76 Practical Boat Owner 578 September 2014 • www.pbo.co.uk

Cruising

What would it take to solo-sail your small boat hundreds of miles offshore? As a sailor on a budget I’d often looked at

the various servo pendulum windvanes on offer and wondered when I might be in a position to afford or justify an outlay of £2,000-3,000 to fit out my Verl 900. The idea had formed in my mind that with such gear fitted, I’d be able to head off into a wider world of exotic destinations that would involve me carrying a passport and meeting people speaking different languages. But without self-steering gear it seemed unlikely for me, departing from north-west Scotland.

AbouttheAuthor

Ian Kirkwood started sailing in 2009 and sails his 1979 Verl 900 in the Isle of Skye area. For more information on the Verl 900 see http://verl900.wordpress.com

• Kinlochbervie

Cape Wrath•

•Skye Bridge

ORKNEY

ShEtlaNd iSlaNdS

FaROE iSlaNdS

•tórshavn

•VágurSUðOROY

StREYmOY

In the autumn of 2013 I spotted John Fleming’s website (www.windvaneselfsteering.co.uk), and after enquiries became the owner of a set of plans for his Hebridean servo pendulum windvane that you build yourself. It is designed to fit any boat with a transom height of up to 1m. It turned out I was customer number one.

I set to with my few tools. I had a pillar drill (not actually required), an angle grinder and hand tools. There is no welding involved. I ordered lots of stainless sections and bolts as specified and in a short time had an evolving construction taking shape in front of me, whose purpose of course escaped anyone to whom I showed it.

This project took me about half a winter of determined building and cost me about £400 excluding tools: the unit is now sold as a kit and is priced much lower than that. It should also be quicker to finish as I had to keep ordering bits and pieces and await their delivery as I went along.

February saw the finished vane mounted to the stern of my boat Imagination ready for a bold (I thought) test of its

capabilities in a Force 6-7 afternoon in Skye’s Inner Sound – in the company of the designer himself! I was dismayed to find myself seasick.

I expected to struggle to get to know the Hebridean’s ways and for there to be some weeks of fettling and frustration ahead. I need not have worried. The vane steered the boat from the off, and I was released into the mesmerising world of steering with hands off the tiller and no buzzing from an autopilot. Directional adjustment is by manually rotating the vane base then tweaking the sails for the new point of sail.

GettingtoknowtheunitMarch to June saw occasional short trips using the vane – and a St Kilda visit – giving me more time to get to know the unit. Now that I had met the designer and mentioned the vane to other local yachtsmen, I found someone else wishing to head for the Faroe Islands too. On 20 June I set off alone for Kinlochbervie where I would rendezvous with John Fleming and Alex Layfield in Alex’s Contessa 32, Blue Heron. The Contessa’s co-owner Alan Buchel, veteran of many

Solo sail to the Faroe IslandsBuilding a servo pendulum windvane from a set of plans gave Ian Kirkwood the opportunity to sail solo to the Faroe Islands

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Practical Boat Owner 578 September 2014 • www.pbo.co.uk 77

Solo sail to the Faroe Islands

my ambition to sail to another culture had been fulfilled

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voyages, was joining us too. They had sailed to the Faroes and Iceland before. John was lending Alex one of his Hebridean prototypes for the voyage and was subjecting it to a longer-distance trial.

On 23 June the two boats departed for the north. Light winds wafted us northwards and then slowly to the east of Cape Wrath. We were reluctant to motor. Later in the day, though, we met with the expected fresh easterly and made our one and only tack of the northward voyage. This was to be a very pleasing part of the journey, being my first experience of a tack lasting all but 200 miles.

The following day I passed within 40m of a very large, straight, de-barked tree trunk – not the sort of thing you’d want to collide with. Some hours later, about 60 miles to the south of Suðuroy, I spent an hour in the evening being followed by a large mixed pod of common dolphins and pilot whales. What a highlight! It was worth building the vane just for this. Dinner could wait while I watched the agile dolphins criss-crossing

around the boat, and the pilot whales rolling powerfully forward in tight family formations. Sometimes pilot whale heads bobbed up vertically to look around, and twice dolphins leaped skyward when the pilots got close behind them.

In the early evening of the next day, after three days and two nights from Kinlochbervie, we found ourselves at 62° north duelling with a cruise liner and

rowing teams as we entered the port of Tórshavn (locals pronounce it ‘Ta-oo-sha-oo’). We had time to relax and explore the town. A few yards from the boat,

the former deputy prime minister Høgni Hoydal translated for us as we bought our dried fermented fish. Traditional dress was a common sight and the traditional wooden boats were of particular interest, team rowing being the national sport. The town’s grass-roofed houses also added to the exotic qualities of our voyage.

