This photo was taken last Saturday, July 9 2005,  as I was racing down the California coast to Half Moon Bay, again singlehanded. Besides beating a J120 to the finish line, the big news for this race was my new "gyro" pilot:

As you know, the rudder tube on the J92 is sealed from the cockpit floor down to the bottom of the hull. This is good if the rudder ever falls out - no water will come in. The down side is that unless you cut into the tube it is impossible to install anything but an above-deck tiller pilot, and most of those are inadequate for downwind sailing, especially with the spinnaker.

With more offshore singlehanded races in mind, I decided it was time to install an autopilot that was up to the task. To avoid cutting into the rudder tube we installed an above-deck ram (the Raymarine 4000+) but are driving it with a Ray 6001/S1G computer with gyro. Heading input comes from a fluxgate compass. The most difficult part to install was the rudder reference indicator, which provides rudder angle input to the computer. Again, this is normally attached to a steering quadrant below deck but we didn't have that option. So after encapsulating it, we attached it to the top of the tiller on the axis of the rudder post.

The calibration process was interesting as the system first determined and corrected for compass deviation and then taught itself the steering characteristics of the J92.

Conditions were mild for the race but the improvement in steering with the autopilot was readily apparent. It kept us on a course that was ramrod straight, even with the 84 s/m kite up, and a bit of following sea. I'm anxious to try it in rougher conditions, especially surfing in big waves.

Regards,

Bob Johnston