Nedriness Qoutient: 4/10 Over the winter, a good deal of the equipment has been stored at home. Now it must find its place aboard again, and John (Wind)Waine is being refitted. Wind wanes are the preserve of long-distance sailors, since they are designed for use on the open sea. We have had nothing but good experiences with this clever and reliable device for many years. This means that we would rather not be without it, even though Moon has two separate electric autopilots. The great strength of the wind rudder is that it does not use any electricity and is completely silent. The latter is very important when the person off-duty is trying to rest and sleep during a multi-day voyage. Once set, it keeps the boat on course according to the relative wind angle. However, it does restrict our manoeuvrability in narrow harbours, as it has an auxilliary rudder hanging at the very back of the boat and impedes movement when we need to manoeuvre carefully. That is why we do not mount the auxilia

Nerdiness Quotient: 5/10 When we're alone in the cockpit or sailing single-handed, the autopilot is used for tacking. The autopilot control panel is located on the steering console by the steering wheel, and is difficult to operate when standing between the steering console and the harddodger, as is the case when cruising siglehanded in order to easily operate the winches. Read about it here...

Nerdiness Quotient: 7/10 During the test drive when I bought Moon, I noticed a certain slackness in the steering. Not much, but it was there. After having sailed the boat more extensive the clicking sound from the steering system became more and more present. Clearly something had to be done. Read about it here..

Nerdiness Quotient: 5/10 The autopilot is the most important piece of equipment on any sailboat. Read more about it here...

Nerdiness Quotient: 5/10 Long keeled boats can be a real nightmare to handle in close quarters, especially when the wind and current don’t play along. Read more..

Nerdiness Quotient: 5/10 The Lower rudder shaft bearings are about to be replaced. Read more..