Round Sheppey- roll call

Originally posted by Peaky The wind conditions were just about perfect, shame you couldn't make it Graeme. Mike is too modest to point it out, but he was first monohull over the line by quite a distance and first monohull on handicap.

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Mike did start 30 minutes before the Osprey, Canoes and AltO which went round fifteen minutes or so faster! But still a great result Mike.

Originally posted by JimC Originally posted by RS400atC . It's sort of ironic, the faster the boat, more likely to have a daggerboard and cassette rudder, more able to do damage by grounding. Not ironic at all. The faster the boat the more likely you are to rip the whole damn lot off the transom if the rudder blade comes up a bit.

I think the force of a grounding at speed will tend to be greater than the hydrodynamic force the rudder can generate. Sand and Granite being less fluid/more viscous than water!

I've had a few experiences of kicking the rudder up on the 400 at speed, kite up, the load on the tiller goes through the roof until you switch into steering with the main. It's not quite so fast, but it's quicker than capsizing!
I am a convert to clamcleat self-releasing rudder cleats, I suspect they've saved my rudder blade a couple of times.

At least the ICON's gudgeon broke rather than structural hull damage, which is so often the case.
Back on the water next weekend?

Our low tech solution was shock cord fitted as part of the rudder downhaul....where we did make contact it seemed soft apart from the corner into the swale, very dodgy there.

Edited by GK.LaserII - 05 Sep 11 at 11:18am