True Stories

From: Mark Gibbs
Sent: December 15, 2018
To: Sarah Curry
Subject: Excel

Hi Sarah

We fitted a hydrovane to Excel (a Beale 33) in preparation for a cruise to Tonga. Spent the last season cruising from NZ to Tonga with a trip to Nuie and back to Tonga. Left her in the boatyard in Vavau to cruise again next season.

We were two handed on all the passages, with the help of the hydrovane. Would have had to have been the best passage making I have had even in very strong conditions from directly astern. Probably the best thing I put on my boat.

Mark Gibbs

From: Andrew Cooper
Sent: December 15, 2018
To: Will Curry
Cc: Sarah Curry ; John Curry
Subject: Re: Najad 391 – Hydrovane advice

Will, many thanks for this. We arrived safely in St. Vincent last Sunday.

We got the rudder pin out by making a lever from a broomstick, tying it on to the loop at the end of the pin, bearing the end of the stick on to the rudder to exert pulling pressure and then wiggling the pin with a rod through the ring. This allowed us to pull the pin through with very little stress on the shaft and no damage to the hole.

Since leaving Southampton we’ve logged 4,600 miles, and I’d estimate that our Hydrovane steered over 4,500 of them, only giving way for sail changes, very light following winds, landing fish and a couple of night time squalls when we took the genoa off. It performed magnificently and on a boat operating at electricity break even there really was no other way to handle such mileage so efficiently. We were also very pleased that Kelpie was the second fastest monohull on our transatlantic leg after Time Correction Factor adjustments.

Best wishes for Christmas and the new year.

Andrew

From: Grant Wennerstrom
Sent: December 12, 2018
To: Will Curry
Subject: Update, sort of….

Paris, great! Good to hear of your adventures!

I’m remiss in sending you some installation photos on the IP38; but I’ve had good intentions. I’ve sent a little action video though from the trip to SF. We are intending to leave Chula Vista(S. Diego) next month for parts south. Can’t wait to get the Hydrovane fired up again. There is a learning curve and there has to be enough effective wind but my impression was that it handled the heavier weather we had really well. 25 kt and 10ft maybe. Magic. Nice to have that second rudder and save wear and tear and electrons of autopilot use. I followed your advice for reaming the lock pin hole slightly. I had a long 1/4 in bit to use with clamping pliers. Surprising how much difference just a little poking and turning made. So much better.

Best Wishes and Holidays to you and your wife.

From: Andrew McMullin
Sent: December 8, 2018 2:12 AM
To: John Curry; Will Curry
Subject: Fwd: Andrew – Wauquiez Hood 38 – Hydrovane model VXA2D L(shaft length)/E/H or A/H

Hi will and John,
I think I only sent this message to Gloria the other day. (See below)

Anyway, we’ve been using the hydrovane for three days now, been working like a charm from the moment we pulled the pins.

Andrew

….

From: Andrew McMullin
Date: Tue, Dec 4, 2018
Subject: Re: Andrew – Wauquiez Hood 38 – Hydrovane model VXA2D L(shaft length)/E/H or A/H –
To: Gloria Anderson

Hi all. We had a very successful Installation of the hydrovane last week. We are setting sail in a couple of days and will be trying her out. (Or him? Or it?)

Picture is attached.
Thanks
Andrew

From: Roger Schafer
Sent: November 15, 2018
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Hydrovane shipment

Hey will,

We just did our first sail with the Hydrovane. Amazing! It works like a dream. So intuitive and easy to setup, adjust, and disengage. The batteries showing 14.2 without hand steering was pretty amazing as well. Thanks for your help getting us set up with our new crew member “Heidi”.

Thanks again,

Roger and Hannah

From: John Harrington
Sent: November 18, 2018
To: Will Curry – Hydrovane
Cc: Janet Harrington; Sarah Curry; John Curry
Subject: Re: Tango’s Watermaker via SSB

Hi Will,

Thank you for helping us out.  Hydrovane is great to work with and I appreciate your help very much.

…

Coming north was quite the beat up wind.  The first leg was a 6 hr sail that took 12 hrs and ended with 2 hrs of bashing into the seas, anchoring after dark, etc.  The next day we enjoyed about 6 hours of sailing then the wind turned NW and we stopped progressing so we motor sailed, skipped a planned anchorage and headed into La Paz.  Have you been here?  Seems like a really nice place.  We will be HQ’d here through the holidays before we start head further into the Sea of Cortez.  We’ll leave for the Puddle Jump from here or Puerto Vallarta.

