From: Bill Wickman
Sent: November-15-08 3:06 PM
To: John Curry
Subject: hydrovane performance

Hi John,

We’re home after two fairly long passages and several shorter runs traversing islands as part of the great coconut milk run. If you remember, you sent some of the new bearings to a friend of ours and he brought them to Tonga where we installed them. We really didn’t get much chance to evaluate the system until we departed Tonga from

Nuku’Alofa on the 10th of October heading for Opua in the Northland of New Zealand.

Cut to the chase…I believe the new bearings and the mid-bearing had a positive impact on Hydrovane performance. I believe overall operation is smoother and that our boat, a Wauquiez Centurion 42, steers better with the vane than it did before we installed the new bearings. We were pleased with performance before and rather than reiterate our previous experience let me just outline where I believe the improvements were most obvious.

With the vane set in the full left  setting (least rudder movement) we got good steering performance in less relative wind than we had previously. We were also able to get smooth performance with the vane set in the middle position in less relative wind than previously. We therefore used the middle position more often and got better steering performance from the increased rudder deflections, when needed, than previously. The tendency to get thrown off course by a combination of  ave and wind shift and not have enough power to regain course relative to the wind was almost completely eliminated. During the trip from Tonga to NZL this happened once that I can remember. The Hydrovane steered the entire trip except when we were motoring and during one squall where I thought there might be some severe conditions (which never occurred) and I hand steered for about an hour. We still have never encountered conditions where the far right (greatest rudder deflection) setting works best for our boat.  We very seldom encountered winds over 30 knts and in those winds the center position still worked more smoothly than the far right position. Perhaps if we had consistent relative winds above the 25-30 knots the far right position would be better for us but that’s still speculation on my part.

So, I’ll say again, I think the new bearings are good. We were happy with performance before but we’re more happy now. I really don’t think I could ask for more from a wind oriented self steering device. I’ll also say that the construction has proven to be just as bullet prove as it looks. We put 8283 NM under the keel in seven months this trip and did nothing to maintain the unit except take the rudder and wind vane off when we weren’t going to be using them for a while and hose down with fresh water if it hadn’t rained recently. I sprayed the unit with WD-40 when we took the boat out of the water in NZL.

We plan on being back in NZL in March or April to start another trip up into the tropics. With a little luck we’ll see you somewhere on the boat show circuit before then.

Thanks John,

Bill & Janet Wickman

SV Airstream

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