Im in....
Kipeki, Swan 46.
Honolulu
Still have a way to go to be ready but I'm working it.
Shipping my boat next week to Point Richmond from Galveston.
I look forward to meeting you all.
Im in....
Kipeki, Swan 46.
Honolulu
Still have a way to go to be ready but I'm working it.
Shipping my boat next week to Point Richmond from Galveston.
I look forward to meeting you all.
Last edited by Nicholas; 08-03-2011 at 12:08 PM.
You guys can count me in as well. My first go at it so it should be a great adventure!
Looking like a Cal 25 at the moment and we will be sailing and training out of Alameda.
A Cal 25 in the 2012 fleet! Awesome! "Tree Time" is less than a year away! Lots to do...lots to do...
Adam
s/v Domino
www.oceanslogic.com
Yes a humble Cal 25...got last place all locked up Now just need to outfit...starting from scatch. If you guys had to pick between autopilot and windvane which would you take? I'm thinking autopilot but curious on opinions. Maybe a wise person would have both. So much to do!
Jen
I would definitely go with an autopilot, whether you have a windvane or not. John on Dream Chaser broke his autopilot and had to go vane-only in the last race, and it sounded like it drove him nuts.
If you go with autopilot-only, then get two or three. I had two all wired up, a third in parts in the only dry part of the boat, and ideas for how to deal with a total electrical failure...
I've never used a windvane, so I won't say don't get one, but I was really happy without one, and I probably won't ever get one.
I did quite some shorthanded ocean miles on a 34 footer with a Monitor windvane and, if you have enough apparent wind, it's just fantastic. The easiness to set, fix and the lack of any noise makes it, in my opinion, an option to consider, even if slows you down a bit. I think it weights about 52 pounds, but you may recover that weight in batteries, solar panels... and the weight is on the stern, so helps keeping the bow up... :-)
On the other side, the NKE on my mini was a blast... surfing every wave and steering going up the wave and down the wave was really fun just to watch. But, of course, I had plenty of cables around, 2 big batteries and 2 of my Raymaine arms died while sailing. It was always a bit 'painful' to keep going. And that non-stop electric motor noise... sorry it did bother me...
Next step has to be the integration of a modern hydro-generator on a windvane... that will be cool!! ;-)
My $0.02,
Santi
I've got the older model Raymarine ST 4000+ and found it worked realy well until you got rocking downwind with the kite up even on max gain. It just couldn't get in the groove. I'm assuming some of you guys run the kite on the way to Hawaii and still manage to leave the helm.
For what it's worth. My first race in 2000 all I had was a Monitor wind vane. No auto pilot. The wind vane really teaches you how to trim sails.