The Cape Horn Wind Vane

[@moniquelee3623]

After fifty years of sailing cruising without holding the helm of his boat, Yves Gélinas is past master in the art of staying on course. Many consider is movie ''Jean du Sud'' as the greatest sailing film of all time A must see for all sailors.

[@SailLife]

Great video, Kamau! Thank you for sharing :) Like you I had no idea how different a Cape Horn wind vane is from say an Aries wind vane. Very interesting! :)

[@KustomSigns]

Great video, thank you sir!

[@drakeParagon]

Bravo! What a great opportunity for an interview with one of the sailing legends. I think the Cape Horn wind vane was popular with the Westsail 32 fleet - I remember the Westsail Owner's Association talking about doing a group buy of Cape Horn wind vanes a while back. I wonder if having all off the control lines in a locker like that would make it more difficult to inspect and fix offshore. On my W42 I have a propane locker in the stern so I couldn't have an installation like that. I installed an Aries instead and have the steering lines going through several blocks on deck up to the wheel in the center cockpit. I also mounted a tiller autopilot on the stern and hooked it up to the Aries wind vane fin as a backup - though I'm not very impressed with the end result as it wanders a lot at best. We also have a hydraulic ram autopilot connected directly to the steering quadrant under the aft cabin berth. While we were sailing from Greenland to Iceland we broke our steering cables and used the hydraulic ram autopilot to steer us back to the weather station in Greenland for repairs. We also have a wheel mounted CPT autopilot which I absolutely love. Eric Forsyth's Fiona has a Raymarine electric autopilot in the engine room hooked up to the steering cables, but he also has a custom tiller going to the cockpit for if his steering cables break, which they have. Honestly if I could do it all over again then I'd get a Hydrovane - I love that it can be used as an emergency rudder and I've sailed with it on other boats and was really impressed.

[@phillycheesetake]

So if I'm hearing this right, the way that load is taken off the electronic autopilot is by using it to steer the pendulum rudder, rather than using it to steer the main rudder? So it harnesses the force of passing water, rather than fighting the water?

[@IandiBoats]

Philly Cheese Take precisely.

[@gurglejug627]

@@IandiBoats the electronic autopilot has nothing to do with it - even if you don'e have one of these, the windsteering system should steer the boat. The clue is in the name.

[@expeditioncalypsowind]

VERY FAMOUS AWARD WINNING film about his journey as well now avail. Here on KZbin

[@thomasmcmillan5095]

Wonderful presentation and interview sir. I enjoy the "Sailing Uma" videos on KZbin and they installed the Cape Horn wind vane on their boat. They use an electric motor to drive their propeller which is much quieter than diesel motoring but has less range.

[@IandiBoats]

Thank you Thomas. Happy new year

[@Ilsabug1]

Thanks for posting. I have been looking for a wind vane system for my boat, I will have to research this system.

[@laxmannate07]

Best part is that it doesn't look like a oil rig is mounted on your transom

[@IandiBoats]

Lol

[@donjvalley]

Thank you for this video. It was interesting to learn his history but I think the Hydrovane is my preference as I don't want to lose the interior space and everyone raves about the CPT autohelm. If Yves had today's weather forecast options, using SSB plus marina-based WIFI as examples, perhaps he wouldn't have been dismasted. He also shows that you can cruise the world in a 30-ft boat. I also learned about the Ocean Cruising Club from Drake Paragon; Full Membership requires a 1,000 mile passage, nonstop, plus about $175.00/yr in fees --- about $100.00/yr after the 1st year. Experienced members of 48 nationalities, ready and willing to help guide/ mentor new people like me to benefit from their expertise --- not to mention anchored parties!!! Good luck on building your own boat!!!

[@IandiBoats]

The Hisscocks really set the tone for the cruising journalist back in the 50' in Wanderer III; also a 30' boat. And they didn't have hardly any navigation aids other than sextant, compass and a radio. Are you familiar with Marvin Cramer, he circumnavigated in the 80' without any aids at all. He just used nature, totally awesome!

[@elitedavidhorne8494]

I've seen this installed on Uma. It's an elegant system that isn't that bulky.

[@vincent7520]

This is the best self steering wind vane I ever used …

[@hooligan6a]

vincent7520 How many have you used?

