Steering technique

[Twister_Ken]

One thing an autopilot is absolutely brilliant at is steering a course in very poor viz. Without a horizon to steer to, I find I wander all over the place unless I stare at the compass, and if I do that I can't keep any sensible sort of lookout.

 

[BelleSerene]

My ST5000 wanders a little so upwind it regularly allows the jib to lift. Sheeting tighter means it is over-sheeted a lot of the time. I've fiddled endlessly with the settings but can't get it to steer as steady a course as I can by hand.

On a broad reach in near surfing conditions, each wave causes a luff, preventing surfing as it struggles to straighten up. A decent helmsman can anticipate and correct for it, ending up going quite a lot faster.

I had the same problem.

The Raymarine Smartpilot Commissioning Guide allows you to set up the SmartPilot to different boat characteristics, as well as the user settings of strong/ weak feedback. I found that mine (a 39' Beneteau yacht) was defaulting to 'workboat' characteristics, designed for a heavy power vessel such as a fishing boat. If you Google 'Raymarine Smartpilot Commissioning Guide' you'll find a copy. Well worth checking that it's set up for the characteristics of your boat, otherwise it may well respond too badly and fail to mimic the human helmsman's anticipation of boat heading.