True Stories

From: Ertan Beskardes
Sent: October 22, 2014
To: Will Curry
Subject: Jeanneau 33i

Few more photos, use as you wish. Fitted by Ocean Rigging Lymington Yatch haven Lymington. Tried out this morning for half and hour all seem working, looks fantastic, looking forward to next trip. Anyone wants to have look at it in my area, you are welcome to give my mail address. Regards Ertan

From: Ertan Beskardes
Sent: October 28, 2014
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Jeanneau 33i

Will Thank you for your mail.

I am delighted with your product and I can not wait for my planned trip to Azores in May next year, I am sure I will have few cross Channel trips beforehand. Boat has twin rudders so current arrangement looks perfectly placed (jeanneau 33i. Lift keel with 85 cm minimum draft) you may use the photos in your web site as you see fit, you are welcome to refer me if any one wants to see it.

Thank you for your advise to check the bolts which I shall do once I do long enough trip.

Kind regards Ertan

From: Bruce Swabb
Sent: October 3, 2014
To: Hydrovane
Subject: Testimonial

Greetings Hydrovane Crew!

I just had to share my thoughts with you…

I recently sold my 46ft cutter which had a Hydrovane system when I purchased it. I quickly fell in love with (and in awe of) the unit, and it provided many miles of independence when sailing short-handed. The unit truly is indestructible. The electric autopilot gave up the ghost soon after purchasing the boat. I never fixed it! The Hydrovane was all I needed. I would not leave the wheel while motoring anyway.

Well, just this past week, I helped the new owner and his wonderful wife deliver the boat from West Palm Beach to St. Mary’s GA. The wonders of the wind vane were obvious to the new owners, and will be the most important piece of gear on their eventual circumnavigation.

To the future…I have a wonderful classic plastic Hunter 37 Cutter…and yes, the mechanical autopilot is kaput. I now know without any doubt that I must purchase another Hydrovane for this boat, and save the expense of fixing the mechanical autopilot. Now to start saving my pennies.

All the best,

Bruce Swabb

From: Margie Hayward
Date: September 16, 2014
To: Will Curry
Subject: Photo of Taswell 49

Hi Will,

It was good to talk to you and Sarah today on the stand.

As promised, here are three photos that show the Hydrovane.

This is an extract from our blog on our second day into a 15 day voyage from Brazil to Trinidad.

……….”At 19.45 the Autohelm stopped working! With the wind blowing 26knts, Marcus was having to helm in pretty foul conditions and I came straight from bed into my ‘wets’ and up into the cockpit …………… Shooting along at 7.5knts, I clambered up onto the transom to move the Hydrovane’s knot on the control line back into the centre, so that we could adjust the angle to the wind from the cockpit……(I really must sew that line together so it runs through smoothly!) ………It’s amazing what you can do when it has to be done and the Hydrovane, once again saved the day! When we get calmer seas I’ll have to go down into the aft locker to mend the Autohelm incase the wind drops and we have to motor.”

Although we managed to mend the Autohelm, we carried on sailing with the Hydrovane for the remaining 1600 miles.

Lovely to have met you and hope to meet you again along the way.

Margie and Marcus Hayward
Island Kea II
www.islandkea.com

From: “Michael Day” <
To: John Curry
Sent: 14 September, 2014
Subject: Quote please !

Hi John.

I’m SA based ex-pat Brit planning a transatlantic crossing Cape Town to BVI’s in December.

My boat is a Lavranos designed Crossbow 40, launched 2007 (which is at least 12 years after the last sister-ship but that’s a looong story 🙂 She’s sugar-scooped, 40’LOA, displaces 9600kg half load with no stern platform or other overhangs. Somewhat dated perhaps by today’s design standards, a tad narrow at the stern and therefore has a slight tendency to wander downwind.

And since we’ll be riding the SE Trades for at least half of the trip, that’s a bit of an issue.

From my web browsing, forum busting, ear bending research, Hydrovane looks the way to go.

Would therefore appreciate an approximate quote and delivery time, ASAP, and, as I know you’ll need detailed images and measurements for the final spec and build, promise to get those to you by end this week.

For the moment I just need to know approx price* and if the unit can be shipped in time to arrive here mid/late November.

Would much appreciate a figure* by return email if you can.

Many thanks & regards from the sunny Cape.

