Selecting the Right Self Steering Gear

The Golden Hind IV prior to Refit.

As an Albin Vega enthusiast, and upcoming offshore singlehander of the Golden Hing IV,  # 2179 Albin Vega, I will speak mainly of gear suited for these smaller vessels.  Typically most Sailboats under 30 ft will require a similar vane.



Navik from Plastimo  Altho out of production, perfect for a Vega

Given that short-handed sailing is the default situation for many boat owners, some kind of efficient self steering system is a huge benefit. Indeed, a decent self steering system can be as useful as two crewmembers – they don’t need to sleep, nor take meal breaks.

Windvane systems are rugged, dependable and won’t drain the batteries – all good reasons why they are the favoured self steering choice of long-term cruisers.

Before buying any type of self steering it’s important to analyse exactly what level of performance you need from the unit – this is a crucial first step in narrowing the many different options and levels of specification. Will the system be mostly to take over briefly while you’re doing other such as making a cup of tea, or to take the boredom out of motoring in a calm? Alternatively, is it to take over when the going gets tough and there are no volunteers to helm, or to steer the boat for long distances on extended passages?





If the answer to either of the first pair of questions is “yes”, an entry-level model may suffice. However, if the answer to either of the second pair of questions – indicating more serious use – is affirmative, this points strongly to a quality model – either windvane or electric – that will be capable of steering the boat for long periods of time in challenging conditions.

Windvane vs electric

There was a time at which any long-distance voyaging boat would sport a windvane self steering gear on the transom. They tend to be robust, often requiring servicing only after tens of thousands of miles, require no electrical input, and can often be easily fixed using locally sourced parts and labour even in remote parts of the world. These remain undeniable advantages in today's world, and many seasoned skippers swear by their wind vane gear for good reason.

On the downside, the upfront cost can be relatively expensive, and windvanes tend not to be effective sailing downwind in light airs, when the apparent wind is low, and are useless for motoring in a calm, when the apparent wind is always from ahead, irrespective of your course. For this reason many yachts with a robust windvane system will also carry an electric pilot, although this does not need to be of a high specification, as it will only be used in easy conditions.

If choosing an electric pilot for serious sailing, buy the very best you can afford.

The best electrical systems are now equally capable of steering a boat across an ocean, although carrying spares of key elements of the system is a sensible precaution. On the downside, they can also consume significant amounts of power, making it more of a challenge to keep batteries topped up on a long passage. This can be particularly true for lower specification units that struggle to keep the boat on course, thereby using more power than a system that will steer a better line. Quality electric systems also tend to be preferred by owners of modern lightweight yachts that are designed to sail downwind at planing speeds in strong winds.

Types of windvane

After first being developed in the post-war years by the likes of Bernard Moitessier, Blondie Haslar and others, windvane design now favours servo pendulum types, which magnify the power produced by the small vane on top of the unit.

A number of companies have with their own designs based on this theme, most of which work on similar principles but offer advantages in terms of size, price or track record. One that stands out from the rest is the Wind Pilot.   As an Albin Vega Owner, The Wind Pilot Light is a great choice and in fact operated on countless Vegas as a replacement to the now out of production Navik system.





Here is a video of the new installation of the Pacific Light on the Golden Hind IV:

The Navik System has been considered for decades to be the answer to windvanes on the Vega.  This Windvane has been said to be built as the perfect companion for the Vega.  Unfortunately the Navik windvane was bought by plastimo and then put out of production....  Good news on the horizon though as a new windvane system has been developed very similar to the Navik which will be available to the sailing community in the next year or so!

Another windvane which is a fairly young design is the MeVee system.  Here is a picture of the MrVee on the Golden Hind IV.  This system would work well on some boats but not the Vega.  In fact it never really worked right and subsequently has been removed for sale at the next marine swap meet!  The main issue was the drive quadrant was way to small and its light construction. It just never worked right and the final straw was when the pendulum paddle slid right off the pendulum shaft in calm seas!  What if this had happened offshore?



 Beware, Cheaper is not better on a critical part of your sailboat's steering capabilities.

