Missing yacht reward offered

[armchairsailor]

Id be interested to see how a Viking style steer board rudder would do: if one can work out a right-angled handle then lashing an oar or similar to the stantion and toe rail alongside the cockpit might make for a decent jury rudder. As other posters have mentioned, making one smaller than the original rudder reduces stresses to a more manageable level.
But all of this is pure conjecture. In the heat of the moment, with your family frightened and home in danger, it would require a special sort of grit/ gumption/ grace under pressure to come up with a workable solution under immensely difficult circumstances. I pity them getting into that situation in the first place and wish them all the best.

 

[RichardS]

On a boat with wheel steering it is a legal requirement to have an emergency tiller that attaches directly to the top of the rudder post where I sail

That's probably the case in most jurisdictions I guess, but it wouldn't have helped in this case, of course.

Richard

 

[dunedin]

I think someone said there may be no insurance but if there is I guess they might say the boat was only abandoned because the crew decided to do that for their own reasons, not because the boat was sinking. It appears the lady wished to leave with her children as she had had enough of the situation. Anyway I would have thought that the boat is still out there to find.

Better all the family alive and poor than rich but dead.

We were not there, so don't know if it was really life or death situation, but better safe than sorry with children on board.
Hope the boat gets found and/or the insurance gets paid, but safety first

 

[Buck Turgidson]

They have my sympathy but I get the impression that they abandoned more due to discomfort than danger.
There is a lot to be said for self steering gear that can also act as an emergency rudder on blue water boats.

 

[Mad Pad]

That was a question in my coastal skipper practical. The answer is lash a floor board to the spinnaker pole then lash the spinnaker to the stern of the boat to as as a sweep rudder.

On a boat with wheel steering it is a legal requirement to have an emergency tiller that attaches directly to the top of the rudder post where I sail

With due respect an "emergency tiller"is no bl..dy good if you don't have a rudder!

 

[pvb]

They have my sympathy but I get the impression that they abandoned more due to discomfort than danger.
There is a lot to be said for self steering gear that can also act as an emergency rudder on blue water boats.

Maybe, maybe not. Certainly the blog reads as if the wife didn't really have her heart in the whole adventure, and was naturally concerned for the safety of her children. Then there's a 70 year old father-in-law and her husband. And no rudder! I think many families might have decided to get off the boat.

 

[roblpm]

They have my sympathy but I get the impression that they abandoned more due to discomfort than danger.
There is a lot to be said for self steering gear that can also act as an emergency rudder on blue water boats.

Which types can do this?

 

[DownWest]

Which types can do this?

Hydrovane?

 

[mainsail1]

My Hydrovane can.

 

[roblpm]

I was also just looking at a couple of emergency rudders. I think you can install the brackets on the boat and clip on if necessary.

 

[NormanB]

I assumed from the name of the log that it was a Westerly

Yes reasonable assumption -it just did not look like any Westerly I am familiar with - hence my question.

 

[rogerthebodger]

Which types can do this?

The monitor also has an emergency rudder that can be fitted.

Mine is like the monitor but I designed and manufactured my own.

 

[Mad Pad]

How did you get it to work?

I saw someone do exactly that. He needed to move his boat with the rudder jammed on the centreline. It was a complete failure. He came back several hours after setting out. Took him three attempts to line up for the entrance to the marina and once in managed to throw a few lines ashore that allowed a group of us to get him to a pontoon.

LPDSN,

Long story ,but will try to keep it short.

Don't have my records with me but I quoted on a delivery of a Moody 39 from Portsmouth to Majorca in 1978/79?

My price wasn't accepted and the owner gave the delivery to some students at Plymouth.

So in early Dec I set off with Warrior 35 for Pireaus from Portsmouth

Had a bit of a blow off Galicia so spent Christmas in El Ferrol and met up with some colleagues on an Ocean 75 and were well fed!

Cracked on and next had to run into Cadiz in early January due to a bit of a blow,tied up in some commercial dock and retired for the night.

Next day the Moody 39 arrived with a very dishevelled crew.

I then realised why I had been undercut and wished then the best of luck on the the rest of their trip to Palma.

Our next stop was Gib and they arrived a few days after us and said they had enough and had run out of time and needed to get back to Uni.

The owner then got in touch with me and asked me to to finish the delivery to Palma.

I said I would but 1 st had to get the Warrior (You still out there Geoff Townley) to Greece.

Did that and picked up the Moody 39 in Gib and the rudder fell off ,near Cabo de Gato ( well fell apart leaving the stainless frame)
hence my jury rudder.

Rigged the jury rudder, see my previous post, and arrived in port.

Mad Pad

PS So the reason for our rudder disintegrating was ,when we were in El Ferrol at Christmas,they were hove to offshore,"BUT DIDN'T LOCK THE WHEEL" so the rudder was banging against the stops weakening the structure.

 

[RichardS]

With due respect an "emergency tiller"is no bl..dy good if you don't have a rudder!

Although I think that's been well-covered already.

Richard

 

[mainsail1]

Yes, I would love to know if Geoff Townley is still around. A good man. He sold the business way back in 1998 or thereabouts. It didn't last long under the new management.

 

[davidej]

Hydrovane?

Would it if the main rudder was lost and the consequent unbalance of the yacht?

 

[lpdsn]

Long story ,but will try to keep it short.

Thanks for recounting the story.

I was mainly curious because I'd seen a jury-rigged rudder made from a spinny pole and boards, as I mentioned, and it just didn't work at all well even in flat water. So I wondered how yours had been constructed that it worked even for ocean sailing.

 

[{151760}]

Would it if the main rudder was lost and the consequent unbalance of the yacht?

My understanding from research but not experience is this: The Hydrovane system has its own rudder. In use, the ship's rudder is locked fore and aft and the Hydrovane rudder does all the steering. If the main rudder fell off the Hydrovane would steer as before. Some adjustment of the sails might be required to balance the boat, and there might be more leeway, but it should work.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

My understanding from research but not experience is this: The Hydrovane system has its own rudder. In use, the ship's rudder is locked fore and aft and the Hydrovane rudder does all the steering. If the main rudder fell off the Hydrovane would steer as before. Some adjustment of the sails might be required to balance the boat, and there might be more leeway, but it should work.

It would probably sail better as the boat would have less opposing moment with no rudder compared with a fixed rudder.

The hydro's blade is sized for the yacht but at a longer moment arm.

 

[{151760}]

It would probably sail better as the boat would have less opposing moment with no rudder compared with a fixed rudder.

The hydro's blade is sized for the yacht but at a longer moment arm.

You may well be right. I wonder how it would cope with half a rudder jammed on full lock?
I suspect a lot of the popularity of the Hydrovane system is the emergency steering facility. They are much more expensive than other self-steerers.