Mike

From: Tom Saxe
Sent: September 09, 2014
To: John Curry
Cc: Will Curry

John

We met at last year’s Annapolis Boat Show and spent an hour trying to figure out why the Hydrovane, I installed, didn’t hold a heading for more than a few minutes (maybe 20 min). I left with some “to dos” to trouble shoot the problem. Well it has been a long season where I had no real need to get to the Hydrovane problem (mid way on “the list”). This past week I went off shore for about 250 NM. My list priority changed before departure.

I was about to do all of the adjustments we spoke of at the Show, when I noticed a bit of discoloration at the frame of the “gear box”. I had installed a larger than needed fender washer on the “hold down fitting to the shaft which hit the side wall. This didn’t allow for full swing of the shaft and hence the problem. Problem solved. 250 NM with one adjustment in route.

I should have sent you a picture of me napping in the cockpit to explain this better, but I thought you would like the details.

See you at the Annapolis Show.

Tom

Thomas K. Saxe

“My wife Hilkka and I are very happy to have Hydrovane. We sailed last year to the Caribbean. We had minor rudder failure during ARC and we used Hydrovane manually during reparations. We came back to Helsinki in May. Just two of us from the Caribbean. We are now in La Coruna, Spain. Our plan is to sail south, round Cape Horn, then through Pacific, North of Australia, South of Africa, Caribbean and after that to the Mediterranean. Hopefully those six pins are enough. Boat is Hallberg Rassy 42 Ketch.”

Esa

From: Mike Parkes
Sent: August 08, 2014
To: Will Curry
Subject: Hydrovane Reference Material – Offline e-Version Request
Will,

Let me commend you and the Hydrovane team on a very comprehensive and thorough website (as well as effective self-steering product). I have owned and operated my Hydrovane for several years now, and when I have questions about operation and maintenance, I am always able find my answers online at your website or in the paperwork that shipped with my unit.

Yours aye,

Mike Parkes

From: Nick Dwyer
Sent: August 6, 2014
To: Hydrovane
Subject: Testimonial

Hallo Hydrovane people!

I moved on to my boat in 2008 am still living on board. I have sailed half way around the world solo with only my Hydrovane to self steer. It is a fantastic piece of equipment and probably the last item I would get rid of on the boat because it is so reliable. The only time it let me down, was in 2009, I was one month out with one month to sail before land fall, using my SSB a ham radio user contacted you explaining my predicament and within 24 hours I was provided with the dimensions of the part that I needed to replace (the ratio arm) I was able to Jury rig using what I had on board and made it to the destination with no further troubles. So I would say that not only is the product brilliant but so is the after sales service.

Thanks

Nick

From: Mike and Carol Kefford
Sent: August 02, 2014
To: ‘Will Curry’
Subject: RE: Hydrovane

Beneteau Oceanis 423 / Mike and Carol Kefford

Our Hydrovane was fitted by us (with the help of an engineer friend) in Gibraltar in 2011, having had it shipped there as we prepared to cross the Atlantic after three years cruising in the Mediterranean. Fitted with an excellent “stubby” wind vane to fit under the solar panel arch, we were able to learn how it worked and how we could best use it during our passage to Cape Verde via the islands of Madeira and Lanzarote. In particular, we understood how important it was to balance the sails so that the Hydrovane was not fighting to correct weather helm or lee helm. We discovered why our insurance company loves Hydrovane and we soon came to love “him” ourselves.

Like all other cruisers our steering assistants take on a personality of their own. Our Raymarine autopilot aka “Wilhelm” now had a companion “Barret”. So named after “Barret” Bonden, the coxswain in the Patrick O’Brien books, a favourite series of eighteenth century British Naval books and from which the film Master and Commander was made.

Barret was to steer us across the Atlantic in December 2011, to the Bahamas and North America in 2012 and back through the Caribbean in 2013 to Trinidad. We went through the Panama Canal in March 2014 and arrived in the Galapagos Islands in April.

The trip from Galapagos to the Marquesas Islands was to be our longest passage with just the two of us on board and “Barret” was an essential crew member for the 3000 mile crossing. He requires no power, we do not have to feed him and he never sleeps. He is the perfect crew member.

We departed from Academy Bay, Santa Cruz, Galapagos on 15 April and ran SW for the first few days with light winds between 4 and 12 knots, with the cruising chute pulling us along and Barret doing all the work. On 17 April a False Killer whale swam alongside the yacht, so close that Carol’s toes are in the photograph.

