"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
...

"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
I brought the boat down from the yard today. The rig wasn't set up so it
was fifteen miles as a power boat. As soon as I got out of the river, I
set up the newly installed ST1000 driving the Cape Horn windvane.

Wow. I never had so much fun not doing something I used to think of as
fun. I know most of you take this for granted but I've always been a
"keep it simple", minimalist sailor. There's something about a boat that
steers itself that makes you feel like an adult.

I spent a good part of the leg down the bay sorting out lines and making
the boat a bit more presentable after the hasty mast stepping and
departure. The remote was close at hand and what luxury to just reach
down and push the buttons when a floating log or pot buoy came up.

It was a cold, raw day (an inch of snow in the northern part of the
state) and would have been a long cold trick at the wheel single handed.
Another nice thing I've discovered about autopilots is that being able to
move around and do things makes you feel a lot warmer.

I don't know how I ever got along without this thing. I may never steer
again. What's next? Radar? (Now that I can leave the wheel, I could even
go and look at it.)

--

Roger Long


If you had a real sailboat like my Allied Seawind 32 with her traditional
full keel and ketch rig, you wouldn't need to use some cheapo electronic
autopilot. Sea Isle can hold her course all day long just with the proper
sail trim using the jigger as a steering sail.

There is no joy in having to use electricity to keep a recalcitrant and
poorly designed yacht on her course.

Wilbur Hubbard
Correct, we know the Allied Seawind 32 well.
As you have stated it will, under normal condition, hold its course.
That may account for one reason why circumnavigators were amenable to use
the Allied Seawind 32.
However, the Bay of Fundy, offers a varietals of challenges. The Point
Lepreau rip tides, the Grand Manan channel,
Tiverton Passage, Schooner Passage. Letite and Little passages are very
challenging in Black fog. The legend has it that Mohawk ledge has had its
share of boats. The fog is challenging but compounded with tides, eddies
and currents you have all it takes to prove your skill and your manual or
auto pilot. No one navigating in these areas will let his or her boat
steered itseft alone. An auto pilot can be used as long as you have a
constant vigil and adjust the heading a degree at a time or better still do
the steering manually with the assistance of plotter,dept sounder and radar.
Having a fin keel allows for quicker reaction time to avoid ledges and
rocks.