Hilton Head Island: hand made? wind vane; gone

As you probably know I don’t read much about sailing or watch sailing videos, except immodestly my own.  I actually have other interests.  But Carlos sent me a link to a video that I did watch.  I thank him.  Half is a promotion of their construction techniques from Bavaria Yachts; the other half the construction of megayachts by Amel Custom.  

Carlos provided the title:  hand made?  As you will see, indeed not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi2O85mkJXo

Not long ago Larry sent me a link to an article about a 127 meter/417’ sailboat reportedly being built for Jeff Bezos for around half a billion dollars.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-05-07/jeff-bezos-s-new-superyacht-heralds-roaring-market-for-big

If you read you will learn not surprisingly considering how much richer the rich have recently become that the megayacht business is booming.

My favorite sentence in the article is:  ‘Clients can enjoy life at sea for long periods without having to go mix with others.”  A concept that I, of course, find outrageous.

I did not realize that Jeff is also a sailor and that we have so much in common.  I look forward to sitting down and swapping sea stories with him.

Bernard in the Netherlands sent me an email in response to the post about Jim’s idea to mount a self-steering vane utilizing the outboard mount.  I have forwarded it to Jim, but thinking it might be of interest to others asked Bernard permission to publish it here, which he has granted.  I thank him.

In your last blog post you mentioned Jim the other Moore owner with his self-steering vane plans. I just had to send you this email:

As I wrote to you in 2018, I have a Drascombe Gig. But, time passes and goals change, so we have bought an 40 year old Ovni 28 to be able to sail and dry out on the Waddensea. It is also capable to safely bring our family of 5 across the North Sea and last year it has to the UK. The Gig is still with us, waiting for the boys to grow old enough to take it for a spin.

Because I really wanted a self-steering vane on the Ovni, but did not have the money to buy a new one off the shelf, I contacted Hollandwindvane.com here in the Netherlands a year ago. This is a very small company that supplies professional Stainless Steel 316 (A4) windvane self-steering, but in a DIY-kit so it is affordable but still has excellent steering characteristics.

The design was made in the 80s by Tjeerd Bouma, who is now 90+ years old and was a professional metal construction specialist. Nearly 1000 kits were sold in the last 4 decades.

As I contacted this little company, I was told that it was closed indefinitely and that the owner was looking for a successor.

Long story short: I not only bought a DIY kit for my boat, but took over the stock of the little company to continue the supply of the kits. Fortunately I had some time to spare next to my parttime job.

I am not contacting you to be able to get some free worldwide exposure of the little company I now have. But, as a regular appreciator of your words, I would love to do something in return. Maybe I can offer some kind of help to Jim that he may need to succeed with his plans.

Without wanting to interfere Jim’s plans, maybe he can appreciate the following humble comments. 

The thin transom of the Moore 24 can probably made suitable to carry a self steering vane, especially when the mounting is as near as possible to the strong upper edge of the transom.  Probably a glassed-in reinforcement would suffice. 

The mounting could also be easily made custom with Stainless Steel square tubing fixed to the strong upper and lower edge of the transom, without adding too much weight. 

Using the outboard bracket hole would need some construction upwards to reach enough height for the pendulum axis, without being out of reach from the cockpit. This would add extra weight precisely at the extremity of the boat.

I do not plan to install a vane on GANNET.  I have gotten by this long without one.  I can continue to get by without one.  And in addition to re-enforcement installing one creates complications of moving the outboard mount and on GANNET solar panels.  

Perhaps the greatest unappreciated safety advantage of a vane, and one I do miss, is its ability to steer downwind under bare poles in severe weather.  50+ knots.  Although if the wind gets to hurricane force, 64 knots, even vanes can be overwhelmed.

A consideration of installing a vane on a Moore is that inside the stern is a terrible place to work.  Cramped.  You can not even crawl back there.  You must slither on your stomach or back.  And there is no ventilation.

I had a lovely six mile bike ride this morning to Dolphin Point and back.  Hilton Head is ten degrees F cooler than average this time of year and extremely pleasant in the mid-70s F.  Along the way I passed the Webb-sized alligator sunning himself in his favorite spot not far from the bike path, but far enough.  He had his mouth open, perhaps hoping a cyclist would fall in.  There is something to be said for living in hope.  Very impressive teeth. 

Carol accuses me of sitting on my suitcase a week before a flight.  I am not.  But then I am not taking a suitcase, only my messenger bag.  And I have been ready for several days.  Tomorrow I fly from the lower to the upper flatlands.