From 19 April to 3 May we travelled more westerly as the SE Trade Winds kicked in with 15 to 25 knots. However, from 25 to 30 April we also had a period of severe squalls and torrential rain. The wind was often gusting 30 to 40 knots on the edge of the squalls with the seas uncomfortably confused with crossing waves on top of the 3 metre southerly swell. During this period we often needed to hand steer for hours at a time as neither “Wilhelm” nor “Barret” could cope with the breaking following seas. This was not a reflection on “Barret” but on our steering wheel locking system which kept being thrown hard over by the following seas. We were reluctant to tie it down hard for fear of the forces breaking the rudder. We have since learnt to trust the strength of the yacht, to tie the wheel and let “Barret” do the rest.

From 4 May the squalls became less frequent, the seas were calmer and the wind backed to the east. At 10 degrees 20 minutes south we tacked back to the north for 24 hours to give ourselves a better angle of approach to the most southerly of the Marquesas’, the island of Fatu Hiva. We were then able to sail almost dead downwind with headsails poled out on either side and “Barret” doing a fine job on this most difficult point of steering.

We sighted the dramatic profile of Fatu Hiva at 0530 on 9 May, shortly after which the wind died for a while and we had to put “Barret” in neutral and motor sail until we rounded the northern tip of the island. The final three miles to Bay on Fatu Hiva was hand steering as it was such an emotional moment to approach that spectacularly beautiful bay.

Our passage had taken us 24 days, not fast at all as our conservative sail plan had been intended to look after the yacht, especially during the prolonged period of bad weather, and we still had 4000 miles to go to Australia. “Barret” had steered us the majority of the way and he and Tashi Delek had looked after us very well. We cannot wait for the next leg of the voyage and to see “Barret” deliver us, via the Tuamotus, Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia to Bundaberg, in Queensland, Australia.

From: John Kloppenburg
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2014 6:24 PM
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Ali Oop in False Creek

Gertrude, from what we tried so far, is working well. I’m sure that she will steer the boat for us and I will keep you up to date with our travel and let you know how she performs. I have attached a few pictures of the install. I hope all is well with you and your family. John

From: Palma Maritime Marco
Sent: July 13, 2014
To: Will Curry

Hi Will,

I have successfully installed the Hydrovane and have used it several times now. It´s an amazing unit, which is very easy to use. I do have 2 questions though, which hopefully you can shed some light on.

1. What is the function that you can tilt the vane back?? When would u use that? I can´t really find much info on it.
2. Sailing into a straight-ish line seems difficult: I have been trying the 3 different “gear” settings and it doesn’t seem to make much difference which I use, but there is quite a sway from a straight line at time. I suppose my type of boat is relatively “nervous” when it comes to wind gusts and the hydrovane just doesn’t react as quick as an electric autopilot, but sometimes the sway of the straight line is like 15 degrees either end, which seems a lot to me.

Any thought in that?

Thanks and with best regards

Marco

—

From:Will Curry
To: Palma Maritime Marco
Sent: July 15, 2014

Hi Marco,

Good to hear you got your Hydrovane installed.

The vane axis inclination is used to reduce the sensitivity of the vane in heavy weather. For most conditions you shouldn’t have to use this. You only want to incline the vane when it appears to be over steering.

You should be able to get the vane to steer a straighter course. Most of the time the issue is with getting the boat properly balanced before engaging the vane. When you lock off the wheel the boat has to want to track straight. Poorly trimmed sails or an unbalanced sail configuration can make it difficult for the vane to steer. When going downwind a pole on the genoa is mandatory. What points of sail and conditions have you been using the vane in?

Our Boat was a Beneteau first 405 that we sailed to Australia and would have similar sailing characteristics to your Jeanneau with a fin keel and spade rudder. Once we got the sails balanced we could normally keep our course deviation within 5-10 degrees which in most cases was better than the autopilot. It steered us 95% of the way across the Pacific.

…

Best Regards

Will

—

From: Palma Maritime Marco
Sent: July 30, 2014
To: Will Curry
Cc: John Curry
Subject: Re: Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 40 – Cracked it!