[@todmills]

Cape Horn vanes are, in my eyes, real works of art. Hasler first started developing windvanes in 1953 but didn't hit upon the idea of a servo-pendulum type until 1961. Jan Alkema, a Dutch engineer, since developed another sort, where a pendulum is mounted directly on the trailing edge of a transom hung rudder and is connected to the transom with lines that serve as pivot points so that the pendulum pushes on the head of the rudder. It is not an obvious next step in the evolution of windvanes but works quite well. To my knowledge, no one has started production of that commercially. Jan also found that an upside down windvane has certain advantages, and at least one Dutch manufacturer, Mister Vee, started making a vane with a USD vane. I don't know if Jan is/was associated with Mister Vee or not. Another engineer, an American from, iirc Georgia, Walt Murray, now deceased unfortunately, used to maintain a great web page of windvane designs for the home builder. Some of his work has been preserved on the Mister Vee web page.

[@douglastate9829]

Great video! The Cape Horn system has always been high on my self-steering gear list. However, our WS42 does not have a lazerette, as the aft cabin extends all the way to the canoe stern. On most WS42s, there is a small compartment at the stern for propane and other stuff. For me to install, I will have to reconfigure my aft cabin by constructing a "cabinet" for the Cape Horn quadrant. I like the simplicity, as well as the autopilot option and emergency rudder. Nice job highlighting a piece of gear that often gets taken for granted, I think.

[@IandiBoats]

Douglas Tate Thanks Douglas. In the WS 42 is the quadrant inside of the engine room or is it under the aft birth?

[@douglastate9829]

Kamau Iandiataiyero The quadrant is under the aft berth on the WS42. As a center cockpit design, the engine room is under the cockpit and well forward of the rudder shaft. Advantage is a huge engine room with capacity for containing a lot of machinery. Disadvantage is the need for a longer shaft and the space required for the quadrant in the aft cabin. An event bigger challenge is how to install a typical hydraulic autopilot like a type 2 RayMarine! The attachment for the hydraulic ram has to go above the quadrant because there is insufficient space under the quadrant. To accommodate this, I raised the level of the berth by 5-6 inches. Yes, less headroom, but a little more storage space. There are other autopilots like a chain drive that I could have installed in the engine room, but I wanted the autopilot to perform as an emergency steering option along with an emergency tiller (something I still need to fabricate). Having said all of that, if I were to install a wind vane the Cape Horn and the Hydrovane would be my top two to consider. Although having seen your video, the Cape Horn has a lead! Good Job!

[@petten20233]

You a legends!

[@noylddot]

Great stuff, thanks for sharing! Very informative.

[@IandiBoats]

Thanks Douglass. In the WS 42 is the quadrant inside of the engine room or is it under the aft birth?

[@gurglejug627]

depends how your boat is built - no one can answer that but you.

[@danielpearson6306]

I did like having the space taken up with this and the monter a commenter said an oil rig hanging of the transom. On my IP 370 I purchased the Hydrovane that has the Watt & Sea hydro generator on it. With my wind generator and solar panels in ideal conditions I get 1600 watts of elect or 133 ah per hour which never happens. Also an EVOY hydrogen generator that produces 200 ah per day, very expensive equipment. The wind vane works great. Uma got help on many of the products on their boat and promotes all electric power. Even helps that little Swedish which blackmailing the US for money to other countries but dies go to the countries that are the worst polluters. As they do allowed there.

[@yurygolubev5757]

Thanks for the video

[@donjvalley]

Thanks for your reply. NO, I so new that I've never heard of Marvin and I would NEVER go offshore without GPS, Radar, Sonar, VHF w/SSB, Solar Panels, Hydrovane plus CPT autohelm, Watermaker,etc....I'm just not that confident in traveling w/o redundant backup systems, that's just me...You are so talented if you are building your own boat!!!

[@hooligan6a]

The problem is, the installation is so difficult that people hire Mr Gelin to do the installation. They fly him down from Canada, pay room/board and a day or two labor. Very expensive. I can install a Monitor in a few hours.

[@tylerhenderson6432]

Not true. I have installed two of these by myself. Very easy to install if you can follow instructions.

[@gurglejug627]

who wants to take up valuable locker space with windvane gear - and who wants to try to delve in to small places to fit quadrants etc? Sorry, but it doesn't sound very smart to me.

[@comsunjava]

As he mentions in the video, that protects quite a bit of the components from the elements. I suppose it depends on the boat, but Sailing Uma installed on and they seem really impressed with it. And of course, Yves, well, I suppose there's a reason he called it the "Cape Horn Wind Vane" - check out his book on 59-North's podcast. (What seems intriguing for me is that no motor to break down...)