Does anyone has experience with heaving to while the
windvane rudder/pendulum is down in the
water.
I have the latest model of the
Aries windvane with the possibility to tilt the
rudder up while not in use. Raising or lowering the
rudder is only possible in very calm
weather so we always put the rudder down before departure and it stays down until arrival even if the windvane is not in use. (The wooden vane is only put on the windvane if we use the windvane
steering.)
A few times last year I was in a situation where I wanted to heave to but as always on any long
passage the windvane pendulum was down. The problem is that when heave to the pendulum get's slammed against the windvane lower 'arms/stops every time a wave passes. This generates a lot of force and I can see the whole
Aries mounting move and twist a little bit. It looks like something will break sooner or later when doing this so I switched to sailing without
sails but with the windvane
steering as alternative.
If really needed I can tilt the windvane pendulum up but I have to hang upside down on the stern of the
boat. Not something you want to do in heavy
weather conditions when one goes heave to.
Does anyone found a solution for this problem?