True Stories

From: Barbara Sforzini
Sent: November-20-13
To: Will Curry
Subject: Question about our Hydrovane VXA2 D

Hi Will,

We are Alessandro Epifani and Barbara Sforzini, in December 2010 we bought from you wind pilot VXA2D. We are very satisfied with our choice, we never steered during Atlantic crossing even with rough seas with cross waves during the all 16 days. Here enclosed a video during Atlantic navigation under genoa spinnaker pole only.

Less than 6 months later, during our haul-out in Carriacou, we already noticed corrosion on black low collar, we attached some picture even if not very clear. After one year the collar was totally broken.

Does this problem happened to someone else?

[Editor’s note: the Bottom Collar (#26) is now made of Stainless Steel]

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Ciao
Ale e Barbara

From: Bob Packard
Sent: December 03, 2013
To: Hydrovane
Subject: Hydrovane on Realtime

We’ve reached New Zealand on our boat, Realtime, and we need a new cover for the vane.

It’s probably not a big revelation to you, but I want you to know that our Hydrovane turned out to be a super good steering system. It steered our Norseman 447 all across the Pacific and worked great from light winds on the stern to strong winds on the bow. Although I had some trouble in the beginning, I am now a true believer, and I’ll tell anyone.

Much thanks to Will for his help in Puerto Vallarta to look my installation over and make a couple of suggestions.

Best regards,
Bob Packard

From: W. J. Irwin & Son Solicitors
Sent: November 08, 2013
To: John Curry
Subject: Re: new rudder

Hello John,

I have been making use of the new rudder and I find it is a very great improvement on the old one; I can now rely on our Hydrovane, known to us as Baldric because he has his own cunning plans and is not paid or even fed, to a very much greater extent – I used to have to adjust either the vane or the sails for every small change of wind speed and the old rudder was frequently overborne either by the boat’s rudder turning the boat to lee as the wind lightened or by increased weather helm as it strengthened – now I find that the vane will cope with an acceptable variety of wind strength on all courses. The improvement is a great relief, as I was beginning to think it would be necessary to find a different boat, perhaps long keel, to make vane steering more reliable. I can use the vane inshore in spite of the variations of inshore winds [while keeping close watch all round] without having to adjust settings every five minutes. As I dislike having to use the autopilot when there is wind to be used I am much happier than before. I anticipate that offshore it will be precisely what I originally expected it to be when I first fitted it 6 years ago. I am now finding at last that I actually need to angle the vane more because it is oversensitive, which I never had to do before the new rudder arrived. I may soon change the bearings and fit the new mid bearing as well.

I want to thank you for solving my problems by selling me the new rudder. I appreciate your generosity and have no hesitation in recommending both Hydrovane and the people making and selling it to friends and acquaintances.

Best wishes,
Tony
Tony Irwin

—

From: W. J. Irwin & Son Solicitors
Sent: November 11, 2013
To: John Curry
Subject: Re: performance report

Include it on the website if you wish.  I will take a few photos and send them to you to pick from.  I had a good sail yesterday afternoon, about 25 miles around Belfast Lough and through Copeland Sound, with true wind from 5 up to 18 knots and Baldric did virtually all the steering, with very minor adjusting as winds rose and fell and as we altered course; close reaching in 21 knots apparent, running in about 3 knots apparent, close hauled in 16 knots, etc, all with no problems at all and at boat speeds from 2 to 7.5 knots.  Great improvement over the old rudder. I had an experienced crew with me, a Yachtmaster, who was very impressed indeed!

From Chris & Anne-Marie’s Blog – SV Starship

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013
1000 Nautical Miles Down! – Day 10
1000nm down, about 1800nm to go!

Hard to believe it has been 10 days already! I think we have been doing quite well progress wise, especially with our slow 3-4 days getting off the coast, to pull off a little over 100nm per day. Hopefully now that we are in the trade winds we will be able to routinely knock out 125+nm days. Alas it looks like I have lost the bet with my guess of us completing the crossing in 21 days.

One piece of equipment we have been exceptionally happy about has been our Hydrovane (www.hydrovane.com)! There is no doubt it would be a totally different experience out here had we been relying solely on our electronic autopilot as initially planned. To the best of my knowledge no one has hand steered since we shut off the engine just outside of Banderas Bay. The Hydrovane has been doing all the tough work of keeping us on course, while we enjoy the scenery and tend to other tasks onboard.

