The problem of having to go to the low side to unlock that rudder remains under either system. Simply driving it onto the beach and hoping it comes up is not an option, long term, it will damage the rudder and could rip it off the transom. At a minimum they require some advance planing. You must unlock one side, gybe, undo the other, or have the crew get over there and undo it, but when it's really blowing at the beach, and the surf is big, you had better get it done early on the way into shore.
I have a simple and effective procedure for that now and I must say that I'm quite satisfied with that while I do agree that some other systems like the Hobie/nacra F18 systems are very user friendly.
Pretty much what I do now it :
-1- Before entering the surf I park the boat and disengage the rods and throw both of them back into the water, over the rudderheads. The rudder boards stay down because of the mild jamming action I tuned into the system.
-2- I bear away and I just sail the boat through the surf with both rudder boards down. The forces on the boards because of steering seem to keep the boards down. As soon as the tips just ever so mildly hit bottom they become unjammed and float up. But that them I have cleared all sandbars and I'm sailing in knee deep water between the beach and the first sandbar.
A variation to this theme I use when singlehanding or when the waves are to much to comfortably park the boat.
-1- I plan an approach to the beach where I made one tack.
-2- Before I put in the tack I disengage the rod on the luff side and throw it back over the head of the board and into the water. This baord is then kept down by the friction between the rudderboard and the sides of the stock (mild jamming)
-3- I make a take and then aim for the landing spot on the beach.
-4- Right before I enter the surf or whenever I feel like it. I grap the rod on the new windward side and disengage that one and throw it back into the water. Both boards are now held down by the friction.
-5- I pump my way through the surf and often at some considerable speed. The rudders stay down till the first sandbar where the rudder tips hit the bottom and with only a very mild force kick-up the rudder boards. I can't overstate the mild force required to do so. The jamming is just enough to keep the boards down when sailing; any additional force is then enough to have the boards kick-up. I do not even feel the boat slow down when the boards kick-up. I don't feel anything; I just feel the load on the tiller suddenly increase and the steering becoming sluggish as a result of the rudders being horizontal.
With this AHPC system you pretty much disengage the lock-downs before you enter the surf. I know this sounds strange but it really works well. The friction in the system keeps the boards down while sailing through the surf. For some reason the rudderboards are very low drag on the Taipan and Blade F16. Speeding up the boat through the water doesn't seem to kick up the rudders, while a small force on the tip does. I've tested it on the beach and it is indeed a small force at the tip that is required. The stocks are also made in such a way that the jamming action only seem to happen when the board is almost all the way down. This is quite a ingenious idea.
I'll admit that new sailors will need to get used to handling the lock-down rod in a different way then more commonly excounter kick-up systems but after a few tries you get the hang of it and operating them is quite easy.
In august we do get quite alot of jelly fish along our coast line and sometimes, when hitting a large one, my rudder kicks-up. However I just give the tiller to my crew and instruct her to keep the boat depowered a bit. I then only need 2 to 4 second to set the rudder and lock it down again. That includes the leeward one. I need to go down to the leeward side but that only takes me a second and I only need 2 second the engage the system again. Pull-up, quickly push down again with force, squeesh and it is in.
Most of the time however I just cut throught the jelly fish. I see the rod bend, feel a slight thump go throught the boat and see the rudderboard move a little bit only to see the rod push the board back down again. It acts like it is spring loaded, the board can move a little bit when impacted and I feel this is beneficial in preventing damage.
Still, I love the Nacra system where you just lift the crossbar and both come up or down at the same time, or you can do one at a time. Is it so hard to do that in carbon? Maybe it's Pattent protected? What are they putting on their new A2?
The reason for having this rod system are different.
Lets be honest.
-1- It is very lightweight
-2- It is relatively cheap to make
-3- It hardly has any moving parts which makes it very dependable
-4- There is absolutely no play in the whole system (something I can not say of the Hobie/nacra F18 systems). This give crisp and tight feel of steerage.
-5- It doesn't seem to wear down or wear out over time. Other systems often need re-adjusting, this system really doesn't.
-6- There are no complex parts like little springs or adjuster crews.
-7- It is very easily made adjustable. A single threading and nut at one end of the rod is enough to make it fully adjustable. In this respect it is also very forgiving in the way of production accuracy. All parts maybe off by several millimeters and the system will still be working fine after adjusting the rod length. In case of the position of the locking plates or position of the protruding part on the rudderbaord, the "error" may even be centimeters.
But indeed, the best points about this system in my personal opinion are :
-1- absolutely no play in the whole setup. The baord is tight in the stock, it is always all the way down, it is not possible to have it sligtly out of trim and end up with significant luff or lee helm due to the inbalance. Steerage is accordingly crisp, precise and well balanced all the time.
-2- It doesn't need readjusting after it is tuned properly once. There are no components that can wear down, wear out or jam up due to dirt or salt. And if such dirt/salt would become a problem then this system is very easy to clean out. You have full acces to everything. Replacing any part is a breeze, any item can be disassembled by undoing only one thread/bolt. I really like the simplicity of the system and I think this adds to its robustness and dependability.
Actually this system was first pioneered by homebuilders; simply for the reason that it is very suited to homebuilding. The stocks used to be bend square aluminium tubes and the rod system can be made from a plain glassfibre rod and a few stainless steel bolts/nuts. All parts that are readily available.
I really like the fact that when need by I can personally jury rig a replacement for anything.
Wouter