Golden Hind Tacking Off Cheen Charlotte Strait 27 Knt Nor'easter

Electric pilots

The simplest electric pilots are the basic all-in-one tiller pilots that just require a 12V power feed, and equivalent basic wheel pilots. If of an adequate size, these can work adequately on smallish boats.

However, the basic unit’s lack of a rate sensing or gyro compass mean that they are not able to respond as quickly and will struggle to keep a boat on course, especially in a quartering sea. In addition, the on deck units are vulnerable to failure as a result of water ingress.

A Bowden cable from a Canadian-manufactured Octopus drive passing through a waterproof gland allows a top specification below-decks pilot to be used on tiller steered boats.

If you’re undertaking serious sailing and opting for an electric pilot, the best you can afford becomes essential. This means a below-deck unit, with a gyro or rate-sensing compass and separate pilot computer. The compass is important here – a lesser model simply won’t provide data to the unit sufficiently quickly. This may well be fine in easy conditions, when the pilot is a useful convenience, but may not work in the kind of heavy weather in which a small crew is likely to depend on the pilot. A further step up will give you a system that also includes a heel angle sensor, which further improves the accuracy of steering.

The right size unit

Manufacturers of all types of self steering gear generally quote recommendations by boat size and length. However, it’s worth noting that many yachts, especially older craft, were built with thicker laminates than the designer originally specified and may well be significantly heavier than the figures quoted by the boat builder. In addition, even boats of a modest size tend to collect a significant weight of additional gear, supplies and crew weight that can easily add a further 20 per cent to the total weight of the boat that must be considered when the pilot is specified.

Balancing the rig

No pilot, whether a windvane for electric model, will work efficiently if the sail plan is not well balanced - paying careful attention to sail trim and shortening sail in good time as the wind increases is crucial to the ease of steering the boat and therefore the performance of all self-steering systems.

Electric pilots allow you to tweak the settings so that the unit will both maintain a reasonable course to windward and tack efficiently across a wide range of conditions and long-distance short-handed racers even talk of trimming their pilot settings in a similar manner to trimming sails in order to get as close to 100 per cent performance as possible. An electric pilot will be only as good as its inputs, so accurate calibration of the instrument system, including compass, masthead wind angle, and boatspeed is also important.

If you are interested in building a windvane steering system, here is a good starting point for ideas.:
http://www.faymarine.com/plansite/fay_marine_yacht_pl.htm

Self Steering Without a Windvane - A Few Simple Tricks

Sitting at the tiller is exhausting and something that you will find to be deeply regarded as the least favorite thing to do by long distance sailors. It requires constant attention, minor adjustments, and absolute focus. Without self-steering, the single-handed sailor gets no relief while under way -- and any relief that might come while hove-to is accompanied by the haunting knowledge that distance gained while sitting at the tiller is now being lost. Even with a crew, self-steering gives everyone more time to lay around together, talk without distraction, play chess, cook, etc.
     
The best self-steering solution is probably a windvane gear. They have to be custom made for most boats, though, so buying a commercial vane would cost almost as much as my entire boat did. Building a windvane yourself is possible, but that usually requires welding and access to a machine shop. The alternative self-steering systems can be just as reliable, and they also help to cultivate an enhanced understanding of sail trim, sail balance, and the forces that are at work as your boat moves through the water.
Once you finally get a self-steering system worked out, it's a great feeling to stand on the bow as the boat sails itself along.

Sail Balance

A critical self-steering concept is that your boat should be able to sail itself most of the time. The idea is that it's possible to balance the boat on a fixed heading using the sails alone, and that any extra self-steering equipment is only to correct for wind variation or wave motion. This makes it necessary to understand the basics of sail balance.

In the right diagram, as the wind hits the main sail, that pushes the aft of the boat to leeward and the bow rounds up into the wind.

The exact opposite happens when wind hits the forward sail, pushing the bow to leeward and rounding the boat off the wind. In reality the wind is hitting both sails at the same time, so if the sail sizes and trims are balanced correctly, only forward motion (with a negligible amount of side slippage) will result. If only one sail is up or one sail is much larger than the other, the results will be predictable.

