True Stories

Old Quotes

I KISSED IT

"I was so pleased with our HYDROVANE which had steered us halfway around the world, that I leaned over and kissed it - Sandra thought maybe I had been at sea too long."

Rory and Sandra Burke, Bay of Islands, New Zealand
The Burkes live aboard their yacht 'Pacific Voyager' and have been cruising for the past ten years. They have written three cruising books - www.burkepublishing.com

Rory Burke

UPGRADED FROM A POPULAR SERVO PENDULUM

From Derek’s files - hand written letters received in the 90’s and to 2002.....

pre emails (for him):

“We have sailed with mechanical self steering systems since 1987 and have accumulated in excess of 42,000 sea miles exclusively using vane steering. Prior to purchasing the Hydrovane we had been using a popular brand pendulum system with fine results. We did, however, tire of the cockpit being interfered with by the steering lines led from the pendulum system. As we had sailed many miles successfully with the pendulum system we were, initially, very hesitant to try an alternative mechanical steering product. After three years and 10,000 sea miles of Hydrovane steering, we are absolutely delighted. Particularly, the downwind light air performance is remarkable!. The vane has been totally maintenance free and is exceptionally easy to engage/disengage. Thank you for a very fine product. It is an absolute pleasure to sail with the Hydrovane!”

LONG KEEL

“During the entire cruise I think we had the wind from every conceivable direction and at every possible strength from flat calm to Force 6 …….I am pleased to report that in all conditions, in anything of a breeze and above, the Hydrovane worked perfectly. You may remember that my boat has a long straight keel and displaces about 16 tons so it had a fair amount of work to do.”

Owner of a Transworld 41
Southsea, England

BETTER HELMSAN THAN HUMAN

“Since last seeing you I have sailed around the world…..Your Hydrovane worked splendidly throughout the entire voyage and when crossing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans I was able to go for many days without having to touch the helm…..With wind from a whisper to 45 knots (the strongest I experienced) she held to the course far better than if I had hand steered.”

Owner of a Transworld 41 (see above)
Southsea, England

WAY OFF CENTRE

“Congratulations on turning out a first class product. From an engineering and quality standpoint it has no equal right down to the lowliest pin. The quality of material used throughout is remarkable and the stainless steel comes pretty close to being ‘stainfree'…..However, the main reason for writing is to say that if there are any doubters out there, undecided whether or not to fit a Hydrovane because it would mean fitting it off-centre, let me reassure them. To preserve the swim platform and central boarding ladder on my 48' Westerly, I fitted mine 15” off-centre and found no detriment whatsoever, regardless of sea state and wind speed, including an Atlantic crossing. None that I can detect, anyway, even though 15” is a little more than you recommend!”

Owner of a Westerly 490
Green Cove Springs, Florida, U.S.A

'HEIDI' WAS ONE OF MY BETTER DECISIONS

“Over the past twenty years sailing and in the course of that time spent a personal fortune preparing my yacht for long term cruising I can say with absolute confidence that my choice in buying the VXA2 Hydrovane was one of my better decisions. When I first engaged the Hydrovane during a sail I thought it was a coincidence that it steered the boat on a steady course immediately. It wasn't. Since then I use Heidi whenever I can.”

Owner of an Ohlson 38
Stoke-on-Trent, England

FAULTLESS FOR 20 YEARS

"My Hydrovane has performed faultlessly for 20 years without a single failure or repair needed ….. Last week I suffered my first Hydrovane gear “failure”. The white nylon threaded thumbscrew…….”

Owner of a 37' sailboat
New York, New York

'HYDRO' SHOULD HAVE BEEN FITTED YEARS AGO

”Hydro” as we affectionately call her continues to function so well that my wife and I regard her with the same aura as we do a fax machine……. No more do we have to listen to the electric autopilot or watch the wheel forever rotating this way and that. The only thing that annoys me is that I did not have the equipment fitted years ago when I first heard of your system.”

Owner of a Swan 44
Wiltshire, England

'MR. VANE'

“Just a note to thank you for my Hydrovane. I have been very impressed with him since I opened up the crates he arrived in. As you can see ‘Mr. Vane’ has his own personality already as well as a permanent place in the crew. I fitted him alone in a day, only required 5 minutes assistance to position him, and would have finished sooner if other sailors passing hadn’t stopped to compliment his solid good looks……….As for the performance of the unit, once set Mr. Vane steers the boat better than I do on every point of sail and in all the wind strengths I’ve encountered so far. If I sell my boat Mr. Vane will be coming to the new boat with me.”

Owner of a Moorings (First) 38
Glasgow, Scotland

OFF CENTRE - DIDN'T MISS A BEAT

“……Having previously owned a Hallberg Rassey 382 which had your vane system on her I would not consider anything else. My family and I sailed the HR382 across the Atlantic and through the West Indies up to Florida and even though the Hydrovane was off centered it didn’t miss a beat! For your interest in 1972 my wife and I sailed a 28 footer with a transom hung Hasler trim tab system out to New Zealand and some time after that I had a yacht with a local ------ pendulum servo system. The Hydrovane in my opinion is the ultimate!”

Owner of a Hallberg Rassey 42 ketch
Auckland, New Zealand

HEAVY STEEL 44 FOOTER

“…we are very happy with the performance of the Hydrovane especially downwind in light winds …… in strong, storm winds the Hydrovane has performed exceptionally …. our boat is quite big, a Bruce Roberts 44 ft. steel cutter and we never hand steered once in a whole month while coming across the Atlantic …”

Owner of a Roberts Norfolk 43 - 18T
Tortola, British Virgin Islands

'FANTASTIC PIECE OF KIT'

"Fantastic piece of kit. Wouldn't even leave to get fuel without it. Out of 20,000 plus miles I doubt I've hand-steered 500 of them."

Owner of a Westerly Sealord 39
Bexhill On Sea, England

DOWNWIND IN BIG FOLLOWING SEAS

“I have been cruising non stop ever since December ’89. I am very pleased to say that my Hydrovane has performed excellently in all conditions. It is particularly good downwind and holds an excellent course, even with big following seas. Having exchanged views with many skippers it is obvious that many windvanes are fairly weak on that point of sail. Mechanically it has stood up very well and has required minimal maintenance.”

Owner of Moody 39
Brisbane, Australia

'HARRIET' IS SO CLEVER

Just to let you know I have steered them over the Atlantic and half the Pacific. They cannot manage without me, I am so clever.

Harriet the Hydrovane on Susquehanna
Fare-Huahine, Isles Sous Le Vent, French Polynesia
June 25, 2002

SAVED MY LIFE

"During my fourteen month, 12,000 mile voyage around the Atlantic five yachts suffered broken rudders, two of which were abandoned and later sank. My rudder also broke mid-Atlantic, en route from Bermuda to the Azores, while riding out a strong gale. With the aid of a Hydrovane and jury rigged steeering I survived a second gale and sailed 1,000 miles to safety. Hydrovane saved my life! Congratualtions on a fine piece of equipment."

Dermot O'Neill, Author of 'Seascapes and Angels'
Owner of a Shipman 28
Arklow, Ireland

Owner of a Spencer 1330 (45')

Langley, B.C., Canada