{"id":11277,"date":"2018-11-19T02:17:19","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T09:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/?page_id=11277"},"modified":"2019-06-03T21:29:25","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T04:29:25","slug":"don-mcintyre-ggr","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/windpilot.com\/blog\/en\/golden-globe-race\/windv-striptease\/don-mcintyre-ggr\/","title":{"rendered":"Windvane striptease 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don McIntyre – GGR<\/strong>
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Good Morning Don,
\n\u2028What’s that you say? A letter from a most unexpected quarter? The halfway point of the GGR seems like a good opportunity to share a few observations from my chosen field that are sure to be of interest to you. <\/p>\n

First of all, however, allow me to express my respect for your knowledgeable and entertaining delivery of an event that ranks as extraordinary on many counts. Yes, there are a number of issues on which we do not see eye to eye, but I do not regard that as a problem per se provided that mutual respect is maintained. Your planning and realisation of the GGR has carved out a new niche in the market that will leave a lasting impression on the marine industry \u2013 the impression of a man who tells it as he sees it. <\/p>\n

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Half a circumnavigation later, facts are becoming plain that, while they may have raised eyebrows here and there, will have come as no surprise at all to those familiar with the issues. Such as myself. I’m talking, of course, about the solo sailor’s best friend, the one that staunchly stands watch after watch at the helm with never a murmur of complaint. Not for the first time, I’m talking about transom ornaments.<\/p>\n

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STONE AGE TECHNOLOGY<\/strong>
\nAircraft fly, motorcars motor and windvane self-steering systems steer: on that much everyone should be able to agree (provided, that is, that we stick to the evidence before our eyes, respect the principles of fair dealing between manufacturers and the sailors they serve and acknowledge the authenticity of word-of-mouth marketing \u2013 the magic elixir a brand needs to establish itself properly in the global sailing community). How well these different machines perform their function depends in large part on how successful their creators have been in eliminating weaknesses from the design. Time and use tend to expose any weak points remaining in a product, with potentially deleterious consequences for a brand’s reputation. <\/p>\n

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The modern cars of today have little more than four wheels in common with their forebears of fifty years ago. The windvane self-steering industry has evolved almost as fast, with far-reaching changes across just about every aspect of both design and manufacturing (albeit some sailors have yet to join the dots). Allow me to explain…<\/p>\n

THE TWELVE TYPES OF WINDVANE SELF-STEERING SYSTEM<\/strong>
\nAll twelve types of windvane self-steering system (see here for animated diagrams<\/a>), three of which have become commercially successful, follow simple rules of physics. They have a sensor that outputs a signal, a transmission system, a device to step down the force generated by the sensor and a lever to produce the necessary power. Simple rules and simple principles \u2013 and yet the field offers a huge number of different avenues to explore for those who succumb to its temptations. Some have made it their life’s work, no less, and even I have been in the business for 43 years now.<\/p>\n

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The halfway point of your event is the perfect time to report on some of the developments in windvane self-steering that appear not yet to have been fully understood by some who could benefit substantially by understanding them. My aim is to seize the unbeatable opportunity presented by the GGR to shed light on these matters and try once more to sweep away the old prejudices. Misunderstandings have practical consequences \u2013 practical consequences several of the GGR matadors have had the misfortune to suffer and, thankfully, the fortune to survive. Nothing tops real-world experience.<\/p>\n

FLIP-FLOP-VANE<\/strong>
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Judging by the comments it attracted, your pint-size
\ntutorial in Lanzarote<\/a> was quite a hit with non-sailing Facebook users following the race. As with most complex subjects, however, a short video cannot hope to do more than scratch the surface. Hopefully some of your viewers were inspired to investigate further and as for those that weren’t, well, whatever it is that prevents them from sharing my enthusiasm for the subject that has drawn me from my bed every day for the last 43 years, it can’t have done them any lasting damage…<\/p>\n

Sailors with more than a passing interest in silent self-steering potentially have much to gain from delving a little deeper into the current state of the art. The technology has leapt ahead over the last few decades and while the Monitor that took you around the world, the Aries you used to sell in your Australian homeland and the Hydrovane produced by your GGR event sponsor remain as effective as they ever were, the world continues to turn and progress has much to recommend it.<\/p>\n

THE GOOD NEWS FIRST<\/strong>
\nAuxiliary rudder systems<\/strong> and servo-pendulum systems<\/strong> are equally suitable for GGR boats. Both are the right size for the boats used in the race and the designs available should not cause any problems for their users provided that they have been properly built from suitably robust materials and that the sailors who are to use them understand what they are getting (as Nabil, Philippe and Francesco all discovered to their cost, broken self-steering means the end of the race).<\/p>\n

