Flying Tadpole wrote:


Doug, I tried and tried, because the catyawl is supposed to be
ideal for this, but the longest I've ever been able to beat with
the rudder free and stay on course is a minute or so, then some
combination of wave and wind will knock the boat a small but
critical amount, the free rudder will swing a bit, and suddenly
we're doing donuts.

It might be that because of the hard chines and/or the leeboards, you get enough
momentary Z-axis torque to overcome corrective feedback from the rig. Maybe if you
actively sheeted the mizzen, you could get slightly better results (or at least larger
diameter donuts)?


(I don't mind doing donuts while I'm at the
tiller, even if I did bust the mainsheet track buffers doing it
once.) So I lash tillers whatever. I suspect tht if I totally
lost my rudder, it would be a lot easier to sail with sails alone
than with a rudder still there but swinging free...

Usually the rudder swinging free creates more problems in trying to steer, and also
stresses the boat/rudder/rudder post unduly. Locking it in place is much better.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King