Foil Rudders:
First Impressions After Charleston

by Ken Fisher

April 2002

The Charleston Easter Regatta (results: Charleston Results) was our opportunity to take delivery and install the new rudders. We were asked to send the existing rudders and crossbar on our 2001 boat to Melges for the precise measurements required to fashion the experimental rudders to my boat. Melges delivered the parts to us in Charleston when we got there around noon on Thursday. With the friendly and willing help of Eric Hood, we were done in about 2 hours time (inasmuch as appropriate refreshments were necessary after a 16 hour drive the working time was much less). The installation process was a bit tricky, involving a new crossbar and some subtle adjusting to get the toe-in correct. The foils themselves have delicate edges and must be treated with much more care than the older varieties. The custom fit is very exact, which makes us question the feasibility of sharing between boats on home waters, as is desired by the rules committee. We believe that rigorous speed testing with others at the home club, and free sharing of the boat, is the answer here. But we will try fitting the rudders to any boat that wishes them.

The wind conditions in Charleston grew from light on Friday morning to very heavy on Saturday. This gave us a very good overall perspective of the new foils. The two main factors everyone seems concerned about are speed and handling. The handling is superb, I sometimes referred to it as "solid-state" when asked. The foils have a good feel, require a "still" touch, and provide a very rapid response, my crew thought too rapid for at least one of my mark roundings in the current. They will stall when thrown over hard, but in general hold the flow much better than any flat blades. The "feed back" on the tiller has returned to a certain extent; last year, after buying a 2001 boat, I missed the tiller feed back or "helm" I used to get on the older rudder design boat (1992 Melges). As was the case with Bob Biwer's experiences, reported on this website, there were many other variables in play affecting any speed comparison judgments. The wind was variable enough on Friday that boats 100 feet apart could easily be in two different winds. In the third race, we sailed our only good start of the day, and rounded the windward in first, only losing it to Augie when I jibed first well before the layline, a tactic that served me well in the first two races, but not then. But we maintained for a second. I think position on the course was the major factor; we were to the left of the other boats on the upwind legs in that race and that was the correct positioning for wind and current. I think Augie and Dave were just as fast generally, if not faster (Dave was closing on me at the end - I don't remember if Augie extended). In general, the boat seemed comparable to others in the top of the fleet on speed for the day. Any differences in speed noticed were attributable to wind, skipper and crew work.

On Saturday when conditions became heavy, the effect of the rudders was very evident. Handling during a heavy air jibe is always difficult. The new rudders very likely prevented us from capsizing more than once. My head was not out of the boat as much as desired through one of the jibes, and, when I looked up after the boom came over to see I had jibed too far, thought "here we go again." But quick motion on the tiller threw the bow down without stalling or cavitation. My seasoned jib man complained that he was nearly thrown from the boat due to the unexpectedly quick maneuvers (as you can imagine, he has had a hand in this draft). I suppose he would have preferred the capsize to that jarring experience.

At the beginning of the day, we picked up a fourth person giving us significantly more ballast than the other boats. He was nearly as heavy as me. We were able to see a dramatic difference in speed upwind as compared to the other boats, but crew weight was the predominant factor here. When the wind picked up to over 25, the added handling characteristics helped me maintain control upwind in a very narrow groove when I otherwise may have had to do more disaster recovery, as other boats were. We noticed and commented how quiet our sails were compared to other boats near us, which spilled wind often. The wind had a lot of holes in it, and enough variation in direction in the gusts to cause concern. The rudders kept me on the wind with a light touch (bow lifting nicely as we steered up in the puff after gaining speed in the initial blast). I know weight was the critical factor here, but I am concentrating on the steering and responsiveness of the helm in these comments. It is much better in these conditions, and I must say I was smiling a lot as we gained boat after boat to finish 3rd after the debacle of the first leeward mark rounding, which left us behind virtually all of the boats still upright.

After finishing the last race, the wind picked up to over 30, we buried the bow more than once downwind until I remembered how I steered on the third day of Nationals at Torch Lake. The recoveries were significantly better than during that third day with the stock rudders, in comparable conditions with a bit less wave height.

In summary, for handling and control, the new foils are a tremendous improvement that is most effective when conditions reach the upper extremes of the E-Scow wind limits, effectively increasing the limits by providing more safety and control in the 20-25 range. The conditions were never quite right for accurately evaluating the straight line boat speed characteristics. But impressions are that the new rudders didn't hurt it any, and I believe strongly, albeit intuitively, that better control and feel ultimately equals better speed, at least better VMG. When the opportunity arises to perform more controlled speed testing the results will be published here. The next stop for these rudders is Hopatcong, not usually conducive to consistent breezes for speed testing, but that lake can surprise, as it did me on the second day of Easterns last year when I would have been most grateful to have had these rudders.

Many thanks to the folks in Charleston (Crayton Walters III and Tommy Harken deserve special mention) for a great regatta.