FLEMING

Trish Lewis recieving her Global Equip 350 to assist her in the Trans Tasman single handed race 2010. Watch her progress Here.

Here is a link to an article on Rod’s website detailing his experience with Fleming. Click Here.

Jessica Watson - Youngest to sail singlehanded

around the world non-stop.

Ella’s Pink Lady SS34 with the Fleming Global Equip 400

www.jessicawatson.com.au

S.V. Mika

To Phil George,

I have praised the Fleming Vane for the 18 years I have owned “Guido”. We sailed thousands of miles together including a seven-year solo voyage around the world. In my mind the Fleming is the finest vane out there.

And my voyage “out there” far surpassed anything I had ever dreamed of or dared doing which brings me to the purpose of contacting you… to UPDATE your information regarding my whereabouts.

Mika, a Hans Christian 38 and I, returned from our solo circumnavigation
in 2001 and are berthed at Ventura Harbor, California.

Thank you again and again for your fine product…best regards,

Michael Salvaneschi

Hi Phil,

The crew really appreciated the self steering after two days of hand steering in fast running heading east from Vanuatu. We left Port Vila in fresh to strong trade winds and rough seas. We stopped at Huon Reef for a swim/snorkel and a break from the motion of trade wind sailing.
12 hours out from Huon Reef the trade wind piped up on the beam and we set the windvane up. The crew were amazed at how well it steered us in boistrous wind and sea conditions. The vane stayed engaged for most of the rest of the passage of 700 nm.

Now we are home after our little cruise it is good to look back at the adventures we had. The fleming global equipe was a small part of the success of the voyage.

Regards,
Andrew

Phil

We have had our maiden voyage with it as well and are very pleased. We had about 6 building to 15 knots of breeze so nothing too demanding but were very pleased with how true it steered the boat at all points of wind. After the first ½ hour we found we could change the bearing 10-15 degrees just by a small turn of the vane and she steered very true.

It is such a cool feeling knowing the boat and the wind are doing everything and you’re just along for the ride and the funny thing was once we got over the excitement of it working is that you start thinking “hell I better not fall off”. The other point we noticed is how quick it adjusts to the wind shifts, the big thing I suppose to watch now. We will run our cross track error on the GPS from now on as a backup to the watch keeper keeping an eye on the compass to make sure we keep heading the way we are meant to.

Thanks again.

Regards

Hi Phil

As I told you we finished our crossing from Guatemala, central America to Greece in the Med, 6300 miles on the 13th of August, the fleming 501 did the steering most of the way and works very well.

Alex Diamantopoulos

Hi Kevin

It was nice to see that you used the photo that I sent you on the home page of your web site.  Since then we have done 7500 miles around the Pacific with the Fleming wind vane doing all the hard work. At times we were very grate full to be down below with the wind vane doing  the steering when it was dark and cold and very wet in the cockpit. We now have complete confidence in the Fleming wind vanes ability to cope in heavy following seas and would trust it before most helmsman running flat off in 35-40 knots in the dark. We still rate it as the best piece of cruising gear on the boat. We are now back in Gulf Harbour NZ looking forward to our next trip away.
Thanks for a great product.

Regards
Terry & Amanda Morris     Clark Gable

Hi Kevin,

Attached  some pics of the installation….all went well….very easy after a day of thinking about it !

Over the last 2 weeks we have used “Mr Fleming” nearly every day sailing north up the east coast of New Zealand…practising….He works brilliantly…so simple to use and set up….
DIVA is well balanced and easy to sail in moderate winds with #3 genoa and main and your gadget steers her faultlessly.
I am really impressed that we get where want to go with little fuss everyday and our batteries are still charged…..brilliant !

We are heading for Tonga and Fiji etc next year and I’m sure we made the right decision to buy Fleming….

Best regards
Alan Leslie
Diva   14 February, 2007

Kevin & Denise
Just to let you know “Randy Fleming” has completed a successful Atlantic crossing on the stern of Rebel.  So far he is working both perfectly and very hard on all points of sail and at all strengths of wind.

Thanks for supplying such a great system!

Regards, John, Randy and Rebel
John Stickland  S & S 34, UK  02 December, 2006

Dear Kevin,
“Well, we’re back from Hawaii and having a difficult time getting into a ‘normal’ life of work etc! We had a long (28 day) passage punctuate by 15 days of squalls, with 2 gales. Not exactly what we had planned, but a very good experience nonetheless.”

“One of the real delights of the trip was watching our Fleming Minor ‘do its thing’. We experienced absolutely no breakdowns in the vane, an enviable track record considering it steered well over 98% of the 28-day voyage. ‘Flem’ as he became known to us was a tireless and invaluable addition to the crew. I found it remarkable just how steady a course he maintained, even in the sloppiest of sea conditions. One of my major concerns prior to the trip was the ability of your vane to steer a fin keel, spade rudder boat in heavy following seas. I have sailed these Catalina 27s for many years now, and am quite familiar with their difficult downwind handling, so my concern seemed justifiable. However, ‘Flem’ performed flawlessly, steering a steady course even in 22 foot seas and 40+ knots of wind (verified with NOAA)!”

With much appreciation,
B. Scott Diener, Ph. D.