'Cruinneag III' and Handling Breakages at Sea, from ARC 2011

Cruineag 3, a classic wooden ketch built in Scotland in the 1930s.
(Photo courtesy of cruinneag.com)

Check out a new, two-part feature on the ARC website that I posted this afternoon about handling breakages at sea. I particularly enjoyed Cruinneag III's attitude on the whole thing. An excerpt from today's story:

Karen allowed that they view most of the sophisticated equipment onboard as luxuries, and as such, do not rely on it. Their autopilot is a hydraulic unit connected by a bespoke ram to the rudder. Were it to fail, Karen felt confident they could do without.

“We know how to balance the boat without the autopilot,” Karen said. “Nick is very good at fixing things as well. But if it failed beyond repair, we had enough crew to hand-steer. More than likely we could have balanced the sail plan and coaxed her sail herself.”