Here is a brief rundown of why we like the Hydrovane so much:

What sold us on it:

• Could be installed off center, since our transom had a lot of stuff already on it
• Only 4 bolts to install the unit on the transom
• Emergency totally independent rudder
• No power drain when compared to using the electric autopilot

From our experience with it:

• Works as advertised (or better)! We used the Hydrovane running down wind in 35kt winds crossing to Banderas Bay from the East Cape of Baja, and it only seemed to work better the windier it got! On this crossing we were using it to keep us heading in the right direction with only 2kt of apparent wind!
• No steering lines enter the cockpit as on some other windvane self steering systems. The Hydrovane is totally independent on the transom of the boat. No connections to the main wheel or rudder post. Simple, clutter free and redundancy.
• Quiet! It just does it thing back there and you’d never even know it was there until you look. In comparison with our electric autopilot which is always making noise as it alters the course….sqeekkk…sqeeekkkk..sqeekk… I’m sure we would have went insane by now listening to that!
• The wheel is stationary! With the electric autopilot (and some other windvanes), the main wheel spins as the course is adjusted. This makes the wheel a dangerous thing to be around. It is so nice to have the wheel locked down, and not to worry about it when relaxing in the cockpit.
• Huge power savings! There is no power draw whatsoever with the Hydrovane. Compared to possibly as high as 50Ah/day with our electric autopilot. This has allowed us to keep fully charged under solar power alone for our first 10 days. That is with running computers, the fridge, checking emails/weather 2x a day, and Anne-Marie being net controller for the puddle jump fleet (30-45 minutes of talking on the SSB radio, ~12Ah of battery).

If you are in the market for a windvane, give the Hydrovane a good look. Somehow I didn’t consider them when looking at windvanes before leaving the US, and only after meeting Will & Sarah of Hydroquest, who work for Hydrovane did we consider it an option. Will was super helpful in checking out all the stuff on our transom to ensure the Hydrovane would work, which made it a lot easier for us to make the decision.

Full Disclosure: Although we are friends with Will & Sarah, we are not associated with the Hydrovane company and they have no idea I’m writing this post.

[Editor’s note: It’s true! We had no idea Starship was writing such a great testimonial… we were in the middle of the Pacific, ‘puddle jumping’ at the same time!]

From: Kirk Patterson
Sent: September 25, 2013
To: info@hydrovane.com
Subject: Parts order

Hi!

This is Kirk Patterson from S/V Silk Purse, out of Victoria. I am currently trying to be the first foreigner to circumnavigate Japan. I arrived in Japan in June, crossing the Pacific via Hawaii. During that crossing, I used my Hydrovane constantly…it was great! However, my electronic autopilot died 4 days out of Japan and the wind died 12 hours later, so I had to hand steer for 3.5 days in cold torrential rain, thick fog, and, as I neared Japan, heavy shipping traffic…eventually had to get rescued by the Coast Guard! But all is well now.

Anyway…I would like to order 2 pins and a vane cover (plus instructions for how to easily put on the new cover) and have them airmailed to Japan. Please advise cost and I will give you the shipping address and credit card information.

Thanks and regards.

Kirk

[Editor’s note: Kirk went on to be the first foreigner to circumnavigate Japan, and he will soon publish a cruising guide to Japan. He also added a tiller pilot to his Hydrovane – so he can use it while motoring!]

From: Verde, Patrick
Sent: September 06, 2013
To: info@hydrovane.com
Subject: Some comments on my hydrovane

Hi,

I bought a Hydrovane from you – I think it was 2009 – I installed it 2010. I took the boat to the Med (though with truck through Europe) in 2010. It was not in much use the first years because I had a working autopilot and did not do much shorthanded long distance sailing. The truth is I never came up to learning to use it.

3 weeks ago my Auto broke down while I was on a single handed tour from Crete up to Istanbul. (island by island). So suddenly I needed to learn to use and trust my Hydrovane. It became a delight – a revelation. Now she is my “her” on the boat. The boat being a male called REVEN (means The Fox).

My boat is an old (45 years) ferro cement boat (13,5 tons/40 feet – half long keel). I mounted the pilot off center because my stern is quite narrow and I also have a wind generator.

In these weeks I have done all kinds of sailing. Hard up wind in 14-17 ms: it steers better and more precisely than me even when I totally concentrated. The same on every course up to 120 off wind. Then she starts to “slalom” a little – but who doesn’t?.

Butterfly downwind it’s a little bit difficult to get her working precisely. Sure you can reduce sail and get more relative wind – but who wants to loose speed? But I found that I can make her work if I counter steer the main rudder a bit. That makes her (the Hydro) counter steer the other way and getting more relative wind. The arrangement does not allow the skipper sleeping (because as soon as it gets out of balance it reacts wrongly – ex if the wind speed changes), but it is a fine arrangement when down wind speed is the priority.

