Michael,

I was pondering your posting and just wondered whether you had your rudders perfectly aligned. If the H16 rudders feel slower and produce rooster tails then it would seem that there is some mis-alignment. The H16 rudders are generally wider than the normal Mozzie rudders so would produce more drag.

Having the feel that it's like dragging a small sea anchor also indicates that there is an alignment problem. Try with the windward rudder out of the water and see if that makes a significant difference.

As for having un-sheathed timber rudders I think that they would not last too long. You really need the sheathing to provide some additional load bearing strength. Superb condition does not account for any minor blemishes in the timber at 22 knots and associated high stresses.

I race with timber rudders and have experienced many failures most of which can be traced back to poor alignment. I'm now paranoid about rudder alignment and have a new experimental set of rudders. It doesn't take much stress to bend tiller arms.

Regards,

Peter