Lost rudder in mid-Atlantic

[little_roundtop]

I'm posting this in behalf of a couple making an Atlantic crossing (non-ARC) who believe they have lost their rudder. They are CA members (as am I) and I've posted this on the appropriate CA forums but I thought they might also get some useful help here? I have included their email to me today below, though I have ***'d out their names and the boat name since this is a public forum. I'm also not giving their email address here for the same reason.

If you think you can help them sort out their steering problem please PM me and I'll either forward your post to them or put you in touch with them directly.

And no, this is not a troll, the plight of this couple (they are on their own) has been brought to my attention by good friends of mine who are also crossing the Atlantic about 1000 miles ahead of this couple.


Dear Tony, Thank you so much for offering to provide us with forecasts. Yes please, we would find them very useful. Its good to hear that our strategy of heading south is being vindicated.

Our position at 1400 today is 15deg 04'N, 37deg 47'W, and we are making good about 230 deg at 2.6 knots. The wind direction is about NE now so we expect to make a better course towards our destination (currently St Lucia) as the wind veers further if we stay on this tack. We'll have to decide later when to gybe back onto starboard. There is a very confused sea at the moment, with different swells from the NE and from the E.

We can't sail deeper than about 40 degrees either side of downwind in the current sea conditions, without risk of gybing. At the moment we are sailing with a small area of backed genoa and a storm jib set to leeward, and gybing involves adjusting the drogue steering lines and furling and unfurling the genoa to get both headsails backed to knock the bow round. We hope we'll be able to come up with a better sail configuration by poling out when things quieten down a bit. The problem is that the boat is very unbalanced without the area of the rudder, so wants to luff up all the time. We'd be interested if any other CA members have experience of sail configuration and steering methods in a similar boat without a rudder. (**** is a Sweden Yachts 390, with a longish fin keel and a spade rudder with small skeg). We believe the rudder is completely missing.

We have made up a steering drogue using a kedge anchor, chain and several fenders. We are thinking of making another more conventional drogue from materials we have on board. I wonder if CA members could come up with a simple design and size that would slow our boat by about 1.5 knots?

Thanks again for helping out.

Kind regards, *****"


Please don't post if all you want to do is question their skills, experience, boat preparation, or inside-leg measurements. These fellow sailors are asking for help. If you can help please do.

Tony Cross

 

[Searush]

I have heard of a weighted canvas bucket being used as a steering drogue.

I have also read of locker lids or a bunk base being screwed to a long wooden spar & lashed to the stern (pushpit upright or mooring cleat) so that it can be moved side to side. Think Viking Steering oar. At a push, the boom could be used & the sail set loose footed.

They seem to be going OK in open water, but I would certainly want a steering oar for entering a harbour or for fine tuning steering by sails on the wind.

Wish them luck & tell to keep notes, it sounds like a good money earning story for the magazines or even a book.

 

[Reverend Ludd]

I'd agree with the above.
Keep an eye out for a passing vessel who may have some wood on board and could lash something up.

 

[sailorman]

Spi pole + sole board.
we already have a sole board pre-drilled ready for lashing to the pole incase of such an eventuality, how good it would be remains to be seen

 

[bbg]

We believe the rudder is completely missing.

First thing to do is to confirm with certainty whether or not that is the case.

 

[Robin]

Are they really sure the rudder has been lost, or is it just not responding to the wheel? The reason I ask is we saw a Sweden Yachts xyz with a missing rudder towed into Cherbourg a couple of years back and it was also taking on water and needed an immediate liftout. Maybe the problem is the steering cables or linkage, in which case it might be recoverable. Have they tried the emergency tiller? Does the autopilot drive onto the shaft quadrant? Clutching at straws maybe but those are the simpler solutions.

If the internal plates or straps of the rudder have gone so the blade is just not following the rudder shaft, maybe as the blade would still be there they could (when and if calm enough to risk it) drill a hole and thread a line through, knotted either side of the hole, which can be run to the cockpit winches to turn the rudder blade?