One of the best parts of using it is that it is so easy to calibrate and re-calibrate. I used it even when beating up narrow channels, which means re-adjusting every five minutes – no problem as adjustment is done in seconds. I am really in love with this piece of gear.

ps – you may publish this text where ever you want – with my name and contact info on it.

Regards

Patrick Verde
Professor
Oslo Business School

From: Wayne on Dante
Sent: August-23-13
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Hydrovane Report on Harmony 42

Hi Will & Sarah,

“I fitted a Hydrovane steering system on my yacht DANTE which I recently purchased in Tortola B.V.I. for a trip back home to Australia. DANTE is a Harmony 42 and I was a little bit apprehensive as to how the off-set position would affect the performance. After nearly 8,000 miles I’m happy to say the Hydrovane has performed brilliantly, in light air as well as heavy and on all points of sailing, quietly keeping the yacht on course with only minor adjustments needed for the wind shifts. In my opinion the Hydrovane is the best piece of equipment on board and well worth the investment. Wayne Jenkins – SV DANTE.”

Happy sailing guys, I’ll hopefully catch up with you on New Years eve in Sydney harbour.

Cheers,
Wayne Jenkins

[Editor’s note: We were anchored next to Wayne in Suva, Fiji]

From: Kosta
Sent: July-15-13
To: Will Curry
Subject: From Kosta

Hi Will,

In June I ended up sailing my own boat from Hawaii to Vancouver. It took us 21 days to get to Port Hardy, very different weather and wind conditions, some easy and some not so easy days…, but very good trip overall.

Hydrovane performed very good, we did manual steering less than 5% of the time. Your piece of equipment managed to sail us through 28-32 knots of steady beam winds and very confused rough seas between the Maui and Big Island for approximately 6 hours. Few times we recorded speeds of 14-14.5 knots!

From your blog it was very nice to see pictures of familiar places in French Polynesia. We did just about what you guys did, including hike to the top of Bora Bora, we also did not hire anybody to help us with it.

Regards, Kosta

[Editor’s Note: custom top bracket]

From: Bill & Tracy Hudson
Sent:  July 11, 2013
To: John Curry
Subject: Broken pin.

Well, we’re now in the Philippines after another downwind trip from Palau. Our Hydrovane is still the best piece of equipment on board. OK, so we did have a problem. During our trip to Palau, we snapped the pin that holds our rudder to the shaft. I guess, two weeks of 30-35 knot winds and 20 foot plus seas during the trip from Tuvalu were too much and it finally snapped. Can’t say I blame it. Luckily, we’d ready your instruction manual that the rudder would sink if it came loose, we’d not only tied it to the boat but we also whipped the end of the line back on itself so there was no chance of it coming loose. I grabbed one of the spare pins that you sent us and climbed down the ladder and with a bit of luck, got the rudder back on the shaft as Zephyr was rolling in the swells and put in the new pin. Simple and easy and off we went again. OK, so I was wearing a life jacket and did have a safety tether to the boat but hey, I’m not stupid. Sure am glad you sent us the pins.

Now we know that our Hydrovane is built tough but it took the strain that the boat couldn’t. With the wind and seas we had, it slowly started tearing itself off the stern of the boat. Over the years, water had gotten inside the stern fiberglass and had slowly rotted out what would the builders had installed there. With all the pressure, it started moving back and forth in the bolt holes. BUT, he still kept on doing his job. While in Pohnpei, we had the stern torn up and new fiberglass installed. He’s now on rock solid.

One question–on the body of the Hydrovane is the adjustment knob to set it up in position 1, 2 or 3. Where that knob goes through and into the frame, there is a space between the bolt and where it bolts on to the spring unit and the main body. Is there supposed to be that space? I can tighten it up but it sure appears to be tight. Second question, there appears to be a bit of looseness between the top (wind vane) and the rudder. I can grip the wind vane and it will move a bit even when both of the pins to lock up the unit are in place. Does this mean that the fittings are coming loose or again, is it supposed to be that way? We just want to make sure he keeps doing what he has been doing so well for the last 4 years and 16,000 miles (at least).

Just keep making them the way our is and you can never go wrong. I take every chance I can to tell people about it and how good it is.

Bill Hudson

SV Zephyr.

