Can you sail without a rudder

Very occasionally rudder posts break off between the rudder and the hull; this can be caused by work-hardening in stainless steel or aluminum posts or a poor laminate in a composite post.

But, you have to be prepared. Veteran offshore sailor, skipper and professional Michael Keyworth took it upon himself in to figure out how to prepare a sailboat to be steered without a rudder. What has worked in the past is towing a drogue of some kind behind the boat. But this concept has never been really effective. Keyworth removed the rudder from his Swann 44 Chasseur and set about doing sea trials with all sorts of different jury-rigged steering systems.

What he found was there are several key elements to setting up an effective drogue steering system. First, you need the right type and size drogue. There was no thump or bump, no warning at all, before the helm went light. Beat first tried steering the boat by dragging buckets, fenders and other items from the port and starboard side, but this had little effect. He next tried to steer by balancing the sails. Setting a full jib put the boat head to wind, but with a partial jib and double-reefed main, Beat finally found he could sail between west and north at a rate of 25 to 35 miles per day.

The nearest practical destination was Pago Pago, American Samoa, which was miles downwind. That first evening, Beat used his SSB radio to contact the Sea Farers Net, which in turn contacted rescue coordinating centers to see who could render assistance.

The only ship in a position to divert could take Lola and Beat off Avatar , but could do nothing to save the boat itself. By now Avatar had passed north of Mopelia and was miles to the west. Brick House was the only boat on the net in a position to provide assistance. He immediately told us to look around his compound and take whatever lumber looked best, which proved to be some foot-long two-by-fours supporting the roof of an old copra shed.

Much to our surprise, Taputu, with the strength of a machine, at once ripped out the lumber and stacked it on the ground. Using a crowbar, he then pulled and straightened all the nails and put them in a handmade bag for us, just in case. Soon we were sawing the lumber in half to fit on the side deck of Brick House.

As we set out on our rescue mission, I could not help but think how GPS receivers and SSB radios have made a mid-ocean rendezvous so easy. With first light at , a fortuitous calm settled over the sea, and this made it easy to transfer the lumber between the yachts by means of a messenger line.

He had tried lashing this creation to the stern pulpit as a steering sweep, but the tabletop twisted sideways and skipped across the surface of the water while the pole bent the pulpit rail it was fastened to. This time, using the lumber to brace the whisker pole in place, Beat rigged the jury rudder vertically with a pair of lines to support the whisker pole fore and aft.

There was also a third line running under the boat to port to help brace the pole against side loads. With great joy, Beat successfully tested the rudder steering Avatar under power.

There was nothing more Brick House could do to assist, so we headed for our next destination, Beverage Reef, miles to the southwest. As night fell, the wind increased to 15 knots, the waves grew bigger, and we worried for Avatar. Whisker and spinnaker poles on the whole do not make good emergency rudders, as they are designed to resist compression loads, not horizontal loads.

Though Beat had supported his jury rudder against such loads fore and aft and to port with lines, no support could be fashioned outwards to starboard. As a result, the whisker pole folded up under the hull after just 8 hours of use. Beat was able to save the pieces, and with some spare wood he made full-length dowels to repair the pole. But the force of the water was too great and the pole repeatedly collapsed.

It is possible that if the tabletop were much smaller, the pole might have fared better. As Avatar slowly approached Pago Pago, cruiser Wayne Wilson on his boat Day Dream went to great lengths to arrange a tow for the crippled craft.

He made it well understood in advance that this would not be a salvage operation. Be careful to not tangle the bridle in the prop. This was never a problem during our trials. This was probably because; towards the end of trials we used a 5 foot chain pennant to help the drogue from cavitating. The chain component is an important one. I chose the use of chain to weight the drogue because ISAF Offshore Prescriptions require that an anchor with appropriate ground tackle be carried, so it need not be carried as additional gear.

Others venturing offshore tend to take ample ground tackle to accommodate the use for other purposes. On a practical matter, I think that it makes sense to have different lengths of chain for required circumstances. It also makes sense that a longer chain can be made shorter using the rig cut away tools as required by the rule. A shorter chain can be made longer using shackles to join shorter lengths.

A standard inch drogue weighs in at 9 pounds and is stored in a bag that is 15 inches in diameter and 5 inches thick. The standard inch drogue weighs Something that you may want to consider, as you equip for an offshore passage is the purchase of a backup compass which can be remotely mounted.

This would help to identify the gear necessary to deploy and provide a ready plan to implement if necessary. If you were to cleat off the port bridle line a turn to port would result from easing the starboard bridle and a subsequent change to starboard would result from trimming the starboard bridle. This lazy mans approach gives the helmsperson more flexibility and physical relief. One last thought. Having sailed over , miles at sea I have seen many things and have been able to overcome all sorts of adverse conditions, I still have many concerns and reservations.

One concern is that of rudder loss and how to deal with that possibility. This test should help all who go to sea with that possibility.

The other concern that haunts me each time I go to sea is the amount of floating debris and other objects that may affect the ability of even the most seamanlike sailor to safely passage from place to place.

The possibility of being holed or sunk from collisions with floating debris is real. Most of the stories I have heard about boats at sea that have become rudderless have resulted in the abandonment of those vessels. These abandoned vessels represent a threat to those fellow sailors who put to sea and put them unnecessarily at risk.

Tags: education , Safety. Inbox Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Subscribe - In popup. Your Name Daily Weekly.