Basically I have to reef a little quicker than hand held steering. I was veering approx 20 dgrs again on the hydrovane in 12-13 knots of wind (I normally start reefing a first reef in the main at 14 knots). So put in one reef in the main and all went perfect straight away. No more than 5 / 6 dgrs veering either side. So all happy! I have to start thinking a little more in cruising terms instead in fast, faster, fastest. Will take some getting used to!!

Best regards

Marco

—

From:Will Curry
To:’Palma Maritime Marco’
Sent: July 31, 2014
Subject: RE: Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 40

Hi Marco,

Good to hear you are getting to know your new crew member. We had lunch on Monday with Jeanne Socrates (just completed her third circumnavigation) and we were talking about off-set installations. I mentioned the effect when boats are healing and her response was “no boat should be healing.” It always amazes me that when you reef early there is generally very little loss in boat speed and the boat is more comfortable. We had at least one reef in our mainsail the whole way across the Pacific and we still had multiple 180 mile days

Anyway, thanks for keeping us posted.

Best Regards

Will

From: Gerry May
Sent: July 18, 2014
To: ‘Will Curry’
Subject: Hydrovane comments & pix

Hi Will,

It was good to meet up with all of you at Hydrovane yesterday. Thanks for the spare rudder pin… always good to have one of those, just in case.

I wanted to share with you my first impressions of the Hydrovane which we were able to employ for most of the stretch between the Aeolian Islands (NW of Messina Strait) to Cagliari, Sardinia.

In a word, fantastic… with sails and the boat’s rudder in trim, it was dead simple to engage and adjust, achieving a stable helm almost instantly. We were in relatively flat water with 12-14 knots at 100-110 degrees apparent, so perhaps these gentle conditions helped to shorten the learning curve. Even so, I was amazed how easy it was to experiment with different vane angles and ratio knob positions to find the groove, so to speak. We settled on the most sensitive ratio knob position with an almost vertical vane in these conditions. I found the gentle rocking motion of the vane to be almost hypnotic… what an amazing piece of engineering!

I have attached a few pictures.

Cheers, Gerry

From: Sigmund Baardsen
Sent: June 30, 2014
To: John Curry
Subject: Heading East

Dear John,

It was lovely to see Will and Sarah’s excellent (informative) piece in Latitude 38. They are inspirational. Please convey that to them.

MARY T is now on the hard. We have scraped off hundreds of 10-12mm barnacles and wet sanded the bottom. We do not consider that a paint failure, as La Paz Bay has 85F. water temp and is rich in nutrients. After three weeks, our anchor chain is the size of your arm, with marine growth. Unlike the Chesapeake, where marine life is dying of eutrefaction, due to industrial and agricultural pollution and mostlythe pig farms, here the oyster, clam and crab fisheries are prospering.

Carol is sewing covers for all the new varnish. The first 6 coats applied three months ago, at Catalina are already breaking down and have been re-coated, with another three. God I am hating varnish. It’s a mug’s game, south of 40 Deg.

Everything is removed from deck and/or double lashed, on account of hurricanes. The jack stands are well chained and the boats are jammed in so tightly that it is unlikely that any individual boat could go down. The yard is a far cry from the Cherubini Yachts yard. Here it is dirt aprons, flea-bitten dogs and dog shit everywhere, abandon boats, broken and abandon boat parts everywhere. It is a place of broken dreams, yet it is familiar, comfortable and we somehow find hope here. There is happily no travel lift, but instead a there is a cement launch-ramp, into the water and a big submersible trailer with hydraulic arms that support the boat.

We have found an inverse relationship, between appearance of the yard and care given the vessels. In the yards with flash new equipment, smart uniforms, travel lifts and fancy offices and restrooms, they care more about insurance, waivers, disclaimers, documentation and paperwork than they do about the boat. That is a sentiment not widely shared, particularly in the U.S..

Tomorrow we are off the boat, into a B&B operated by cruising friends, from 25 years back, at Moorings Pto. Escondido. That should be fun.

After a few days rest we are flying East, to sail on a sistership in the Chesapeake Bay/Long Island Sound area. The Annapolis boat show is on our itinerary.

Will you be there?

We have seen as least six new HYDROVANES here in this yard alone. Your improvements are subtle. Congratulations. You seem to be not only holding your own but gaining against the electric auto pilots. The HYDROVANE/tiller pilot combination must be much more economical as well as versatile than an equivalent under- deck autopilot.

