TransPac is that the Hydrovane steered the course with more distance traveled than the Rarmaine autopilot which steered very straight.

For the 2019 LongPac race, I attribute leading the race because of the Hydrovane’s continuous closehauling at the precise wind angle at the Gale Alley. I didn’t win because of losing the upper bearing of the main rudder at the last few miles.

Happy to provide more background on my use case of the Hydrovane.

-Will