From: Andrew Herwig
Sent: June 30, 2013
To: John Curry
Subject: Sea trial of new rudder and larger windvane

Hi John,
It has been awhile since we communicated and also since i last sailed my boat. I layed up the vessel in Bundaberg Queensland in 2011 with the intention of sailing again in 2012 but work and other committments got in the way. Anyway I have just finished a passage from Australia to Fiji (about 1800nm) with the new rudder and the larger windvane I made up using the new bracket you supplied so I thought I would drop a line and let you know how it went.

The passage saw quite varying conditions from light following winds to 25 knot close reaching in seas that were generally moderate, although the close reaching saw quite lumpy seas particularly between the Fijian islands largely due to current against wind etc. In short the performance of the Hydrovane was exemplary. The larger windvane allowed course keeping that was much more tolerant of imperfect trim as I had the power to use all 3 settings although I used position 2 about 95% of the time as this allowed enough rudder to keep a very good course. The light downwind angle was also much improved as 4 knots apparent wind allowed a good course with the vessel doing about 4-5 knots. I haven’t increased the lead counterweight and didn’t find this an issue but I imagine balancing the larger windvane would help in even lighter conditions. The self steering was really a non issue as it simply worked faultlessly as long as I had enough apparent wind which was 95% on the voyage. I hardly had to think about sail trim and balancing as the extra power made all the difference. Certainly a contrast to my older Hydrovane on a S&S 39 and my dramas earlier with the overbalanced rudder and smaller standard windvane.

The dimensions of the larger windvane are 1.9m overall length including the bracket (to fit on a bunk) with a width of 0.39m near the bracket tapering to 0.35m at the top. I have attached a couple of photos that demonstrates the comparative size of the standard and larger windvane. I also attach a photo of the installation which I have been meaning to send for awhile. I was very pleased with the outcome as I think it looks quite neat and allows utilization of most of the stern steps and platform. This and the fact it is an emergency rudder was my main reason for choosing Hydrovane again.

As I have elluded to previously, I really think you should consider offering a larger windvane by simply enlarging the standard windvane construction. This would make the unit much more suitable to bigger and faster yachts and you could do it tomorrow. It would also be much more forgiving of handling than a moulded type of foil. My 2c worth.

[Editor’s note: Since 2015, out XT ‘Extendable’ Vane does just that – allows for more surface area up higher. A great choice for larger, faster boats] 

BTW. I am amazed how many Hydrovanes I am seeing of sterns of yachts lately. I think it is the most common windvane I am seeing in this anchorage (Savu Savu) Fiji and Bundaberg Queensland.

Regards

Andrew Herwig
S/V Spice
Fremantle Australia

From: Paul Stevens
Sent: June 11, 2013
To: Will Curry; John Curry
Subject: RE: Easiest and luckiest ever installation?

Hi all,

Fitted this in December and have just completed first trip from Lowestoft to Penzance. I’m 60 and have been sailing since I was 5, so I know what I like.

This is undoubtedly the best piece of kit I’ve had on any boat ever. It replaced a much older servo pendulum gear and is just amazing in the band of wind and sea conditions it covers. In particular its ability to steer safely on a dead run even when surfing is incredible, as is its light weather performance. I kept thinking, it just can’t be this good.

I also dislike having to faff about with things on boats. With the Hydrovane I haven’t had to try any of the settings, van angle etc., just engage and sit back.

So thanks a million it’s the best money I ever spent.

Cheers from sunny Penzance.

Paul S

From: darryl laurin
Sent: May-10-13 12:23 AM
To: Will Curry
Subject: Re: Hydrovane Covers

Hi Will,

I purchased my Hydrovane in 2009. I have since sailed my Beneteau First 47.7 from Gibraltar to Istanbul, (and many places in the Med of course) and then from Turkey to the Caribbean. About 90% of that has been solo or with non-sailors. I have relied hugely on my Vane both as the principal pilot to windward and as a back-up rudder should I have the miss fortune to loose my rudder. It has served me very well and I recommend it highly. I have had excellent support from the team at Hydrovane. Next year I shall be enter the Pacific heading west.

You are welcome to add those comments to your site. I wore out my Hydrovane T-Shirt long ago. But I used to get a lot of laughs from it as well.

Good to hear that you are in the Pacific. Perhaps I shall see you out there.

Darryl

From: William Ennis
Sent: April-23-13 3:20 PM
To: Will and Sarah on Hydroquest
Subject: Email

Our friends,

Great to see you both today! Great tats and I think that I’ll get one, perhaps from the same guy. I’ve considered this for a while.

