Skipper’s View

The Autopilot Offers The Sailor Salvation But Also Interferes With Our Connection With The Elements

READERS OF LAST month's High Performance column by the excellent Andy Rice may have noted that he talked about the Ocean Race and how it has changed over the years. It's an interesting subject to ruminate over and wallow in a touch of nostalgia for a simpler time. What really made me sit up was the fact that this will be the first time in the race history that autopilots have been used. This really gave me pause for thought because I, like many other sailors, have a very complicated relationship with this piece of kit. Cruising or racing, sailing is about connecting with the elements; the power of the wind and waves. The helm and rudder are your lightning rod to this mysterious, visceral power. There is something totally counter intuitive to me about handing that pleasure to an autopilot. I got fully hooked on big boat sailing after delivering a big 60 footer across the Med. On the first night out we ran into a Mistral and numerous defects started to show themselves in the yachtthe first sign being that the floorboards were awash. The ashen faced skipper put me on the wheel and gave me a vague course (the autopilot didn't work) then left me to do battle with mounting seas. It was cold out but after five minutes I was sweating profusely from both fear and sheer e ort. I was also utterly exhilarated; nursing a big boat on a broad reach at speed through big seas. It was joyous and the inconvenient fact that the boat appeared to have a serious leak was forgotten.

I therefore started out sailing yachts as a purist and I recall being horrified when I signed up for a transatlantic trip where the autopilot was on continuously. I swore to hand steer through my watches but swiftly realised that this could be stultifyingly dull in many conditions and also had to admit that the autopilot seemed to be a better, more reliable, helm. The fact was though that when the going got rough, the autopilot usually gave up the ghost and you got your trick at the wheel. If autopilots are now at the point when they can handle a foiling IMOCA in the Roaring Forties, then things have changed definitively and I'm not sure I'm 100 per cent comfortable with that.

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