Video of the week

Edited by Mister Nick - 17 Nov 11 at 6:20pm

Amazing footage from the TP52's. Looks like the are chucking them around like big dinghies. Great teamwork and boat handling.

Originally posted by Mister Nick Originally posted by Andymac Amazing footage from the TP52's. Looks like the are chucking them around like big dinghies. Great teamwork and boat handling. I'm wondering, do they have 'power steering' hydraulics on the tiller steering or does the helmsman use raw feel from the rudder?   Along with the Extreme 40 and AC coverage, this almost makes big boats appealing to me! I think they use extremely expensive and accurate power steering? I'm not too sure how they'd cope otherwise, the rudder must be insanely loaded up on a windy kite leg like the one in the Quantum video. Maybe they just have MASSIVE helmsmen!

This suggests no assistance:

Originally posted by s.a.l.t.y The rudders have a fairly short chord to them and are semi balanced so the loads wouldn't actually be that great.

Standard practice in big boats is to have balanced rudders. You can dial in whatever balance you like to affect sensitivity and loading. On one of my previous big boats I had a rudder so finely balanced (I felt very dinghy like) that the prop wash was enough to overbalance it, meaning the rudder wouldn't stay centre. Prop wash overbalances because it slows down dramatically as it passes the rudder therefore increasing the hydrodynamic force at the front compared to the back of the blade. That and the turbulence of the wash.