Ellen MacArthur wrote:
"Edgar" wrote
| If the wind is pushing you backwards the rudder will work and you should be
| able to regain control. The other boat should have taken avoiding action
| anyway.



Let me say this again: The current has NO affect. If the boats were
out of sight of land and had no GPS (or other such instruments) they
would be unable to even detect the current. If there is a 20 knot
wind from the North, and a 5 knot current running South, all the
sailor knows is that there is a 15 knot breeze.


Didn't I say there was a strong current going the same way as the wind?
Your in irons. The wind is blowing you backwards. The current is going backwards
about the same speed.

No it doesn't quite work that way. The current is always pushing you
backwards over the ground. When the wind pushes you backwards it
means backwards through the water.

There isn't any water going past the rudder. That makes the
rudder not work. It has to have some speed through the water to work.

No, when the wind starts "pushing you backwards" you will have
sternway through the water. And then your rudder works.

The only thing
that might work is like somebody else said. You can try backing the sail by hand but
that's not easy on a sunfish. It's narrow and tippy.

If that's the case, you really shouldn't be sailing the boat! You
said in another post that this boat frequently gets stuck in irons; if
its too difficult to deal with that, you shouldn't be out there.
Incompetence does not make you a NUC!