True Stories

“Over the past twenty years sailing and in the course of that time spent a personal fortune preparing my yacht for long term cruising I can say with absolute confidence that my choice in buying the VXA2 Hydrovane was one of my better decisions. When I first engaged the Hydrovane during a sail I thought it was a coincidence that it steered the boat on a steady course immediately. It wasn’t. Since then I use Heidi whenever I can.”

Owner of an Ohlson 38
Stoke-on-Trent, England

“My Hydrovane has performed faultlessly for 20 years without a single failure or repair needed ….. Last week I suffered my first Hydrovane gear “failure”. The white nylon threaded thumbscrew…….”

Owner of a 37′ sailboat
New York, New York

”Hydro” as we affectionately call her continues to function so well that my wife and I regard her with the same aura as we do a fax machine……. No more do we have to listen to the electric autopilot or watch the wheel forever rotating this way and that. The only thing that annoys me is that I did not have the equipment fitted years ago when I first heard of your system.”

Owner of a Swan 44
Wiltshire, England

“……Having previously owned a Hallberg Rassy 382 which had your vane system on her I would not consider anything else. My family and I sailed the HR382 across the Atlantic and through the West Indies up to Florida and even though the Hydrovane was off centered it didn’t miss a beat!

For your interest in 1972 my wife and I sailed a 28 footer with a transom hung Hasler trim tab system out to New Zealand and some time after that I had a yacht with a local pendulum servo system. The Hydrovane in my opinion is the ultimate!”

Owner of a Hallberg Rassy 42 ketch
Auckland, New Zealand

“…we are very happy with the performance of the Hydrovane especially downwind in light winds …… in strong, storm winds the Hydrovane has performed exceptionally …. our boat is quite big, a Bruce Roberts 44 ft. steel cutter and we never hand steered once in a whole month while coming across the Atlantic …”

Owner of a Roberts Norfolk 43 – 18T
Tortola, British Virgin Islands

“I have been cruising non stop ever since December ’89. I am very pleased to say that my Hydrovane has performed excellently in all conditions. It is particularly good downwind and holds an excellent course, even with big following seas. Having exchanged views with many skippers it is obvious that many windvanes are fairly weak on that point of sail. Mechanically it has stood up very well and has required minimal maintenance.”

Owner of Moody 39
Brisbane, Australia

Just to let you know I have steered them over the Atlantic and half the Pacific. They cannot manage without me, I am so clever.

Harriet the Hydrovane on Susquehanna
Fare-Huahine, Isles Sous Le Vent, French Polynesia
June 25, 2002

“We have sailed with mechanical self steering systems since 1987 and have accumulated in excess of 42,000 sea miles exclusively using vane steering. Prior to purchasing the Hydrovane we had been using a popular brand pendulum system with fine results. We did, however, tire of the cockpit being interfered with by the steering lines led from the pendulum system. As we had sailed many miles successfully with the pendulum system we were, initially, very hesitant to try an alternative mechanical steering product.

After three years and 10,000 sea miles of Hydrovane steering, we are absolutely delighted. Particularly, the downwind light air performance is remarkable! The vane has been totally maintenance free and is exceptionally easy to engage/disengage. Thank you for a very fine product. It is an absolute pleasure to sail with the Hydrovane!”

Owner of a Spencer 1330 (45′)
Langley, B.C., Canada (currently in Malaysia)

Hi Will

Sorry about the delay in replying. I wanted to be able to use the vane before responding.

We have now sailed from Falmouth(UK) via Spain and Portugal to Lanzarote.

The vane has been used for a number of overnight passages and has been working well.

It would be absolutely perfect if it could also stand watches during the night !

I have attached some photos as well

Cheers Neil