Spade rudder - Ocean passage

[Minnewaska]

The discussion on Rule 62 got me thinking about what legitimate backup ideas there are for a boat with a spade rudder making a long ocean passage. I've been trained on how to make a rudder with the spinnaker pole and a floorboard, but that's a joke. I assume there are some real stern mounted backup systems.

My boat has a spade rudder and I would consider having something aboard if it could be disassembled and stowed and didn't have to permanently look like a third arm.

[jackdale]

Most ocean racers are required to carry an emergency rudder. They are usually a rudder with a tiller that can be mounted to gudgeons on the transom. They are stowed below.

[Minnewaska]

Originally Posted by jackdale

Most ocean racers are required to carry an emergency rudder. They are usually a rudder with a tiller that can be mounted to gudgeons on the transom. They are stowed below.

Sorry, Jack. I knew that. I meant to ask for suggestions on which ones were more than just technically compliant, but folks think are actually functional.

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by Minnewaska

Sorry, Jack. I knew that. I meant to ask for suggestions on which ones were more than just technically compliant, but folks think are actually functional.

These are functional.

I have delivered two Vic - Maui boats.

The boat I brought back from Maui in 2000 had a rudder failure about 600 miles out. They used a spinnaker pole with a device that looked like a box kite to get in.

The one on the boat I brought back this year appeared to be very functional, but I did not put it to the test. It looked like any transom hung rudder.

[paulk]

Originally Posted by jackdale

Most ocean racers are required to carry an emergency rudder. They are usually a rudder with a tiller that can be mounted to gudgeons on the transom. They are stowed below.

I've raced to Bermuda 7 or 8 times and though they had plans or ideas for possible emergency rudders, none of the boats I was on had anything like extra gudgeons on the transom, or an actual, ready to rig, emergency rudder anywhere on board. Is this a new rule?

More to the point of the initial thread and the reference to Rule 62's tragic grounding, the best thing to do to keep any rudder on an ocean voyage may be to not have it hit bottom.

[Minnewaska]

Hitting the bottom will certainly break off a spade rudder. However, I've hit submerged debris without even knowing it. When I hauled this winter, I found a good pop that will need glass repair right on the leading edge. I never felt it underway, or may not have been the one at the helm.

I hoping for something that wasn't going to require gudgeons on the transom, which is a scoop in my case. Still searching for a good solution beyond the spinnaker pole, which technically qualifies, but will never work in my case.

[sailingdog]

Some of the windvanes can be modified or fitted out to act as an emergency rudder. Monitor sells the MRUD, which is just such a device.