Teach your autopilot to be your best crewmember

Installing a decent autopilot makes a huge contribution to comfort when cruising and passage making. Yet for many of us the idea of being able to rely heavily on a pilot in testing conditions remains a distant utopia. However, the basic technology that enables pilots to steer accurately in challenging situations has been reasonably affordable for more than 15 years. Equally, if your boat has an older and lower-spec system there’s often much that can be done to improve its performance.

The short-handed offshore racing community has been at the forefront of pushing development and understanding in this area for many years. We drive our boats extremely hard, often sailing 3-5,000 miles each season, and therefore discover issues that may not otherwise come to light.

There are plenty of examples of very successful skippers who use their pilots almost all the time, irrespective of wind strength, wind angle, or sea state. Among them is Pierrick Penven, whose well-travelled Jeanneau Sun Fast 3200 has an enviable track record. This includes