thanks for your answer that, unfortunately, confirms the information from other sources.
We plan to run the ARC two-handed, so the issue of autopilot can be a serious one.
Fair winds Fernando & Daniela sm Nefeli
On 27 Feb 2012, at 12:46, Ivan Campbell wrote:
Hello Fernando and Daniela
I did the ARC in 2010 in Ocean Hobo an Amel Santorin. I fitted a Hydrovane before leaving. We worked hard balancing the sails and in certain winds were able to steer a course which was probably less than satisfactory.
In St Lucia I met an owner who had fitted the Hydrovane to an Amel 53 but could not get it to work. Eventually an engineer from Hydrovane came to his home port before he left for the Arc and did his best to make the vane work to no avail. They had to take the Hydrovane back and refund his money.
The Hydrovane people are very good and helpful and great people to deal with. I know other owners who have Hydrovanes fitted on non Amel boats and they swear by them. It may be an issue with Amels underwater shape.
We had a great start from Las Palmas hand steering with the hydrovane disconnected but other smaller boats were passing us. I discovered that the paddle of the unit was causing drag even when out of gear. I removed it and we caught and passed lots of boats. On a calm day we removed the whole Hydrovane structure ,rebuilt it and fitted it again at sea. We got rid of most of the drag so this seemed to have been an installation problem.
However the steering was not what you should expect.
Hope this is helpful.
Fair winds
Ivan Campbell
From: amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com [mailto:amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of smnefeli Sent: 27 February 2012 10:47 To: amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com
Hallo everybody,
let us introduce ourselves: we are the new owners of the Supermaramu #38 "Nefeli". We subscribed to the forum two months ago and we have appreciated it very much.
Nefeli is presently in the north of the Adriatic Sea and we are preparing her for the ARC 2012.
We contacted the Chantiers Amel for a copy of the Supermaramu Manuals and they quickly have sent us what they had available: the Manuals of the Supermaramu 2000. Does anybody have copies of the old manuals?
We read that some of you have already took part in the ARC. We would appreciate any tip on the preparation of the boat. Had any of you got a positive experience with windvanes?
Thanks in advance and fair winds,
Fernando & Daniela
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