Cape Dory 28 Cape Horn Self-Steering Installed - Update

[BarbofCapeCod]

This last week we took Kudu on her maiden voyage with the Cape Horn Self-Steering.

First the "bad" news, let me note that while using "Nelson", the name we have given our Cape Horn, is not as simple as I indicated in my first posting.

For example, if you wish to tack, you do turn the wind vane to the reciprocal position and have Nelson bring the boat about while you tend the sails. However, our boat requires a further adjustment: After you are on the new heading, you need to disconnect the lines from the tiller, balance the boat, set the wind vane to its neutral (into the wind) position, and then reattach the lines to the tiller. Then Nelson steers the boat just fine; otherwise, Nelson seems to fret about the course, searching for a better heading, back and forth as much as 15 degrees, depending it seems on the degree various forces are out of balance. Also, the amount of wind matters in that the more wind the more Nelson keeps a steady course with a given state of balance.

Sometimes an adjustment to the sails alone helps enough, but disconnecting to balance and then reconnecting seems to work best. Perhaps with more experience with Nelson, as well as with the Kudu (our second season), this may be less necessary.

Second, our test was during coastal sailing, where each mark is a few miles distance or less, making for constant changes of tack and a level of precision in terms heading not found in blue water sailing. So we were fairly fussy about staying on course.

When trying to sail as high up as possible, we found it best to sheet in the sails close, and then adjust the wind vane to position the boat relative to the wind so the sails set well. Pointing very high into the wind causes Nelson to hunt more as he keeps heading up and falling off a bit, but never luffing the sails and, on average, on a fairly straight line for the next mark. If we were sailing off the wind at all from a tight beat, Nelson's course keeping was rock solid.

One insurmountable problem: on the second day a front came through, and as the winds shifted about for an hour or so, Nelson faithfully kept his relative position to the wind, wondering about so much, we finally took the helm for more than a few minutes for the only time during the trip.

Finally, on the minus side, approaching a dock is more worrisome, since we were concerned about Nelson being mangled in a bad moment, especially given the CD-28's near perfect inability to back predictably.

On the plus side, Nelson steers with infinite patience. And in boring light airs, you can relax as the boat ghosts along at would otherwise be a maddening pace. We "out sailed" a clearly more capable boat in light winds because Nelson just kept Kudu in exactly the right attitude to make the best headway, for hours.

What is truly amazing about Nelson is the way he sails when the winds and seas begin to pick up. I found myself captivated with this master helmsman, heading up as the winds would gust, falling off after an oncoming wave slowed the boat. Always doing the right thing and never over-correcting, as deft a hand as ever touched the tiller on that trip.

In four days of sailing, my wife, a first rate sailor and excellent helmsman, was converted. Frankly, she was not happy with the cost, even if it was lower than the other systems I considered. "Okay" she said, "this is really nice."

In four days of coastal sailing, Nelson took the helm at least 98% of the time. The chief effect of this was a more relaxed passage, with time to focus on sail trim, navigation and relaxing. The tiller was no longer a major issue in terms of crew time. If anything, at the start, we would spend more time as self-steering novices watching Nelson work. The more we came to trust Nelson, the more the rest of the boat and her environs got our attention.

What we can not report on is heavy weather sailing, the winds having never got above 20 knots, nor did we sail downwind much.

Overall, we are very pleased to have Nelson aboard.

[The Patriot]

... using "Nelson", the name we have given our Cape Horn, is not as simple as I indicated in my first posting ...

This is true of any vane, not just your Cape Horn. I have been sailing with a Navik on my CD 28 since 1987. We have many miles together and there is no question that the vane is a valued crew member. But ...

It does take a bit of getting used to. When I first tried it in 1987 on a local river, I was frankly amazed that it worked at all. It seemed like such a Rube Goldberg item that I was at first surprised by how well it did. Of course other sailboats were perhaps annoyed when we, sailing up a narrow channel in traffic, kept changing course instead of following the tightly placed markers. We were following the wind, and everyone else was following the "channel." Stuff happens.

Then I began to see that the vane rig is in some ways a great instructor regarding sail trim. If one trims out the boat well enough, the performance of the vane improves dramatically. The vane acts as a feedback mechanism indicating which changes in trim make sense and which don't. It also knows right from left, in that most boats perform differently, if ever so slightly differently, on one tack versus the other.

One also soon realizes that the vane gives a certain feel upwind that is quite different from electronic steering. There is something of an easier feel that resembles the situation with a good helmsperson. Also, as you have already seen, the stronger the wind, the better a servo-pendulum performs. I cannot speak for the Cape Horn, but the Navik is a superb light air performer and will steer the boat close reaching with a tri-radial (i.e., conventional) spinnaker quite well. Even directly downwind it will steer with a spinnaker, although it's sometimes better to switch over to the electronic steering.

Most of the time I am sailing my boat alone, and unless there's a very good reason, I don't sit at the helm. I have 3 autopilots and a vane, and usually one or another of these is doing the work. It takes a bit of experimentation and practice to get the most from these devices, but it's well worth the effort.