Coming down the coast we had a few 168/mile days, with three reefs in the main and a scrap of jib. that’s not bad for an old boat with a 27 foot waterline.

On the 6th night, a threaded stem-ball, unscrewed from the control rod. (My fault, not yours). We had to had steer. It was exhausting. With fatigue we started to make slow decisions and bad decisions. Rather continue, deeper into folly, we hove-to (a forgotten virtue) and rested. At daylight we put into the salt works at Cedros Island, where there is a machine shop. I was able to make the repair, with parts on board in fifteen minutes. Then we slept for fifteen hours straight.

Avoiding fatigue is important to “Survive your dream”. Fatigue is insidious in its effect on our faculties. We don’t even think of drinking and driving, yet people brag, “I was steering for18 hours, couldn’t leave the helm, because of the storm”. That’s stupid. That is a message that cruisers need to hear.

Congratulations on helping so many to achieve and survive their dreams.

Sigmund

From: Arthur Robey
Sent: June 27, 2014
To: Hydrovane
Subject: Thank you.

Sorry about the delay. Life got in the way.

I just wanted to tell that I am very pleased with my vane, ‘Atilla’.

He worked exactly as promised, first time out.

I am thinking that I should invest in two more for my little yacht.

Regards,
Arthur Robey

From: Peter Bamford
To: John Curry
Subject: FW: Hallberg Rassy 412
Date: 22 Jun 2014

John, having used our Hydrovane (nicknamed ‘Helga”!) on and off for a couple of weeks I thought I would send you some reflections.

Overall when Helga is working she is amazing. Her ability to sail the boat smoothly and quickly astonished me even after reading various reviews before we purchased. My wife is a bit prone to seasickness and we clearly notice the difference as soon as Helga is engaged or dis-engaged. Shen even managed to steer the boat well when motorsailing on number of occasions. However, there are number of points worth mentioning or discussing:

1. We had to fit Helga slightly off centre on the starboard side. We do have a bimini and a backstay where the main elements of the bridle and blocks are on the port side. The impact is that on starboard tack Helga works almost faultlessly on any point of sailing but really struggles to find clear air on port tack with the apparent wind forward of the beam. Obviously the heeling angle of the boat effectively lowers Helga further into the wind shadow. Given that we have few options with the bimini and backstay – please see photo – I’m not sure whether there any easy answers to this. I would welcome your thoughts.
2. On our boat the normal genoa is low footed with minimal overlap but we do carry and use a ‘code zero’ sail in up to around 12/13 knots of wind with the true wind more than 55/60 degrees off the nose. The balance of boat is much more sensitive to changes in wind strength with this sail up and Helga needs a bit more adjustment as we go along.
3. I also note your comments about removing the rudder for maneuvering in marinas. We have found this to be absolutely essential, particularly since our boat is fitted with a sail drive well forward rather than a traditional propeller. With Helga’s rudder locked centre it is absolutely impossible to get any side ways kick on the stern when driving on to pontoons. We had a couple of quite embarrassing moments until I realized what the issue was!
4. Please could you send me a couple of spare pins? I’ve read your comments about rotating the pins to prevent fatigue failures. I’d like keep two spare.

Regards,

Peter

• DIRTY AIR – You might be surprised to hear that we have never had a report of dirty air affecting performance when beating … although such is certainly possible/understandable. Part of the reason is that cruisers so rarely have to beat upwind and that is such an easy point of sail steering wise. If you ever do get in that situation again you can try:
  • Shift the sheeting to the traveler (if you have one)
  • Slack the main sheet a bit
  • Put a reef in the mainsail
  • There is an expression: ‘Gentlemen never go to weather’.
• HEADSAILS – If you have a true genoa with a low foot I always recommend having them recut to put the clew higher making the length of the sides more like an isosceles triangle so you can see beneath it and when you slack its sheet the sail doesn’t simply open at the top. Genoas are one purpose sails – meant to go upwind – a direction that cruisers try hard to avoid. When off the wind, even with the headsail on the leeward side it is often wise to put a pole on the clew to tighten up the sail – keep it from collapsing and filling. That collapsing and filling corrupts the boat balance sending confusing signals to the HV.
• RUDDER REMOVAL – For arrival in a marina it is much preferable to remove the rudder … unless you have an extra pair of hands to use the HV rudder – two rudders are better than one.