Fishermen probably know the Sabiki. This form of lure fishing practiced in Japan. This is how the Japanese company Furuno, a specialist in onboard electronics, decided to name a new function for its autopilot. This type of fishing is practised from a boat that must stand still over a fishing ground.
Sabiki Mode is available on the Nav Pilot 711 C. This function allows you to keep a boat in the current or practice active drifting. It can be compared to a floating anchor.
The fishermen who practice support fishing, or jib fishing, or even sport fishing know well the difficulty of making his boat evolve with a controlled drift. The Sabiki mode of the autopilot is there to remedy this problem.
Suitable for outboard motors (and only for outboard motors), the Nav Pilot 711 C autopilot requests the course to be steered. The fisherman then engages reverse gear and only has to steer the throttle according to the desired drift speed. In the event of current, the boat can thus remain in place if the 2 speeds cancel each other out (the boat's and the current's).
This device only works in reverse so that the engine pulls the boat. In forward gear, if the boat's nose is pointed into the current, it will rapidly swivel uncontrollably around the engine.
Sabiki mode uses the pilot's compass to track the course, but also requires speed information (GPS or speedometer). This is for safety purposes only. Above 5 knots, an alarm informs you that you are going too fast and the Sabiki mode is deactivated.
In the picture above, the Sabiki mode is engaged (it is displayed in the top left corner of the screen). "SET 203°" indicates the course to be followed. "STERN DIR 196°" indicates the heading to be followed (in reverse). The green arrows at the bottom indicate the position of the outboard motor.
The video shot in the middle of the current on the Adour shows how easy it is to keep your position or manage the boat's movement.
The device is accessible on all Nav Pilot 711 C. Users who already own this pilot (sold less than 2 years ago) can upgrade their software to have the feature.
