-> >This may be the case in boats that are difficult to control and have strong >weathercocking tendencies. It is not the case in those boats that track >well without need for a rudder. In fact, tank testing has shown that >rudders add a much a ten percent to overall drag. While this high figure >maybe due to the rather poor design of most rudders it still is an >indication of the cons of a rudder. > >I think it is important to understand that not all boats weathercock badly >or lack controllability and that not all boats require special skills to >keep them on course. One must not assume that, because most of the boats >one has paddled lack controllability that all boats lack controllability. > >Cheers, >John Winters >Redwing Designs >Specialists in Human Powered Watercraft Like Dan Hagen in the previous message in this thread I have a Solstice. Mine is a GTS which indeed is a superb tracker without the rudder. I have no problems controlling direction in windy choppy water without the rudder. The boat is remarkably insensitive to the wind and does not need a rudder. Nevertheless, if I am just travelling, not playing, in these conditions, it is much more relaxing and less tiring to deploy the rudder. Any added drag is more than compensated by the non-necessity for any course corrections which would be necessitated more by the chop than the wind. In flat protected water, the added drag is noticeable and I generally raise the rudder, even in strong wind. How well do you think the tank tests represent boat behavior in wind and chop, with uneven paddle strokes? Jerry *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Mar 28 1998 - 20:03:55 PST
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