Out of the water.

It was a fantastic day today. When I started from home, it was heavy raining and pretty windy (6 bft). When I arrived in Den Oever it was sunny and almost no wind. I got down the sails, and went for the lifting. When I got there, guys from the Search and Rescue asked me if I mind to let them first launch their boat. I agreed and had a lovely sail on motor around the harbour. 10 min after it was rain again :) Then I got Sasha out of the water. There was 1 hour window of perfect weather for getting down the sails, having last ride, and lifting the boat. It was a nice end of a brilliant sailing season.

Sailing in the lonesome October

Still some really nice weather in October with great wind :)

Beyond the clouds, beyond the waves that roar. There may indeed or may not be a shore :)

Back to Den Oever.

I brought Sasha back to Den Oever, through Ijmuiden, Amsterdam, Volendam, and Lelystadt :) I did the passage from Scheveningen to Volendam single handed for 13 hours, 59 nm, two locks and one bridge :) My personal record :)

Sailing to Scheveningen

I brought Sasha to Scheveningen via the North sea canal and the North sea. At the end we had to fight the waves, the wind, and the tide. When we got out of Ijmuiden the wind force was about 6 Bft, at Scheveningen it was 2 Bft :) Brilliant day :) We were late a bit, because we had to wait about 1 hour for the maneuvering of the big ship in the North sea canal. It is kind of depressing to sail against the tide :)

Sea Feather test sailing

I tested the Sea Feather upwind and downwind and it worked very nice. The wind force down wind was about 7-8 knots, and upwind about 12-14 knots.

I moved the Genoa traveler to the deck. It seems that I can get the Genoa sail closer to the boat which gives me the opportunity to sail very nice upwind.

It is amazing how the Sea Feather handles the helm downwind :)

Wind Vane Self Steering

I like to sail single-handed, so I decided it will be a good idea to fetch a Wind Vane Self Steering. I narrowed the choice to several options which are suitable for a small boat with transom rudder like Contessa 26:

1. The first wind vane which I considered was Quartermaster auxiliary rudder system . It is  the first wind vane which I saw in the Volendam Marina. The guy told me that he has got it from a Contessa 26 owner for about 150 Euro. I tried to find one second hand but did not manage it.

2. I heard very nice think about the windpilot.

http://www.windpilot.com/

Suitable for Contessa 26 is the smallest version called Pacific Light. I contacted the guy, it appears to be a family business located in Hamburg, Germany. The guy was very nice and cooperative, the thing which draw me back was that I had to produce the frame on which I could fix the vane by myself.

3. I considered also the two Dutch alternatives:

http://www.hollandwindvane.com/self-steering/index.htm

The small unit of hollandwindwane would be suitable for Contessa 26.

http://windvaneselfsteering.com/catalog/mister-vee-yb

Mister-vee would be also Ok for Contessa 26 according the manufacturers.

The Dutch alternatives were much cheaper than the other ones, what pulled me back that there were not much reviews of the people which have used them.

4. At the end I choose Sea Feather:

http://www.sea-feather.co.uk/

There were many reports on Sea-Feather used with Contessa 26. The company is located in UK. They know very well the boat, and they also supply all the materials needed to fix the vane to the boat including the support frame. It looks very reliable and solid build.

5. I ran in Internet on different wind wanes I did not contact some of them because their price was too high:

http://www.selfsteer.dk/
http://www.capehorn.com/
http://www.flemingselfsteer.com/
http://www.hydrovane.com/
http://www.selfsteer.com/index.php
http://www.windvane.co.uk/
http://www.sailomat.com/current-model.php
http://voyagerwindvanes.com/
http://www.south-atlantic.com.ar/en/..._steering.html

6. Interesting book about the Self Steering can be found on WindPilot page:

http://www.windpilot.com/n/pdf/bookeng.pdf

7. Do it youself project:
http://windvaneselfsteering.co.uk/