From: Dag Rørslett
Sent: December 17, 2012
To: John Curry
Subject: Re: Hydrovane

Hi John,

 

PS We were very happy about the Hydrovane. It worked beautifully once we dared to ‘start’ it, which was late on the first day after the ARC start. So the vane was working just great for the first five days (put in neutral once in a while just to correct things) in what I will describe as rough weather; nothing extreme; 4-8 m waves and winds 25-40 knots and from behind, The vane coped. It was a great help after the rudder loss surely. Combined with our drogues (we lost our second one) and trimmed sails we managed to hit Cape Verdes, after all!

….and on January 13, 2013, Dag added:

I can send more text to you in a while with “my own story”, saying that the Hydrovane did a great job and without it we might have ended up on the shores of Senegal. Or before that destroyed by colliding with bigger ships in the ship lane between Cap Verdes and Africa; that was my main worry. We steered as you probably know using the vane, a drogue and close reefed sails.

In my personal point of view we would be in severe trouble not having the vane. We needed more gear to steer the boat, that is true, but I think that has to do with the following fact; a heavy boat like mine with semi-long keel but WITHOUT a main rudder will always tend to go up against the wind because the lateral plane (..?; the sideways forces….) is destroyed – the main rudder being a very important part. Our mainsail was stuck too so we could not use that either. The whole balance of the boat was gone, making it almost impossible to steer… BUT we made it to Cape Verdes and are proud of that fact.

A heavy boat with everything in place steers with the vane, surely! Before the incident happened the Hydrovane steered beautifully and everybody onboard was amazed by its easy operation and the fact that it seemed to steer better than our old autopilot.

Anyway, I think it is a good story thanks to the Hydrovane.

Kind regards,
DAG S/Y Modus Vivendi

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