My creation and its weather helm problems

What happens when he pops the sillymetric?

Hiya (1st post) I was wondering how the weather helm issue was going and if the new rudder helped it ? I can only talk from experiance with a few 8foot versions i have built/ sailed and yes the is extreme weather helm and moving mast rake & step position does not do all that much. My first skiff had the jib at 1100mm from stem with centre mast at 800mm behind stem. Later versions have seen the rudder move further outwards to be approx a3m skiff now!

Someting to consider however is in light 1-8kts of breeze how extreme the apparent wind does move and the nasty weather helm actually becomes a blessing and capsize saver, when wind shifts or drops suddenly! As you go uprange then usually body weight position, starts to ballance out the helm. ( a bit)

Great to see 20+ years later folks are still prepared to build "silly skiffs" that are rather cheap in cost but allow so much experimentation with the bonus that a few years sailing one does translate into superior reaction times and apparent wind sailing prowess!


P.S.  Foils next ?

Originally posted by atefooterz Hiya (1st post) I was wondering how the weather helm issue was going and if the new rudder helped it ? I can only talk from experiance with a few 8foot versions i have built/ sailed and yes the is extreme weather helm and moving mast rake & step position does not do all that much. My first skiff had the jib at 1100mm from stem with centre mast at 800mm behind stem. Later versions have seen the rudder move further outwards to be approx a3m skiff now!