While sailing on a close reach, sail balance is complicated by heeling. As the apparent wind increases, the boat will roll to leeward (moving the mast and sails off to leeward as well). This causes the mast of the boat to act like a lever arm that is no longer pushing directly forward, but rotating up into the wind. The boat will now have a tendency to round up, which must be corrected for by the tiller. This is what's known as weather helm, since the boat is constantly trying to go "to weather."
A little bit of weather helm can be alright, but too much will defeat any self-steering system and give you a really sore arm. Knowing what we know about sail balance, in these conditions it's possible to correct for weather helm by adjusting sail balance. We could, for instance, reduce the size of the main or increase the size of the jib. Like-wise, we could sheet out the main so that it catches less wind. Both would have the effect of using the sail balance to counter-act the forces of weather helm.

Sheets To Tiller

The basic premise of non-windvane self-steering systems is to balance the tiller using some feedback from the mainsheet or jibsheet. There are different ways to do this effectively, depending on the point of sail.

Close Hauled to Beam Reach

The basic idea is to start by balancing the boat. Then use the force of the main sheet to increase the pull of the tiller to weather during puffs, and reduce the pull of the tiller to weather during lulls. If the main sheet is connected to the end of the boom, this is done by attaching a control line to the main sheet, running it through a block on the weather-comb of the cockpit, and fastening it to the tiller. For an opposing force, connect lengths of elastic from the opposite side of the cockpit to the tiller.

It takes some experimenting to figure out how strong the elastic and weather helm control lines needs to be. The point where the elastic goes slack should be when the tiller is exactly center or slightly to leeward. This means that if you need more tension on the elastic, it is necessary to connect an additional piece, rather than pulling an existing piece tighter. Otherwise the elastic will not go slack until the tiller is well to leeward.

     

Broad Reaching

A close reach or close haul is a stable point of tack. As the boat falls off course on these tacks, the wind forces tend to automatically correct it. If the boat sails too far up, it will luff and fall off. If it sails too far off, the weather helm will increase and push it back up. Unlike a close reach or close haul, the broad reach is not a stable point of tack. If the boat starts to drift off course, the forces which initially moved it will only increase until the boat is changing direction faster and faster. This makes self steering systems even more important for a broad reach.

It turns out that a correctly trimmed jib sheet is incredibly sensitive to changes in direction on this tack. If the boat falls off the wind any, the jib is blanketed by the main and the jib sheet goes completely slack. If the boat heads up any, the jib is hit hard and the sheet becomes extremely taught. If your jib is small enough, you can hook it directly to the tiller as the weather helm control line, balanced by a large piece of elastic.

If the tension on your jib sheet is too much for a direct connection to your tiller (strong winds, large jib, etc) -- it is possible to build a lever which can measure the tension in your jib sheet instead.

Running Downwind

The best method for long runs straight down wind or slightly off the quarter is the use of twin headsails. This requires that you sew two identical headsails with staggered hanks, most likely out of 4.5oz spinnaker nylon. These can be flat, so it's just a matter of cutting the fabric, sewing the hems, and reinforcing the clews. With two identical headsails, it's possible to pole them out on either side, then connect both sheets directly to the tiller.

If the boat heads off the wind in one direction or another, the windward sail will tighten (increasing windward tension on the tiller) and the leeward sail will loosen (decreasing leeward tension on the tiller). This should immediately correct the course and continue to hold steady. For trans-oceanic passages, many people find the trade winds, put twin sails up, and don't touch the tiller again for a month.

These are a few options to keep in mind.  Sheet to tiller steering in fact is a great way to learn proper sail trim as it balances the boat to a higher level.  Honing these skills makes you a far better sailor and lessens the loads on the rudder and gear.  In my years of sailing, Sheet to tiller steering has become just another part of the tacking process.  Even a poorly trimmed sail config set to self steer will allow a single handed sailor get up on the front deck to secure gear or put in a reef.

 Give it a try and let me know how you did!     

Ever Experienced a Chinese Gybe? This frightening Experience Can be Avoided! Here are some tips to help.

