Aquarius Sail Owners

While sailing in windy conditions this last weekend, I noticed that while on a port tack, my SC 17 had a neutral helm. I could even let go of the tiller. On a starboard tack, it had a rather pronounced weather helm. If I let go of the tiller, the boat would round up quite sharply.

I think I should have a light weather helm on both sides, but I am mostly puzzled as to why they are so different.

The boat has new rigging from Aquarias this year, mast rotatation seems to be the same on either tack, and the rudders appear to be factory drilled, but I did not do any measurements on them.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Tom,

Typically when you see weather helm on one tack but not the other the cause can be attributed to the fact the rudders are not symmetrical. Even the slightest difference from one side of the blade to the other can cause an unbalanced helm.

About the only option is to rework the rudder profile so it is symmetrical.

I had a similar problem on one of my Hobies when I replaced a rudder. The new one didn't have the holes drilled inthe same place and wasn't raked under the boat as much. I noticed that when I was on a port tack and the new rudder was on the port side, it was fine, but on starboard, it was bad. It also had some play in the castings.

SC rudders don't adjust as much as Hobie rudders, but it could be that the rudder is loose in the casting and is moving out of true when under load???