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\nIt would be remiss of me not also to point out that self-steering systems cannot reasonably be held liable for planning mistakes on the part of the skipper that only become apparent at sea. <\/p>\n

Istvan’s chickens have come home to roost with a vengeance. The wheel steering package with which he retrofitted Puffin is not really suitable for the boat and makes life very difficult indeed for his windvane self-steering system, as a result of which he has had to spend a huge amount of time steering by hand and has at times found it a massive challenge simply to stay in the race. For reasons unknown, Istvan never happened to mention his steering modification to his windvane sponsor and consequently only became aware of the full implications once the race was underway (“My mistake!”, as he put it in the podcast). I am consequently following his progress particularly closely and not without a certain trepidation: Istvan’s Windpilot is constantly having to operate in the wrong gear, as it were, and it would not surprise me at all to see the wheel adaptor \u2013 the weakest link in the transmission chain \u2013 eventually give up under the effects of loads components of this type have never been designed to withstand. Luckily, Istvan had a very understanding windvane sponsor who stowed a spare Windpilot system in his forepeak along with a complete wheel adaptor and new brake linings. Relations between skipper and sponsor have not been straightforward so far, it is fair to say, and it will be interesting to see how they develop.<\/p>\n

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All of the GGR participants using a Windpilot have a complete spare system tucked away somewhere on board. Tapio’s face was quite the picture in Les Sables when I presented him with his spare Windpilot. He would obviously have quite liked to hand it straight back to me and save himself the daunting task of trying to find space for it on his already overcrowded vessel, but reason won out in the end. <\/p>\n

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\nAll being well, when Tapio finishes I will receive back from him an as-new system with the distinction of being the first Windpilot to sail around the world without leaving its bunk. Another of my fleet of spare GGR Windpilots \u2013 still safely tucked away in its sail bag \u2013 has recently arrived in Mindelo according to Antoine, who contacted me the day before yesterday from the Cape Verdes having just flown in to visit his delivery crew. And of course there’s a third bobbing around out there somewhere between India and Antarctica. I would hazard a guess that Thuriya is the only yacht anywhere in the world right now to have a Windpilot at both ends (one resting up front and the other striving in vain to control a boat with no mast) and no crew in the middle.<\/p>\n

Technical details of all windvane self-steering systems<\/a><\/p>\n

THE RULES IN BRIEF<\/strong>
\n\u2013 Physics always has priority: windvane systems cannot circumvent the laws of nature!
\n\u2028\u2013 And none of them has magical powers either.
\n\u2028\u2013 They have no eyes, so they cannot see breaking seas approaching.\u2028
\n\u2013 They are as persistent and indefatigable as they are quiet and unimaginative.
\n\u2028\u2013 The skipper must be prepared to put the windvane’s needs before his\/her own.
\n\u2028\u2013 The skipper is responsible for trimming the boat and sails and must attend to trim before continuing his\/her novel\/nap\/ham radio chat.<\/p>\n

Anyone who struggles to make sense of a windvane self-steering system from one of the reputable brands needs to RTFM or contact the manufacturer for enlightenment. <\/p>\n

TRADITIONAL VERSUS MODERN<\/strong>
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The real quantum leap occurred in the mid-1980s, so even the modern systems have had time to sell in their thousands and acquire old favourite status with their aficionados.<\/p>\n

ARIES<\/strong> (Nick Franklin) and WINDPILOT<\/strong> (John Adam) were already offering sailors options in 1968 and went on to inspire a veritable flotilla of derived designs. The Aries served as the model of choice for Gene Mervin, who gave the world the MONITOR<\/strong> system. California-based Mervin sold the business on to Swedes Carl Seipel and Hans Bernwall (it was Bernwall who first came up with the “Saint Aries” monicker) in 1981 and it changed hands again in 2014, when Hans passed the reins to Mike Scheck and redirected his efforts into enjoying retirement and his view of San Francisco Bay.<\/p>\n

Dane Peter Matthiessen acquired Aries from Nick Franklin in 1992 and only sold it, to Dutchman Lean Nellis, in 2015 having decided to sail off to Brazil.<\/p>\n

ARIES and WINDPILOT: HERE\u00b4S LOOKING AT YOU<\/strong>
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Windpilot (my baby since 1976) probably has the strongest track record of innovation in the sector on account of my own irrepressible curiosity.<\/p>\n

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That the developments flowing from that curiosity would inspire so many would-be competitors to tread a (quite remarkably) similar path I could never have imagined. Read the \u2013 sometimes flattering, sometimes downright sordid \u2013 details here: <\/p>\n