We have been sailing since we bought our first boat in Alaska, over twenty years ago. We bought our Wings, a 1983 Passport 40, and sailed her in Alaska for twelve years, then went cruising. We installed our Hydrovane in 2010 and it’s been providing steering services all the way from Alaska to the Sea of Cortez, now across the Pacific to Nuku Hiva in French Polynesia. Regardless of sea or wind conditions, the Hydrovane keeps us on track. Whether it’s 5 knots or 50 knots of apparent wind, reaching or running, cross seas or following seas, the Hydrovane compensates quickly and without complaint or energy. In this recent Pacific crossing, the Hydrovane kept us on course (relative to the wind, of course) for several days at a time, requiring no tweaking or attention at all. If you can balance your boat and twist a dial, you can successfully operate a Hydrovane. Don’t leave home without one!

Bill Ennis, Conni Livsey

S/V Wings

[Editor’s note: Bill and Conni made landfall in Nuku Hiva around the same time we did. We took this great photo of Bill kissing the Hydrovane. Yes, we were freshly tattoo’ed!]

From: Bob Carey
Sent: April 18, 2013
To: John Curry
Subject: Amazing product

Hi John,

You may not recall, but I have had numerous correspondences with you and your helpful staff over the last three years or so as I planned and began my cruise South. I have a Shannon 38 Pilothouse, Kuan Yin 1, and got assistance from you or your staff in planning the installation of a hydrovane. After I installed it with proper foot pads and steel backing plates, I realized I had made a critical error. Instead of installing it parallel to the centerline, I had gotten fixed on ensuring that it was perpendicular to the water. Don’t ask me why I did that, I can’t recall my reasoning.

Well it is perpendicular to the water alright. Unfortunately, when I did that, the boat had a list to starboard. I’m not writing you about that, however. I’m writing you about how forgiving “Wayne” the hydrovane is, and how happy I am with your amazing product.

At the moment, we are 300 nms from Hiva Oa, and Wayne has been driving since Panama, mostly downwind, and at present in light air. “He” has tolerated my stupidity and functioned day in, day out like a charm. All this, and two weeks ago we started a new sail configuration. We have poled out the Yankee to windward and have the main and stay’sl to leeward. Partly we did this because we had to haul down the 115% Genoa. The stitching on the foot and in places on the leech was coming undone, and a fellow cruiser on an SSB net suggested this sail configuration.

I’m telling you all this, because I suspect sailing a deep broad reach in, at times, lumpy seas, light air and with a sail set such as this is a real test of the Hydrovane, especially one improperly installed. I have sent you photos of the installation a couple of years ago, by the way. I don’t know if you still have access to those photos. Clearly, whatever problems I created are not affecting performance very much. The Hydrovane is so forgiving, essential and such a skoocum piece of equipment that I can’t say enough about how pleased I am to own one.

I thought you would like to know,

Bob Carey
s/v Kuan Yin 1

From: Bob Carey
Sent: April-20-13
To: Will Curry
Subject: Even with the chute

Hi Will,

I should add that Wayne’s driving right now with the cruising chute up on a broad reach with a triple reefed main. We deeply reefed the main to let the chute breathe, and barely changed the Hydrovane from it’s position with the poled out Yankee to windward etc. that I mentioned in the last e-mail. We’ve tested just about every sail combination and configuration, and despite my error, Wayne just keeps on course as well as the wind direction will allow. It’s almost too good too be true, but it certainly is reassuring and gives confidence on a long passage.

We’ll be make landfall at Hiva Oa tomorrow afternoon after 23 days from the Galapagos. Maybe we will meet up somewhere.

Fair winds,

Bob
s/v Kuan Yin 1

[Editor’s note: We did see Bob and Kuan Yin 1 – we were med moored in downtown Papeete, Tahiti, at the same time in 2013. We took this photo]

From: Kevin Leary
Sent: March 28, 2013
To: John Curry
Cc: ‘Will Curry’; ‘Valerie Williams’
Subject: Re: It works!

Hello All,

It has been some time since we last communicated over three years ago. Since then, the Hydrovane has been wonderful. It steered my Kelly Peterson 46 across the Atlantic from the Caribbean to Ireland where I have been mostly cruising since. It also served beautifully during last summer’s circumnavigation of Ireland via the Scottish Hebrides.

This summer we hope to sail from Ireland to the Faroe Islands and possibly Iceland. I have no doubt the Hydrovane will serve as wonderfully as before.

However, the nylon membrane that fits over the vane frame has begin to age, and I would like to order two more, one to keep as a backup. Red is nice, but the color is not important.

Thank you,

Kevin Leary