It is always delightful to meet with a happy customer. This was the case a couple of weeks ago when I met Richard Hollis captain of Inmocean a 133’ Dubois designed sloop that was built at Fitzroy Yachts in New Zealand.The boat had just arrived in Newport for some maintenance. They had sailed the boat 17,000 miles since it was launched eight months ago. Every mile hand steered! The first voyage was from New Zealand to San Francisco from there back to the South Pacific and then on to Panama and up to Newport. Richard liked the feedback and sensitivity provided by the mechanical steering and also liked the two speed aspect of the geared steerers. It allows them to have ultimate feel on a nice sailing day but you can shift to a lower gear for power when the weather gets rough. He also uses the high gear in the harbor for quicker maneuvering.
We built the system with torque transfer shafts which allow for no intrusion onto the living areas and smoothly transfer the mechanical advantage aft to the quadrant.
It was good to see the equipment was in excellent condition and needed little adjustment after such a vigorous cruise. It is also an honor to be on such a well appointed and well looked after yacht.
Ed Stiess
V.P. Marine Division
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