Steer Smarter, Not Harder – The Wind Correction 'Crab' Hack That Saves Time and Money

Here’s a driving trick that can increase your boat’s top speed and save time and money.

It’s all achieved by a simple steering adjustment that when applied allows your boat to go faster and run straight. The actual speed increase is the difference between the speed when you apply this trick and when you don’t.

Have you ever been motoring along in a straight line with a cross wind coming from one side and notice that with the added wind, your boat tilts slightly into it? Ever wonder why the wind caused the boat to lean slightly towards the wind, and not away it? This seems counter intuitive. Why would the boat lean towards the wind and not away from it, like a sailboat does?

Lets look at the wind effect and see what actually happens to your boat in a wind. Lets say you are driving in a straight line and a wind arises that is blowing from the right hand or starboard side. Surprisingly, as part of that wind force, what you will observe is that your boat will tilt slightly to the right and begin a tiny turn into the wind.

But, you are trying to run in a straight line to a specific destination so you instinctively make the slightest of steering adjustments to keep yourself heading where you want to go. Without realizing it, you have created a driving error.

To fully understand this phenomena, think back to what happens as you drive your boat in a slow sweeping turn. If you leave your throttle setting the same, the boat will lose speed during the turn. The added drag from the turn on the hull and the lower unit not running parallel with your direction will result in your exit speed from the turn being lower than your entry speed (unless of course you add throttle during the turn.) That is exactly what happens when a wind takes its affect on your boat direction. To continue travelling in a straight line, you very subtly offset that wind by applying a tiny bit of steering to the right to keep your destination the same. In doing so, your hull digs deeper into the water and the skeg of your drive moves just enough so that it is no longer running flat and parallel to your intended direction. In making even this tiny turn, you have added considerable drag.

Remember, any trick that can recover the lost speed that this steering change makes to counter wind deflection, is added speed. Simply put, you must ‘crab’ the boat to continue to have it continue on a straight track. Here is the detailed procedure:

Lets use and example where the wind is coming from your right hand or starboard side.

+ Be sure you have a spot marked on your steering wheel to indicate the position where your motor skeg or rudder are vertical and steering parallel to the keel of the boat. This will allow you to always know at what position the wheel will steer the boat straight ahead in flat, calm water.

+ While driving in that cross wind coming from your right, turn your steering wheel to a position that holds your boat track directly towards your target or destination.

+ Although you are now tracking directly towards your target, this wheel movement put the boat into a slight right turn and the boat is now running with its skeg or rudder not completely parallel to the centerline of your boat. Instead it is creating added drag.

+ To fix this, note the present amount of turn in the wheel, relative to its neutral position and turn your wheel that much further again to the right. Then, immediately rotate your steering wheel back to its neutral position.

+ This has put your steering in neutral position for less drag and your boat will be pointing to the right of your target. However, your boat will now be tracking correctly towards your target.

Your boat is performing a classic crab motion, or going somewhere that it is not pointing.

The stronger the wind and the further you travel using this trick, the more speed and time you can recover. It may not be a lot of time, but if you are a performance boater even the slightest speed increase is important, so measure the deflection that the wind is causing and adjust your wheel to track directly. I should note that this phenomena does not happen in the same way with a catamaran hull as it does with the conventional hull described above. In a catamaran, the boat will probably not lean, but the cat will slide downwind and the same steering and crab correction is needed.

At first read, this may seem like considerable work for a small gain, but it is actually one of those little skills that good boaters learn to use automatically. As you would expect, ships and power yachts routinely follow this procedure to effectively offset currents, but smaller pleasure boats will also have many opportunities to save time and travel faster by using this trick. #tips #quicktips