I have not sailed Rare Bird, or any of my bigger boats in shallow water except to run them aground to test rudder cassette systems. If the rudders are in the water (a bonus of having them on the beams, if they can be raised), then they will steer. How well will depend on water depth, sail balance and speed. Sail balance will be easier on a schooner.
Not much help, I guess, but what you need is a liftable rudder system. There are plenty of options for these. An important thing is that when they kick up, the rudder blade is supported at all times. This means a dagger rudder with the back section of the box fused to kick up, is no good. That is why I like the telescoping spade rudder.
rob
rob
On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 2:27 AM, Gardner Pomper <gardner@networknow.org > wrote:
Hi,This question is specifically for Doug and Rudolph and Rob, since they seem to be the only participants here who have actually sailed Harryproas bigger than Elementarry. What conditions can you sail a harryproa with shallow draft; specifically less than 1m. Do your boats have liftable boards that can be adjusted for draft? Can you get that to work?I would dearly love some real world results for this, if you can give it a try.- Gardner
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