Читать книгу SELF-STEERING UNDER SAIL - Peter Foerthmann - Страница 4

Shorthanded long-distance sailing started with just a few hardy pioneers. Joshua Slocum was one of the very first with his legendary Spray. It is said he could keep the boat on a fairly steady course with an ingenious sheeting arrangement or simply by lashing fast the wheel. This manner of self-steering willingly sacrificed a certain amount of sail power to free up a portion of the sail area just for steering trim. Of course Spray had a natural tendency to sail straight, as her keel was almost as long as her waterline.

Hambley Tregoning described in a letter to Yachting Monthly in 1919 how the tiller of a boat could be connected to a windvane. Upon publication of his letter model boat owners rushed out to fit their craft with wind-guided steering. They found they could achieve admirable results with even the most simple mechanical connection between the tiller and a windvane. This type of system did not transfer very successfully, however, since the forces generated by a windvane are too small to move the tiller of a full-size vessel directly.