Autopilots and their installation can be made much stronger now than in yesteryear. Look at their use in the harshest
testing grounds - the Globe and Around Alone races. The competitive boats in these races long since stopped using
wind-vane self-steering - because of the design characteristics of these extreme racing machines. So, the autopilots
must be relied upon. Usually there is redundancy and the installation is constructed with some idea of the forces on the
autopilot(s) in these around the world events. Point is: it can be done. More to the point: it has been done. True,
there have been lots of autopilot failures in these races but redundant systems - more often than not - have coped
with the situations.

Jerry