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nearly all leisure boats on a long passage would be using an autopilot of some kind though and the vast majority of those are electric motor driven. perhaps the
by clort 6y ago
nearly all leisure boats on a long passage would be using an autopilot of some kind though and the vast majority of those are electric motor driven. perhaps the sample is pre-selected to have autohelm in that case..
- spurgu 6y agoI wouldn't say "vast" majority. Windvane self-steering gear is quite common on long distance cruising sailboats. I would personally not rely solely on an autopilot, though it's nice to have in addition, for when motoring. The exception might be an RPi driven DIY autopilot where you can carry spare actuators (and spare RPi's), but that still requires electricity so would be useless in an emergency where you lose power (thunder strike or water shorting the batteries). All in all I find it weird why this is happening now all of a sudden . We've been overfishing for decades and it's not like there's been a large increase in maritime activity lately. Mybe they just finally had enough and snapped.. Would hate to see the sea become a hostile environment for humans, but we also have it coming.