SERVO-PENDULUM VERSUS AUXILIARY RUDDER AND DOUBLE RUDDER<\/strong>
\nDerek Daniels’ HYDROVANE<\/strong>, manufactured in the UK in much the same form for decades, was the third member of the group. When Derek started seeking a buyer for his life’s work around the year 2000, I was apparently one of the first people he approached (something I tend to put down to his belief that there was a connection between the rise of Windpilot and his own declining sales figures). The current proprietor, John Curry, took over Hydrovane in 2001 but appears to have left the production side of the business with the original manufacturer.<\/p>\n

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My twin PACIFIC<\/strong> and PACIFIC PLUS<\/strong> systems came into the world in 1985 embodying what I considered to be all of the key features of a state of the art windvane self-steering system. Having both system types (auxiliary rudder system and servo-pendulum system) in my arsenal meant that from then on, I could advise sailors in detail on the relative merits of the two options objectively without having to worry about the impact on my sales.<\/p>\n

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Tapio and I spent a long time discussing the possibility of using the Pacific Plus, but I was eventually able to persuade him that the Pacific would be a better choice for his needs. The options also had a thorough airing with Antoine and Igor \u2013 with the same result. Abilash, on the other hand, didn’t have to worry about choices: a servo-pendulum system was always going to be the only possibility with a boat like his.<\/p>\n

WHY? WHEREFORE? HOW SO?<\/strong>
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The Aries, Monitor and Windpilot servo-pendulum systems are identical in that all have a 2:1 bevel gear at the heart of their transmission system. The Aries and Monitor also both have the lines that transmit the steering force to the helm attached low down on the pendulum arm, but the Windpilot design (in a move that \u2013 for me at least \u2013 marked the beginning of the modern era for windvane self-steering systems) shifted this attachment point to the upper end of the pendulum arm. <\/p>\n

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THE ADVANTAGES AT A GLANCE:<\/strong>
\n\u2028\u2013 Shorter transmission lines
\n\u2028\u2013 Fewer turning blocks
\n\u2013 Easy lift-up for more convenient everyday use
\n\u2028\u2013 Infinitely adjustable force transmission for different wheel steering systems \u2028
\n\u2013 Compact design for a tidier and more attractive stern \u2028
\n\u2013 Simplified installation with a highly versatile mounting bracket system \u2028\u2013 Improved signal transmission for greater responsiveness downwind \u2028
\n\u2013 On modern boats, little if any of the windvane system protrudes beyond the trailing edge of the transom in the lift-up position (thanks to the mounting point being inboard of the trailing edge), which protects sensitive components from manoeuvring mishaps in port. The trick is having the central pivot positioned at an angle.<\/p>\n

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The two things that prevent the Aries and Monitor designs becoming even more popular are probably their appearance and the difficulty of lifting them up out of the water when not in use. An elegant look and easy lift-up have become unique selling points of modern systems, opening the door to broad-based market access.<\/p>\n

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Venturing into the higher latitudes of the Southern hemisphere entails a different set of requirements for windvane self-steering systems on account of the more challenging weather and sea conditions consistently encountered there. Which brings me back to the GGR.<\/p>\n

THE GGR AS ROAD TEST<\/strong>
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The GGR so far has been attritional (to say the least) but the participants are all consenting adults and it does a disservice to those still in the race to spend too much time talking about those who are not. The focus on windvane self-steering systems, however, provides an opportunity to highlight some interesting conclusions that, while old news to most of us in the business, have yet to be taken on board by many sailors.<\/p>\n

OVERLOAD PROTECTION<\/strong>
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Windvane self-steering systems necessarily occupy an exposed position right at the back of the boat, so it is essential to think carefully about how to prevent damage to the boat and\/or system in the event of exceptional loading (due to collision with flotsam, for example). This is basic stuff for manufacturers \u2013 after all what good is a windvane system if it generates forces too great for the transom to handle? I heard once of a Norwegian-flagged GRP boat that gave the owner’s children in the aft cabin a thrill and an unexpected view of the Atlantic by shedding its transom and the windvane system bolted to it. The boat was from a French manufacturer, but unfortunately I have forgotten which one it was…<\/p>\n

Auxiliary and double rudder systems place considerable loads on the transom, so proper reinforcing must be provided if \u2013 as seems to be the case with too many modern hulls \u2013 the existing laminate is insufficiently robust. This is not just my opinion: the Hydrovane manual<\/a> is emphatic in its advice to “over engineer” the installation.<\/p>\n

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