We spent only one night in Tórshavn – it was good to catch up on some sleep – and another in Vágur, Suðuroy, on the

way home. Here we visited a small museum housing a collection of hand-made models of the 10 sailing trawlers that were lost during the Second World War by this one village alone. The carver himself, Poul Niclassen, showed us around his impressive tribute. His own father-in-law was among those lost.

About four of these sailing trawlers are still in use around the Faroes: they were bought from the UK when the fishing industry moved to steam. I could not help being impressed by their massive tillers, operated with blocks either side.

My ambition to sail to another culture had been fulfilled, and it would have been impossible without my DIY windvane. The homeward leg was again via Kinlochbervie, and the final mileage at the Skye Bridge was 660. How did I stay awake? The widely advocated 20-minute alarm was tested – and, amazingly, it worked for me. I missed out on deep sleep, but kept going OK: not that I’d want to make a habit of it. Close your eyes and strange HD images can morph into view.

Sailing ‘solo’ in the company of another vessel must be the best way to get started in a pursuit so full of ‘what-ifs’ – such as colliding with a large tree.

Having Blue Heron within view and VHF range was a constant comfort: she once doubled back to see if I was still on board. We both also made our first ever use of MMSI calling. The Verl kept up with the Contessa in the lighter airs and was occasionally well ahead. In decent winds the Contessa surged ahead and reefed to keep our mini flotilla together.

My only other regret is not allowing myself more time to explore the Faroes.

thehebrideaninuseNow that I have used the windvane for a while I can pass on that the Hebridean has three great points. Firstly, it has no bearings, gears, cogs or welding. This means that, apart from being cheap and easy to build, it is robust and potentially fixable if a part should fail (especially since you made it all yourself). You could even carry parts for two.

Secondly, the vane deflects on a horizontal axle, making it potentially the

traditional dress was a common sight on tórshavn

Wooden boats like this are used in the Faroe islanders’ national sport of team rowing

ian Kirkwood’s Verl 900 Imagination and alex layfield’s Contessa 32 Blue Heron berthed side by side

78 Practical Boat Owner 578 September 2014 • www.pbo.co.uk

most powerful vane available and highly responsive. Fully understanding this design feature is admittedly a challenge but it is, I believe, a unique and fundamental feature of the Hebridean and incidentally simplifies the design for DIY construction. It is damped by feedback from the swing of the pendulum.

Thirdly, it can be lifted off its mount and stowed, usually outside the quarter stanchions, or below in two parts.

Stepping over the tiller lines is required in order to make course alterations at the vane base. This can get tedious, but is probably good exercise for me. Because of the way the vane moves it is not obvious how you could change course with lines led forward. A remotely-operated motorised vane base would overcome this and could be handy, say for steering from below, but would seem to contradict the simplicity of the overall design as it stands.

AfullkitSo, is the windvane a robust design? I have not experienced a breaking Southern Ocean wave over my stern, and would expect such

a wave to be capable of carrying away almost any sort of bolt-on equipment that might be found on a transom. That apart, I did not see the unit display any stress as it tirelessly steered the boat through all the conditions I have so far met. It only gave up when there was no wind at all.

The design incorporates a sacrificial shear pin that will break if the pendulum strikes something in the water, allowing the unit to pivot upwards out of harm’s way. Sudden excessive sideway loads will break one or more of the thinner lines specified to hold on the pushpit-mounted blocks, again releasing the unit to swing to the side unharmed. It’s hard to imagine what might create such loads, but they are allowed for: the designer has tested the unit up to a massive 300kg of tiller pressure.

Since I built mine the Hebridean has

evolved into a full kit of stainless steel parts ready to cut, drill and finish (you need to source your own wood) – so my extensive online shopping for small quantities is no longer a part of the experience for anyone considering building one themselves.

It’s often thought that building and using windvanes or similar self-steering devices is something of a black art. And because of the mystery surrounding them, their workings and evolution, it was hard for me to believe that John Fleming had successfully overcome the fundamental

challenges of the principle with such a simple, innovative and cheap solution.

But having built and used one myself, my conclusion must be that anyone needing a servo pendulum windvane for their small boat can now have one!

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1the hebridean windvane is of composite construction using wood, stainless steel and

glassfibre tent pole rods. Some of the stainless parts are off-the-shelf components...

2 ... but other pieces you’ll have to make yourself from stainless steel plate and angle and channel

profiles. it can all be done by with hacksaws, files and drills – there’s no welding involved.

3 there’s a bit of wooden joinery involved, but most of it is held together with simple stainless

steel screws, nuts and bolts.

Cruising – Solo sail to the Faroe Islands

About the Hebridean windvane

a sculptural tribute to Faroes rowing

the hebridean windvane at work