Otherwise spinnaker pole with a floor board(s) clamped or bolted to it (maybe one each side and bolted through to clamp them over the pole) and lashed to a pushpit leg and over the transom as a steering oar, but it is easier to say than do I know. Another semi-daft idea, do they have a bow thruster, might help at slower speeds.

 

[sarabande]

I disagree, BBG. The guy has no control over his underwater appendages, so it could be a dead whale wrapped round it for all he knows.

Use of the for'd sails to produce more pull on one side or the other.

Trail warps in a bight astern - and that could also be the anchor chain, to act as a brake.


Somewhere in their emergency proceures (pre-planned) file, there must be

a) a series of response options and

b) some kit

 

[fisherman]

The best shape for inducing drag is a sphere, when towed it will 'stick' to the water and submerge. A round fender is ideal, or even cylindrical may do, if kept down in the water (hang a weight on it if necessary) and trailed from an outrigger for more purchase. In my case I trailed one well astern from a landing derrick, forward, swung out to the side I wanted to steer towards. I stood in the stern and hauled the rope in and out. It was as accurate as the rudder. Easy for me, my boat always 'screws' one way, but they could have one each side if needed trailed from spars at the mast foot.

If no suitable fenders any drogue will do, but it can be small if trailed from well outboard.

 

[pyrojames]

They will gain more turning effort from their drogue if they lash a spinny pole across the transom, and set up the drogue on a bridle to the ends of the pole so that they can pull the drogue from one side to the other. Or twin poles if they have them. The further aft the drogue, the easier it should be to alter the steering effort.

 

[SimonJ]

A bucket with holes punched in it may help to provide drag on one side, with/without a fender.

Not sure if main is in use. If it is suggest 3 reefs to stop skewing up to wind or take down completely. What is desired course relative to wind? A twin headsail rig of some sort without the main should help go more down wind if that is proving to be a problem.

Particularly important to clip on with harness when manoeuvring to recover MOB could be almost impossible.

 

[bbg]

I disagree, BBG.

You disagree that he should confirm with certainty whether the rudder is missing or not?

If the rudder is in fact still there, just not being controlled by the wheel, it will be the best way to steer the boat if they can find a way to control it.

 

[fisherman]

They will gain more turning effort from their drogue if they lash a spinny pole across the transom, and set up the drogue on a bridle to the ends of the pole so that they can pull the drogue from one side to the other. Or twin poles if they have them. The further aft the drogue, the easier it should be to alter the steering effort.

This is just the point of towing from forward, with a strop on the line to pull it in: you can haul either side drogue line or both in with little effort, but letting go provides more turning moment. If the drogue line is behind the transom it will be hard work hauling it to either side.

 

[Poignard]

I was once involved in an attempt to tow a Hunter Legend in mid-Atlantic after it had lost its spade rudder and the problem was that, unlike a traditional long-keeler, when the rudder is lost the boat becomes directionally unstable because the CP moves a long way forward.

The crew of the Legend had tried towing warps but said it had not worked and the boat had remained unmanageable. Eventually a Jubilee sail training ship came to their rescue and made, and fitted, a makeshift rudder of plywood and whatever steel sections they could find on board. (A remarkable feat of seamanship and engineering ingenuity carried out with a heavy swell running.) However, after a few days this rudder proved unequal to the strain and was also lost.

FWIW, if I were your friends I would do as Searush suggests and make a steering oar from the boom and bunkboards, or the cabin table, or whatever can be found. I doubt the spinnaker pole would be strong enough and it will, in any case, be needed for poling out a headsail or as a yard arm. Val Howells steered his boat across the Atlantic like that after losing his rudder.

If they get the offer of a tow, and the boat proves too unstable to be towed in a straight line, it might be worth getting your friends' boat to tow the rescuer which will then act as a sort of steerable drogue. This was done during WWII when a destroyer that had lost her steering towed another which did the steering.

