[Public-list] Cape Horn Windvane

[Rick Leach]

Glenn,

My experience with self-steering windvanes is limited, but I can't imagine that anything else could do a better job.  All I have to do is look at my GPS and I can clearly see the point where I stop hand steering and engage the vane.  My track changes from a gentle meander to a dead-straight line.  If you watch Yves' video (highly recommended) you can see that it can survive and perform conditions that would ruin most sailors' will.  His design is clever, robust, and far more elegant than many of the more expensive appendages on the market.  And it certainly can't hurt that the prototype was developed on a hull identical to ours!  He cut me a good deal by pushing out my delivery date a couple of months, and he'll refund the cost of the video if you buy a vane.

Rick Leach
S/V Sugar Magnolia, #121
Monterey, California