Steering sticks

I was wondering if this uber-yacht designer has got the right idea...

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The tiller has simplicity and usually reliability in its favour, but on bigger boats the mechanical advantage of the wheel starts to become significant. The 72 foot OYC boats of the 70's/80's had tillers! They were eventually converted to wheel.
An advantage of the tiller for sailing is that a novice, or even an experienced helmsman, benefits from the simple rule: point the tiller at the sail you want to fill.
 
Lets hear it for the tiller!

I learned to sail on dinghies and still prefer a tiller; I find it is much more intuitive, and gives more feel than any wheel. In the same way I prefer to sit to windward, and change sides each tack. I have sailed a couple of times on a 50' LOA traditional Pilot cutter (Eve of St Mawes) where the tiller is very heavy, and maybe a wheel would be easier, but its much easier to feel what a boat is doing with a tiller in your hand, IMHO.
 
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Wheels are for boat-owners who can't be bothered to trim sails to near-neutral helm (or who have such crap boat/sails that they can't be so adjusted).

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Is that why in your bio it says "Ambition - to trim my sails better"??? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

BTW there is a Rustler 36 like yours a few berths down from us and the owner has fitted a wheel!
 
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This is the important thing for the non-boaty (call me SWMBO), plus the fact that it needs less muscle.

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Some years ago during an ocean race on someone else's boat, running down wind under spinnaker we found that we could only keep someone on the wheel for 30 minutes at the most due to the amount of work they were having to do to keep the boat stable on the wind. It was basically going form lock to lock on the wheel contantly. Vowed never to steer another boat with a wheel in a big sea again. Of course last year did an west to east Atlantic crossing on a wheel steered boat, which was fine until the autohelm broke twice. I still have tennis elbow from once again heaving the wheel around to keep a fair course.

In my opinion a tiller requires only half or less the effort a wheel does. Of course I must admit I try and balance the rig to remove as much weather helm as possible
 
Each to his own taste, innit! Me, I like me wheel. Plus I trim the sails, until hopefully I can just let go. Even better, switch George on and get comfy.

All this macho nonsense! Ha!

Pops
 
Sailed with the Ocean Youth Club in the 70's on Scott Bader and Falmouth Packet - both tiller steered. In any breeze (F3 upwards) it needed an additional person on the tiller, sitting on it feet on the leeward seat, acting as a servo!
 
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