10th March 2012 : Flip up rudder and more compliments.

I've posted in this blog and elsewhere, about how I dislike faffing about with the rudder when launching and recovering.

So, there I was messing about in the garage, giving the outboard a test run, when it occurred to me that I may have the making of a flip up rudder.

Taking some of the length of shock cord that I bought a bucket load of a while ago, and a couple of screw eye bolts, I came up with a D.I.Y. self raising rudder.

The rudder came with a locking rope to keep the rudder down anyway. It needed, in my opinion, a guide of some sort, to stop the rope slipping sideways and getting jammed. Having used one eye bolt to try to achieve this, I positioned another on the other side of the rudder blade. Attached to that a small shackle. On the rudder stock there is a horizontal bar which looked promising. Positioning the rudder in an raised position, I wound the shock cord around the rudder stock bar and shackle bar.

A couple of test runs later and I appear to have a winner. In the garage anyway.

Saturday dawns, with the promised wind and off we go to Cheddar reservoir.

Ready to launch at 11:30; after checking with the Officer Of The Day, that I wasn't jumping the gun again.

Looking aft after the obligatory thrust away from the slip comes the moment of truth. A good tug on the locking rope and down goes the rudder - remarkably just as intended - result. No hanging over the transom fiddling with the tension screw.

So, around the buoys, tacking and gybing like a good un'.

As seems to be the way at the moment; it's just me and the safety boat crew. Can't last, surely?

Talking of which. The safety boat crew made a trip out to me, just to find out what it was I was sailing. I've had a number of positive and appreciative comments about the boat - which is nice.

Lunch taken; hove to. Meandering upwind at one knot-ish. Thanks to Chris Abela for mentioning the technique on the forum.

Fastest boat speed, from the Garmin Etrex GPS, at 5.5 knots in the morning. I find it quite exciting at that speed. Requiring full hiking out action - solo anyway.

My collection of speed landmarks, so far includes; 1 knot to keep the boom on the right side, 3.5 knots to require leaning out inside the boat, 4 knots to sit out on the gunwale and 4.5+ knots, toes under the hiking strap and get out as far as you can. It's all irrelevant of course,  but it keeps me interested; there's probably an -ism to cover it.

After lunch, three other boats launch. An ever quirky Moth - for sailors who feel no shame about capsizing, an RS Vareo and another solo sailor in a dinghy with a sail insignia I'm not familiar with. Looked rather like a burgee shape. Can't find it on the web so far, but surely will. There was also a windsurfer who seemed a touch agoraphobic; never straying far from the clubhouse pontoons.

About 3 PM the wind strengthened significantly. Still couldn't get above the 5.5 knots boat speed. Can't say I wasn't trying though.

Then, during a gybe, we have the good news / bad news scenario. The good news is that the mast head buoyancy I knocked up seemed to be effective - saving an inversion, the bad news was, of course, I needed to capsize to find out. Still, also managed to confirm that my dry suit, in fact, is.

Also, the collapsible bucket I now carry proved effective as well; more good news. Takes about ten minutes to bale out on your own.

At about 3:55 PM I happened to glance across towards the clubhouse, and spied a safety boat heading my way, quite purposefully I reckoned. Sure enough, it approached and after courtesies were exchanged, it was suggested that about then would be a good time to pack up. Fair enough. After four and a half hours, my backside was just about ready to sit on something softer than a boat.

A pleasant way to spend a Saturday.

And as for the self raising rudder - it also worked a treat on recovery. Release the locking rope and up she pops. Brilliant.