You said "A balanced rudder, a rudder swept forward until 20% of the rudder area is in front of a line through the pintle axis, will feel neutral, light touch, no matter what the side load on the rudder"
Why is it that sweeping a rudder forward only 20% in relation to the pintle axis will fuly neutralize the helm (regardless of the load)? I understand why this shift in rudder position has the effect that it does, but would have guessed that it would be necessary to end up with closer to 50% of the rudder surface area in front and 50% behind the pintle axis to get the balanced helm you describe independent of rudder load.