Hydrogenerator is awesome.  I love making power while sailing.

Watermaker is also awesome.  As we worked down the coast with the Baja Ha Ha and then came to La Paz we were never worried about water.  With your help I bypassed the one failed membrane and we are back in business making about 20 gallons/hr.  We have not taken on “shore water” for over a month.

Hydrovane autopilot is triple awesome.  We absolutely love going “full green” and turning off all the noise makers.

Thanks again to everyone at Hydrovane.

~~~

From: John Harrington
Sent: November 8, 2018
To: Will Curry – Hydrovane
Subject: Re: Echotec Watermaker Preformance

Hi Will,
The runs from SF to San Diego were basically motor sailing in 8-12 ft swells with light and variable puffs from any direction. The main was a roll buffer more than anything else. The first two Baja runs were similar but I took a chance on offshore wx and ran 100 miles out. We sailed some. The last leg was a nice quartering run and the Hydrovane worked great. Tango was QUIET, no machinery running.

…

From: Thomas M Nickerson
Sent: October 29, 2018
To: John Curry
Cc: Will Curry – Hydrovane
Subject: Re: Cal 29 – Hydrovane model VXA2D M(shaft length)/H/H

Hi John-

I installed my Hydrovane on my Cal 29 and circumnavigated Vancouver Island last summer with it. The Hydrovane works great. I love it. But the time has come to move up to a larger boat, and I have my eye on a Hallberg-Rassey 42E Ketch. The HR has a flush transom, which will likely make installation a breeze. 😉 But I want to make sure the Hydrovane unit I have is big enough and powerful enough to properly steer the larger and heavier 42′ HR. What do you think?

Tom

[Editor’s note: Yes, we have supplied many Hydrovanes for the HR 42E]

Listen to the Soundcloud Phone Call:

DAY 113 – NEWS UPDATE

October 22, 2018

“Jean-Luc Van Den Heede sailing the Rustler 36 Matmut, is now well out in the Pacific, enjoying a 2 week lead over 2nd placed Mark Slats (Ohpen Maverick) who left the BoatShed.com Hobart film gate behind yesterday.

Speaking via Satphone to Race HQ today, the 73-year old Frenchman reported “Good winds today and yesterday…I try to go as fast as possible.”

He made repairs to his gennaker and was full of praise for his Hydrovane self-steering. “In a gale it has a big advantage because it is not steering the boat’s rudder, but has its own. This little rudder is far more efficient than the big rudder.” ”

Read FULL DAY 113 GGR UPDATE EMAIL

From: Johan Lemmens
Sent: October 21, 2018
To: Will Curry
Subject: Ganesha

Hi Will and Sarah, and parents.

We have safely arrived in New Zealand. Thanks to the very well functioning Hydrovane, which we updated in St Maarten, if you remember well.

I need to change the seals on the Watt and Sea’s.

….

Many greetings
Johan Lemmens on Ganesha in Opua, Bay of Islands.

From: Michael Mullin
Sent: October 11, 2018
To: Will Curry
Subject: Ananda the twice repaired

Will, for your interest:

Our most important crew, faithful servant Ananda, got us home. We were one month on a close reach pounding back from Cabo San Lucas to Ucluelet, against strong NW winds.

On the way down we ran for three days in front of violent 30+ NW. Hydrovane engaged but with assistance to prevent broach. Spent 48 hrs standing, facing aft, tiller in hand. The vane was bent by the end. I straightened it out with clamps. That got us to Mexico, again running in front of NW but less strong.

Then the pile driver crunched into us. The shipyard in Ensenada repaired that, very well.
At which point you sent a new vane. We finally picked it up on Sept 3 rd, the day we left, (another story. )

The second repair got us home.

Will get the new one in service in the spring, hopefully for a trip to Haida Guaii.

Absolutely love your Hydrovane

Keep well, Michael

~~~~~~

On Fri, Oct 12, 2018 at 11:38 Will Curry <will@hydrovane.com> wrote:
Hi Michael,

Thanks for taking the time to send this report. It sounds like Ananda has been serving you well, aside from the damaged vane frame – Good to see you have a replacement assembly. Normally once the vane tube is damaged it shouldn’t be repaired as the weld creates a weak point which you’ve discovered.

It sounds like you did the clipper route back to the Pacific Northwest. I’ve always been intrigued by this option rather than pounding up the coast. How far offshore did you have to go? I know some people that have sailed half way to Hawaii before changing tacks.

