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Old 01-28-2008
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Zanshin Zanshin is offline
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I lost my rudder at sea last year. It snapped off at right the hull. There was no way that the fin-keeled boat could be steered by balancing the sails, I needed to head 90 degrees or so to the wind and could only balance heading roughly downwind. The 10hp dinghy wasn't strong enough to point the boat in the right direction so that the main diesel could propel it. If I had been out of range I might have jury rigged something, but drifted over a 70 foot deep patch and dropped my anchor.
I would take the "balance the sails" suggestions with a grain of salt, I think that unless you have a full keel your chances of doing anything other then running are slim. Although in your case you still have a bit of rudder that is useable, so you might be able to use a balanced sail approach; I might have started with a handkerchief foresail and mainsail to get going and see how much directional stability you haven, then progressively let out more sail/reefs. If winds and seas are light and you have people onboard you might be able to use the dinghy to counteract prop wash on the main engine (push directly against the hull, not by using a tethered dinghy to pull the bow).
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