Tacking with a windvane

[Roberto]

I just installed a Windpilot and am in the early stages of playing with it. The boat is usually well balanced so it should not be excessively difficult.
Anyway, my question is: is there a "best" way to tack (wheel steering)?

Shall I simply disconnect the wheel adapter, rotate the wheel by hand until on the other tack, adjust sails, then adjust the settings of the aerial (basically rotate it 90°), and finally re-engage the wheel adapter ?

Or simply turn quickly the aerial by 90°, letting the windvane system rotate the steering wheel and eventually make the tack all by itself ?

any suggestions ?

 

[Athene V30]

Just fitted a Sea Feather van to my boat and not in the water yet to try it, but I was planning to turn the vane through 100 degrees rather than disconnecting the tiller, tacking and reconnecting.

The gear I have has a continuous line that leads to the fwd end of the cockpit so I can tack the vane and then handle the jib sheets.

 

[ChrisE]

Well, when we tack using our Monitor, which I beleive is similar to a Windplot, we move the vane through 100 degrees and then rush to the headsail to tack it across.

All works well providing that we have moved the vane in the 'right' 100 degree direction.......

 

[Poignard]

Same here! Just turn the vane so it points to where the wind will be after the tack, and leave her to it. The Twister tacks quite slowly so you can usually get the headsail sheet in before there's any weight on it

 

[Roberto]

thank you everyone, I will try by quickly turning the worm screw which moves the windpilot aerial tower /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif