Twist and stow rudder up/down very difficult (stiff)

The mechanism to raise and (especially) lower the rudder on my 2017 Revolution 13 has become unworkably stiff over the last couple of months. Today I had to wade to the back and manually lower the rudder before getting in. Raising it is easier.

Is this normal, or a sign that I have damaged something somehow? What should I do?

Earlier this year the twist-and-stow rudder on my Revolution became very stiff, and it became difficult to raise and lower. I had to pull on the up and down cords so hard that I was afraid I was going to break something. I loosened the nut which holds the two halves of the rudder together, and the rudder is now easy to raise and lower. You may need to fiddle around with this adjustment a bit. If you loosen the nut too much, the rudder will rattle and flop around.

It's also possible that the rudder became stiff because you got some sand or other gunk in the assembly, so if loosening the nut doesn't completely fix the stiffness problem, you could take the assembly apart, clean it, and spray it with some silicone.

Thanks, pmmpete! That worked!