You Know the feeling,  Its a beautiful day to be on the water..  Sun is shining, wind is climbing...  Maybe you should think about reefing, but there is that boat you have been battling for the last hour and you don't want to lose a knot or two for the time it takes to put in the reef to control the heel...  Things are starting to get exciting but on the helm you can feel the boat taking control away from you.  Anyone on the boat who has experienced a "Chinese Gybe" is feeling the pressure as you start to fight the roll to windward.  

 

That Leeward point to round is right on the edge and you are pushing it as you don't want to put in a time consuming (and risky)gybe.  All it takes is a slight rise in pressure and you know it instantly as the boat heels to windward just a touch more and you are now poised right on the edge of what you have experienced before and hoped not to again.  Split seconds from the infamous Chinese Gybe or aptly named, "Crash Gybe" or "Death Roll". 

 

What’s the cause?

In order for the death roll to start you normally have a combination of all or most of the below:

• Sailing dead downwind or very close to it.
• Mainsail hasn’t got enough vang on, causing it to twist a lot, hence creating a sideway force.
• Spinnaker too loosely sheeted and not “strapped down”, allowing it to sway from one side to the other
• Boat (slightly) over-powered for the wind it’s sailing in
• Often gusty conditions
• Waves can also help trigger the death roll movements

 

 

1.  Move as much weight aft!

 

 The stability of the boat can be increased by moving crew weight aft.  The bow is unstable and given floatation due to the narrow design.  Altho, you must be careful about making this move too quickly as you can drag your stern.  Not really too much of a concern unless you are pitted in a tight race.  Each boat is different and so you will learn from experience with your vessel, when the right time to shift weight has been reached.   A competent and experienced crew knows in a time like this, coming up on your mark, that it is time to be on attention and ready to stay low and use their body weight to stabilize the boat.

 

2. Control mainsail twist

 

The mainsheet will probably be all the way out, but putting on more vang will help stop the boat from rolling. Make sure the cunningham is all the way off as both these have control over the leech.

If the mainsail is too open at the top then the side forces are working against you (ie to windward). Pull it in when the boat rolls to windward and let it out again when upright. Trimming the two sails in unison will have a good effect on keeping the boat tracking straight.

 

3. Spinnaker Control

 

 

If you are at this point flying a spinnaker, your trimmer will want to run the pole forward to create a more stable approach.  Maybe halfway between the head stay and the shrouds  This helps as the spinnaker is pushing a little to leeward rather than hard forward, which shifts the boat balance forward onto the narrow bow.

 

Over trim the Spinny slightly and bring the tweaker on HARD!   This will help balance the boat. 

Heeling to Windward = Wind the sheet on!

Heeling to Leeward = Ease the Sheet!

 

 

 

4. Smoke the brace (dump the guy)

 

 

The most effective tool for saving these wipeouts is to ‘smoke’ the guy to the headstay. It might create enough leeward side force to bring the boat back onto its feet, but the trimmer needs to be very aware. Good communication between helm and trimmer is critical as you don’t want to be winding the guy back when release was never needed!

If the worst does happen then make sure heads are down and everyone is hanging on and don’t ease the spinnaker sheets. If recovery requires dropping the spinnaker then keeping it close to the boat makes life a lot easier.

 

5. Emphasis on steering

 

 

For the helmsman it can be quite a good workout! Make sure you are in a good body position so that you can push and pull the tiller without having to adjust your stance each time as a split second delay could be a death knell.

If you are trying to run deep the key thing is to watch the spinnaker. If you allow it to get too far to one side of the boat it can be difficult to get it back. ‘Keep the boat under the spinnaker’ is obvious advice, but it can be harder than it sounds.

When the spinnaker is about to start its roll out to windward you should already have the tiller to leeward to counteract this movement, and vice versa. Don’t go too far though as this could result in spinning out the opposite way.

 

 

 

Advise

 

The best advise obviously if you are cruising is to not get into this situation in the first place.  When the wind pressure is climbing, pull in the canvas to a safe level.  No need to heel more than 15'.  My rule of thumb when cruising is if the boat's heel is sustained at 15 to 18', put in the first reef.  This will stand the boat back up and you can power up more.  The boat will be far more comfortable and the mental attrition which is attributed to the higher heel will diminish and you will find out that you will go faster!