Autopilot - when do you use?

T

TonyBuckley

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Boat is in Brighton Marina
www.icloud.com
I have had my new old boat for a couple of months now. First boat I have had with an autopilot which works well.

I now find myself switching it on for every trip and adjusting course whenever necessary. Although this is great when short handed and doing sail work, I find my reliance/addiction on it disappointing.

I just wondered how others view their relationship with the autopilot - is it one of those things rarely used or one that is just there to be used at every opportunity?

Tony
 
TonyBuckley said:
I have had my new old boat for a couple of months now. First boat I have had with an autopilot which works well.

I now find myself switching it on for every trip and adjusting course whenever necessary. Although this is great when short handed and doing sail work, I find my reliance/addiction on it disappointing.

I just wondered how others view their relationship with the autopilot - is it one of those things rarely used or one that is just there to be used at every opportunity?

Tony
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As we pass the fairway usually. Steering is tedious.
 
DogWatch said:
As we pass the fairway usually. Steering is tedious.
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Merchant ships and warships alike reserve steering for the lower forms of life on board, for good reason. On the other hand, it can be real fun to steer by hand on a good fast spell, but you do need to concentrate and that does get tiring.
 
The autopilot is in use pretty much all the time once out of congested waters. It's only when the sea conditions get to the state where it can't cope that it gets turned off. Our when the wind is such that its just too much fun not to grab the wheel yourself. The autopilot is there to take the tedium out of passage making.
 
Depends on the conditions, how many aboard and the character of the passage, much as others have said. Last weekend we did a modest daysail, a little under 30 miles, and I would estimate we were hand steering for maybe a quarter, certainly no more than a third of that?
 
Almost all the time.

I like to hand steer when beating because I'm better at foresight than the autopilot, and also when in harbour ...... but otherwise it's more important to me to be the part of the crew that actually sails, keeps watch, and bakes bread and biscuits!
 
I enjoy the sailing so I steer when I want.
Motoring I'll put 'Otto' to work, and of course any jobs on deck, or important things like getting a beer from the fridge...
Basically use the 'Otto' pilot whenever you want... Fantastic when it raining & blowing and you want to duck under the spray hood..
 
Virtually never when sailing, for the same power reason as above, though it is always set up on a long passage for instant use, usually a visit to the heads combined with mutiny of crew. Also, I can drive the boat harder if I am helming; autopilot often means reducing sail.

Most longer passages, more than a few hours, involve motoring at some stage, when I have better things to do than helm, such as reading or doing sudokus.
 
TonyBuckley said:
I don't feel so alone now lol.

But I don't have a name for the autopilot - clearly where I have been going wrong. I will correct that!

Tony
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"Bellinger and many other pilots would take to calling the Sperry Autopilot system “George” — a colloquialism for the seemingly magical, invisible copilot that had joined them in the cockpit of their aircraft. To this day, the term “George” is used unofficially to represent the autopilot system."

Extract from http://fly.historicwings.com/2012/08/george-the-autopilot/

I had a conversation recently about why I call the tillerpilot "George" - I knew it came from aviation but this thread made me look it up and now I know - ta.
 
aslabend said:
"Bellinger and many other pilots would take to calling the Sperry Autopilot system “George” — a colloquialism for the seemingly magical, invisible copilot that had joined them in the cockpit of their aircraft. To this day, the term “George” is used unofficially to represent the autopilot system."
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Cheers - ours is called George as well, though I had no idea why. Just seemed an appropriate name for it.

When we were kids my dad used to tell us that all seagulls were called George, and that they found this very confusing, but kept doing it anyway because, after all, they're only birds and not all that bright.

Pete
 
Comes on as soon as practicable.

Pretty much always on during motoring and most of the time when sailing. As with others, if there's many wind shifts it can be a bit sluggish to respond so we sometimes helm ourselves if the wind is all over the shop. Also, it can be fun to helm when beating for a nice, tight tack.

Otherwise, "George" does the bulk of the work.
 
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