If you get any good photos of the vane and the boat in Haida Gwaii we would love to add them to our library. Cheers.

Kind Regards,

Will Curry

~~~~~

From: Michael Mullin
Sent: October 12, 2018
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Ananda the twice repaired

What you call the clipper route, yes. We had total and steady NW winds. 30 k violent along the coast & out quite a ways. Spent three weeks on stbd tack, close hauled, skirting the bright red and seeking the nice 15k green, on the weather fax. About 300 m out parallel to the coast then ending up 530 out at 136W off Oregon. Then 10 days on port tack back into the coast. Ran 10 hrs downwind once, 100 m out with dolphin escort; then the last morning a wild downwind surf. With Ananda steering the whole way. As many as 6 days went by & never touched the tiller or the vane.

But Ready for a rest. Thinking of painting it, signs of corrosion starting. Suggested paint?

Keep well
Michael

From: Renopeter
Sent: September 30, 2018
To: Gloria Anderson
Cc: Will Curry; Sarah Curry
Subject: Re: Hydrovane shipment VERCAUTEREN

Hi, Gloria, Will, Sarah,

I managed to install the Hydrovane, which I named Miche. This weekend was the first test, in very light conditions, below 10 knots of wind. All went great, beam reach, broad reach, boom reach. Wind from the back, all OK.

Just maneuvering in the harbour is a bit more challenging. With the HV locked, my turning circle is to wide get into my box. I went back out and removed the rudder.

Next time i’ll try to maneuver with the HV unlocked, maybe the rudder will just follow.

As soon as I manage to take a decent picture I will send one.

See you on the water.

Peter

From: Richard M.
Sent: 16 September 2018
To: Will Curry
Cc: Gloria Anderson; ‘John Curry’; ‘Sarah Curry’
Subject: Tests after impact

Hi Will

I’m pleased to say that the Hydrovane performed well the very first time we used it on a 480-mile trip from Rabat in Morocco to Arrecife on Lanzarote. It is a pleasure to sail without the constant noise and power draw of the autopilot.

I’m not so pleased to report that this morning the vane was hit by another boat whilst the other boat was attempting to dock. (We were securely berthed at the time.) I was present throughout and the impact was to the drive unit cover which is now broken – I am hoping that there is no other damage.

The shaft still spins freely and everything appears to work. However, I’d like to check that nothing is even slightly bent or out of alignment. What tests should I do to check the vane thoroughly before declaring it ok?

[Editor’s note: Luckily the damage was just to the plastic Frame Case Cover. Phew!]

Best regards,
Richard

From: Evelien van Winsen
Sent: September 12, 2018
To: Sarah Curry
Subject: Re: Order part Hydrovane

Dear Sarah,

The hydrovane was probably the most appreciated gear on board during our 14.000 NM Atlantic Circuit. The vane steered tirelessly wave after wave and day after day. During our 24-day Atlantic Crossing, we used the vane for 90% of all the steering! Also, when we started having trouble with our batteries in the Caribbean, it was an invaluable tool to get from A to B before we found a good spot to replace the batteries. Most of the trips we sailed with just the two of us, I can’t imagine having to hand steer the whole way!

https://this-side-up.blog

Best, Evelien

From: Arby B
Sent: September 11, 2018
To: Sarah Curry
Subject: Re: Rudder Pin

Hi Sarah,

I’ll pass along your greetings.

We tried the Hydrovane in SF Bay Sunday for the first time. It took a little tuning to get familiar with sensitivity and response. When settled in, the experience was amazing. We literally set course under the Bay Bridge for Sausalito and crossed the slot (winds focused by the Golden Gate Bridge) without a single adjustment. Pinning the rudder literally extended the keel, the boat picked up at least a knot or two. Even getting on beam ends, the vane held a steady course. Amazing. Silent command. Worth every nickel.

Thank You!
Arby

From: Mike Crummy
Sent: August 20, 2018
To: John Curry
Subject: Re: Jammed Worm Gear

…

Just as an aside, when I did my first test run after fitting the Hydrovane [2 years ago], 3 of us went out with none of us having any experience of a Hydrovane at all.  All we had was your instruction manual and had watched your utube videos.  Within 15 mins we had it all working and were very comfortable with it.  We beat, we ran, we tacked and gave it a good test.  I think I read somewhere that “it just works” and it does.

Best regards

Mike