My comment was a follow-up to Doug's statement about causes of a heavy helm.
The balance of the boat is quite relevant to the helm.
Regretably, I failed to indicate the precise point in Doug's message that I
was addressing, thinking it would be understood.

"Dave" wrote in message
...
snip
In that case I fail to see the relevance of your first sentence below.

"Dave" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 23 Sep 2005 17:45:08 -0400, "Garland Gray II"
said:

Agreed, and also depends on how well the boat is balanced.

A spade rudder can be "balanced " itself, which can lighten the helm
considerably, as opposed to a rudder hinged to the trailing edge of the
keel.