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Initially, I started wondering...I mean how much are they really saving? What with all the hassle of bringing the rudders up and down in the middle of a tack.



Hey Peter,

I watched these guys pull off the raising the rudder maneuver countless times at the North Americans. They released windward rudder, tacked, and had the new windward rudder up in about 2 seconds. It requires a flawlessly working rudder system and the choreography of a highly trained dancer to be successful. As with a lot of the different aspects of competitive sailing, I think your gear is second to simple practice, practice, practice.

Whatever these guys were doing was working quite well at the NACs!!!

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Img: Valeske.