I have received a question off list about the difference between weathercocking and weather helm. Maybe the list will find this helpful. Weathercocking - To have a tendency to veer in the direction of the wind. Weather helm - The rudder angle used to counteract the tendency of a boat to turn into the wind. When a boat has "weather helm" it means the boat has a tendency to turn into the wind. Thus, if a boat has weather helm it weathercocks. People who sail seem to prefer to say the "boat has weather helm" while sea kayakers seem more comfortable saying "the boat weathercocks". I was also asked about the oft quoted 10% increase in drag caused by rudders. I wasn't present so can't really comment on the validity of this Before doing so or before accepting it as gospel I would want to know the rudder area, the area of the boat, if the rudder vibrated or wobbled in its head, if the rudder was locked fore and aft, what kind of surface finish it had, what kind of section shape it had, what kind of edge treatment it had and if the results reasonably conform to the resistance one would calculate using the normally used formulas for calculating resistance. That information would help in determining the accuracy of the tank results and to what degree one can apply the results to all rudders. As many have pointed out, the tank measures resistance in a limited range of conditions and that can tell you a lot about boats. It doesn't, however, tell the whole story. For example, the rudder may add x% of resistance but may reduce the overall effort required to paddle the boat under certain conditions. Having heard so many paddlers tell me how much they like their rudders I suspect that rudders are not the great evil that I once thought. Of course, I will get drummed out of the Evangelical Church of Rudderless Paddlers for saying that but what the hell. I still feel rudder design could improve so maybe I can keep an associate membership in the church. :-) Cheers, John Winters Redwing Designs Web site address, http://home.ican.net/~735769 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Oct 03 1999 - 07:47:16 PDT
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