Salamander - Hand Steering

The Atlantic ARC is a marathon sailing event and this year, as in previous years, Salamander are setting about completing the course by hand steering the whole way. This requires a disciplined watch system and great team work.

You'll have seen already that we have six crew on board. None of us have sailed on Salamander before this event. Well that's not entirely true! I did help bring the boat from Lymington in the UK to the start in Las Palmas.

We have three watches each lasting two hours and there are two of us on each watch. In our two hour shift we take it in turns to take the helm and hand steer Salamander.

On most watches we do half hour stints so that we remain fresh and alert, particularly important at night. If conditions are a bit more challenging we change to doing fifteen minutes at a time. There's no point being a hero and wearing yourself out. This is about working together as a team with your watch buddy to get the optimum performance at all times.

By hand steering as opposed to using the Autohelm we get a real feel for the boat and are able to get the most out of the wind and the swell. Yes it's more tiring but it gives a great sense of purpose and achievement as well as keeping us occupied!

In every 24 hour day we are each on the helm for four hours, day in day out!

Sometimes it's a real workout not just for our arms but also our legs and core as we balance as the boat moves under us.

Note: This blog was written before we started to motor on Autopilot.


Tim - Salamander Tour Manager and Guest Social Media Editor


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