tonystott wrote:
I must admit to being a little surprised at the lack of reaction to my emergency rudder (apart from Oceanmoves, thanks mate).
I do not need response to pamper my ego, but I am intrigued that nobody seems to think that there is a real risk of needing external assistance if suffering unrepairable rudder failure while offshore. This could be due to multiple rudder pin failures (how many spares is too many?). or breakage of internal rudder lines, or (unlikely) damage to the rudder blade itself.
As there seems to be general concensus that steering TIs via a paddle is marginal at best, I came to the conclusion that having an external emergency rudder onboard for serious offshore trips is a good risk mitigator.
Is everyone else comfortable with the risk? Have you all experimented to see how effectively you could control your Island without its rudder? Just askin'
I just had a rudder failure 3 days ago when I was about four miles offshore (line broke). It was my maiden voyage (just posted a new thread about it last night). I am very interested in an easy solution, and it seems you may have come up with it.
I, for one, will be experimenting very soon with this (or something very much like it!). Thanks for putting this up!