Rudder loss report

Useful report by Australian Sailing into the circumstances around the 4 yachts which lost their rudder during the 2022 RSHYR. Overall, alternative methods of steering were completely inadequate.

The results are summed up in the statement "Many emergency steering systems under Special Regulation 4.14.2 will only, maybe, work in flat water in the harbour at night when it is dead still".

Suggestion is made that stern-hung temporary rudder boxes and blades should be mandatory. Obviously not all sterns/transoms suit this.

Report is at cdn.revolutionise.com.au/site/meujyqqi5c7jkdvh.pdf . Interesting reading, with respect to "What would you do?".

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sydchris said..
Useful report by Australian Sailing into the circumstances around the 4 yachts which lost their rudder during the 2022 RSHYR. Overall, alternative methods of steering were completely inadequate.

The results are summed up in the statement "Many emergency steering systems under Special Regulation 4.14.2 will only, maybe, work in flat water in the harbour at night when it is dead still".

Suggestion is made that stern-hung temporary rudder boxes and blades should be mandatory. Obviously not all sterns/transoms suit this.

Report is at cdn.revolutionise.com.au/site/meujyqqi5c7jkdvh.pdf . Interesting reading, with respect to "What would you do?".

I didn't see this earlier but it seems like overkill and overstatement. The claim "nothing else works" except a full cassette is simply bulld*st and utterly untrue, as I know from personal experience having lost a rudder in the Hobart.

Four lost rudders isn't historically the worst case, as far as I can recall, and lost rudders haven't killed anyone. In the meantime the massive problem with very high aspect keels killing people is still not cured.

The other thing is that like other AS "fixes" it ignores the fact that older boats don't suffer from the problem. Cole 43s, S&S 34s etc have been doing the Hobart for 40+ years but their record for keeping rudders on is extremely good. As you point out, many boats -including those with excellent records for finishing complete with rudders - don't suit a temporary rudder box.

The cost of a rudder box isn't to be ignored for many owners and potential owners. I wouldn't mind getting one myself but that doesn't mean that people with other boats should be required to have one when they could be problematic. Don't some people say that the Golden Globe sinking of an S&S classic was perhaps due to the strains imposed by a windvane that acted like a stern hung rudder on a "classic" transom?

The fact that a boat that had been inspected regularly had a failure may indicate that the recent requirements for inspection aren't doing their job. They do, however, increase the cost and hassle of racing offshore.

IMHO AS aren't strict enough. No boat should be allowed to race offshore unless it is being followed by a fully equipped rescue vessel with two rescue helicopters, one fully manned at all times while the other is serviced. Each helicopter should have a team of rescue divers and a doctor. Each yacht's rescue vessel must have a team of emergency doctors and a fully equipped surgery. Every crew should have a full medical checkup before each race, and the boat should heave to every day while the condition of every sailor is checked by the medicos. Another vessel should precede each yacht, dragging a sweep to ward off sunfish.

Such measures may make offshore racing safe. Until then they should stop this pussyfooting.

The fact that the sport is declining in popularity in Oz, (unlike the case in other countries where long races are booming) and that AS is a completely undemocratic organisation are ignored. They're just making more rules to make offshore racing harder to do. The report seems to have been written by someone who has never done a Hobart and never owned a yacht, with assistance from one yacht owner and one pro crew. In other words, the writers are completely unrepresentative of the people who make the sport happen. Offshore racing in Oz is run on a completely undemocratic basis, unlike other classes, and therefore those running it deserve criticism. If they want all the power then they get all the criticism.

As far as what I'd do after losing a rudder in the Hobart, the answer is do what we did when it happened, and get happily into Eden using a spinnaker pole and bunkboard, but with the pole tied vertically to the backstay so the forces were controllable and it could be rotated by the tiller extension.

For an owner to complain that the CYCA didn't contact them after their "ordeal" seems odd. The CYCA didn't contact us after our "ordeal", as far as I know, and we don't care. The OWNER is the responsible person, and anyone doing the Hobart should be expecting issues such as rudder loss IMHO.