That makes infinite sense, especially not having to head downwind every shunt.  Less rudder is also obviously a good thing.

  You probably mentioned the downwind issue with the old rudders at some point.  Sorry if I missed that.

       - Mike


Rudolf vd Brug wrote:

 

On a boat the size of BD you don't get something for nothing.

The old rudders were 2m deep. The owner wanted to have them shortened to 1.5m.

Rudders that big are getting hard to handle.

The new rudders are 1.5m deep.

Rare Bird has 1.5m deep rudders.

 

Both with the old and the new rudders when sheeting in after hoisting sails with the wind at 90deg. the boat would turn into the wind. To get going you need to bring her downwind on the right tack.

With the leeboard we found that we could get going just by sheeting in.

That is a quality worth having in boat, even if it seems so logical.

Also the board brought down the rudder angle, which isn't a bad thing.

Finally I found that having the rudders closer together does not improve steering caracteristics.

 

These are things I have experienced with BD. I realise there are more Harryproa's sailing.

I am not telling anyone what to do, but I do hope we can come to a solution to get these boats going well.

 

regards,

Rudolf

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