Whatever they devise it's going to be a challenge to their ingenuity. And a slow passage!

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

A spi pole and floorboard/bunkboard combination is the standard reply that most people give when asked about their plans for emergency steering. What most of them fail to mention is the need for three handy-billies: one to hold the board end of the contraption in the water and two, one on each side, to move the inboard end. The winches, even if available, are not a viable substitute. IMO.

 

[Independence]

I asked a similar question a short while ago (whilst on dry land).

I found the replies from this link very useful.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=280912&highlight=emergancy+rudder

 

[William_H]

Emergency rudder

The Viking long boat type of steering oar will need a huge force on the inboard end to get much turning power. My rudder on a tiny boat pivots up and if I try to sail with it further aft or swung back the loads are huge even threatening to snap the tiler.
What he needs is something like a transom hung rudder. ie with "pintles" as low as possible plus top support and the pole used in twisting motion ie with a tiller added. This way he might be able to get some balance to the rudder and put the strain at the bottom "pintle" rather than in bending the pole. olewill

 

[Blueboatman]

Three specific thoughts.
One. Stop the boat and verify with Boathook what exactly is left of the rudder/stock. Anything left may possibly be wrapped with rope fed via a fishing rod etc until it is no longer swinging around and actively destabilising a straight course sailed. Doubt they will get into the water in any sort of swell.
Two, part furl the genoa, rig the storm sailat the stem, and fly them both angling forwards, if necessary rigging a spar between their two clews to maintain the vee'd shape.
Three. If the rudder really has gone then it is possible that suggestion two combined with strapping 'stuff' like a series of fenders down and under the skeg area, pulled up taught with copious lines and the sheet winches, will create a useful lateral area of drag ( a skeg substitute) and extra drag at the right end of the boat and stabilise a downwind course.

The problem I see with towing drogues is that there is still no lateral resistance aft- the stern is free to be wind and swell blown all over the place, which is why specifically the couple are asking about building a rigidly attached rudder or blade, I suspect.
Horrible position to be in.

 

[lenseman]

I'm posting this in behalf of a couple making an Atlantic crossing (non-ARC) who believe they have lost their rudder. They are CA members (as am I) and I've posted this on the appropriate CA forums but I thought they might also get some useful help here? I have included their email to me today below, though I have ***'d out their names and the boat name since this is a public forum. I'm also not giving their email address here for the same reason.

If you think you can help them sort out their steering problem please PM me and I'll either forward your post to them or put you in touch with them directly.
. . . . . .

Hiya Tony

I have updated information that "Egret" has had assistance from a number of yachts (S/Y "Awaroa", S/Y "Tsolo", S/Y "Tuatara") who are also on route across the Atlantic. They lost their rudder on 09 December and should now be making slow progress westwards.

They asked for and have taken on extra fuel for their journey westwards.

 

[little_roundtop]

Thanks for all the extremely helpful replies. Indeed the yacht is receiving help from all passing vessels, they are still however pretty much on their own as far as managing the boat goes.

I have copied all these replies to them by email this morning. If you think of anything else please either post it here or PM me and I'll copy that to them as well.

Two heads are better than one......

I don't want to post the yacht name on here because it's too public. CA members can find full details on the private CA forums.

 

[lenseman]

. . . . I don't want to post the yacht name on here because it's too public. CA members can find full details on the private CA forums.

I fully understand and agree with your concern about publishing names and email addresses on the internet but I think it is in your friends interest that the yacht name is published as you need as wide an audience knowing of his or her plight to garner as much information as possible.

The name of the yacht is already abroad and is not secret. I get sent lists of distress messages daily and spend a large amount of time monitoring the commercial maritime and amateur maritime bands and can search back through historic lists as a follow up if ever I need to do so. I often get asked where the "Lynn Rival" was when its EPIRB was triggered and it certainly was not SW of the Seychelles as most people have been lead to believe but north of west.

It is like asking for urgent help for a specific component for a yacht and then not bothering to explain whereabouts in the world this help is required.