rudder stops turning boat?

H2oPaul

New Member
there is something I been feeling the rudder do that i like to tell see if I can learn whats going on. when i bring the sunfish to the wind and the boat over heels but I can keep it going fast with out capsizing. at some points the boat well loos rudder stering. it wont respond to the rudder anymore. it well then point at the wind fast. i have to let go of the main sheet to bring her back down. i kept trying this and time after time when the wind is hard enough i can get it to do this. I like to learn if is something to do with to much weather helm?.. or if the rudder is coming out of the water?lol it feels to me like the rudder is not tuching nough water to turn the boat. I know I like to think I take my fish so fast that I make it fly but I dought thats what is happening.
 
pepstuge said:
there is something I been feeling the rudder do that i like to tell see if I can learn whats going on. when i bring the sunfish to the wind and the boat over heels but I can keep it going fast with out capsizing. at some points the boat well loos rudder stering. it wont respond to the rudder anymore. it well then point at the wind fast. i have to let go of the main sheet to bring her back down. i kept trying this and time after time when the wind is hard enough i can get it to do this. I like to learn if is something to do with to much weather helm?.. or if the rudder is coming out of the water?lol it feels to me like the rudder is not tuching nough water to turn the boat. I know I like to think I take my fish so fast that I make it fly but I dought thats what is happening.

KEEP IT FLAT!
Hike and if necessary, let the sail out some. Your boat will behave much better...
 
FYI: If you like speed, the fastest point of sail is a beam reach where most of the heeling forces your fighting on a close haul are converted to driving the boat forward. Get the wind on your beam and let the sail out until it just luffs then sheet it in a few inches and you'll be up on a plane zooming without much heel and good rudder control!

Fred
 
When you are healed up like that it may seem like you are going fast but your are not. When it is healed there is less of the center board in the water so the boat will begin to side slip. So if u hike to keep it flat that will make the boat go faster and that will get rid of your rudder problum. If hikeing dosent help then let some sheet out and the boat will flatten itself. You may even be able to get the boat up onto a plane then the rudder helm almost eleminates compleatly. Good luck!

Steve
 
SO, what are ways to know for sures that the boat is in a plane? is skiping over the waves with out feeling them one way to know your planeing? I read that its called plane when the boat rides its own wave. but i cant see much of whats happening under the boat when im sailing. :D
 
You will get the feeling like the boat is lifting out of the water. The weather helm will decreese and the bow will come out of the water
 
Thanks Steve. I did feel that. I felt something like it when going down wind, when I would get hit with big gust of 30 plus mph winds i felt the boat come out of the water and glide. i keep seting back more afraid the back of the boat would come flying past me lol. corse waves on your back did not help that eather. :)
 
If you're sailing in the ocean with lots of waves it's hard to get up on a plane because the waves slow you down too much. When the water is relatively flat you get up much easier, even in the ocean. You know you're on a plane when you feel like you're flying!

Fred
 
In 1987 I spent the summer on the beach near the Sandestin beach resort in South Walton county in Northwest Florida, a little private area known as "Tango Mar". The house I rented came with a little Snark sailboat, ( I learned to sail with one of these when I was 10 yrs old), and from June to November, I was out on the water having a blast with that little boat.
I remember the last time I took the boat out, there was a north wind that had the gulf very flat and you could see the wind come up in gusts blowing across the water. I would catch a gust and plant my feet on the inside of the hull and hike out over the side to keep the boat flat and would literally skim across the water, that was a blast!!!! Probably the fastest that little beat up boat ever went. That was great fun, other great times with that boat was when I sailed with a pod of Dolphins, that was an incredible experience of a lifetime. I cannot wait to get my Sunfish ship shape and start making new memories!!!!
 

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