From: John Crews
Sent: August 09, 2021
To: Richard Minielly
Subject: Re: John D Crews – Hunter 410 – Hydrovane model VXA2D L(shaft length)/A/H

I still haven’t taken any great photos of the kit yet.  I promise that I’ll get some for you.

Meanwhile, I wanted to let you know that my 70 NM test went very well.  We had all of the wind conditions:  winds at 4 knots, winds at 10 knots, winds at 20 knots, winds at 25 knots, gusts at 30 knots.  It was perfect, as it gave me the opportunity to figure out how to adjust the settings along the way.  In all cases, the Hydrovane steered us beautifully and I rarely touched the helm (only when a power boater decided to cut across our bow to impress his friends).  I also learned in that case that the installed rudder will easily overpower the Hydrovane and allow me to steer the boat manually without the vane fighting much at all.

One interesting detail that I noticed in high winds:  when a gust adds heel to the Stargazer, it further de-powers the wind vane and she naturally turned us into the wind until the heel released.  Every time.  I like this side effect very much.  My dog also seemed to appreciate it, and he demonstrated his enthusiasm for this effect by napping without waking up at all.

John

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