From: Peter Whatley
Sent: May-25-14
To: Will Curry
Subject: Fwd: hydrovane

Hi Will

I thought I would send this to you for your thoughts and comments.

Our boat is a Jeanneau Sun Odyseey 45. My son, William (aka Skip) is sailing back from Antigua to the UK via Bermuda and the Azores with his friend Tom. Both are very experienced sailors. William sailed across with me last November to the Caribbean. They wisely opted to sail to Bermuda first thereby avoiding the deep depression in which Cheeki Rafiki found herself.

Before leaving the Caribbean I fitted new bearings and stripped the system to clean and check. Everything was in perfect order even after many miles of use.

I am a big fan of the Hydrovane and am always extolling its virtues. Before passing comment on to fellow users I thought I would speak with you first to see what your thoughts might be regarding the cause of the failure.

Please be assured that my aim is to support and promote this excellent product.

Kind regards
Peter
Peter Whatley
Vice Commodore
Ocean Cruising Club

—

From: Peter Whatley
Sent: Monday, June 2, 2014
To: Will Curry
Cc: John Curry; Sarah Curry
Subject: Re: hydrovane

Hi Will

The measurement of the shaft on our boat is 1190mm. I have asked William, my son, to check and double check and he confirms that this is the measurement.

I have attached a photo of the broken shaft for interest. The other photo shows the Hydrovane working well as our boat powers along at 10.3 kts.

Our top speed with the Hydrovane in control is 16.5kts but it was getting a bit wild so we put the inboard pilot on as well. This works really well and keeps the boat under control.

Kind regard

Peter

[Editor’s note: Fractured shaft from ‘crevice corrosion’ – an older ‘316’ shaft. The new ‘super duplex’ shafts are less prone to this]

Contact