We broke a rudder blade going to C for the first time during Race 1. Stuffed the bow, bore off and heard a huge crack. Same puff (or very close to) the puff that pitchpoled Chuck and Mavis. We didn't pitchpole but came to an abrupt halt long enough to see both Chuck and Mavis with the boat and working their way onto the hull. At that point we were close enough to see Matt/Gina and Seth/Stefan round C mark. We rounded C mark, but obviously had helm problems the rest of the race (the starboard rudder was flexing back and forth) and quickly lost contact with the lead boats. We were able to finish Race 1 in third place and start Race 2. We made the first triangle of race 2 (again, not competitive due to helm problems on port tack) and almost all the way back to A when the pressure from the broken starboard rudder popped the port rudder stock off the top pintle. We made our way back to the beach and scavenged a replacement rudder blade from Matt. We did notice the port rudder stock had a small crack on the lower portion (where the lower gudgeon pin goes in). We hoped it was only a surface crack.....

Sunday was rainy and blustery. We loaded the rudders back on, rigged the sails and got in line to get off the beach. It was downwind to the start so we put the spin up as we were a little late getting off the beach. As soon as the spin filled and loads were put on the rudders - BOOM, the whole port rudder casting exploded off the boat. The lower part of the rudder stock was ripped from the lower gudgeon pin. I guess it was not a “surface crack”. Done for the day/weekend.

We sailed the boat back to the beach using the tiller arm on the leeside for steerage. That was fun in the breeze. Loaded the boat on the trailer and headed home.

It was nice to see everyone and get some 80 degree sunshine, wish we could have participated in more of the racing.

Engineering questions:
1. Is it plausible that the broken starboard rudder caused the rudder stock problems on the port side (rudder stock popped of the top gudgeon pin and eventually complete rudder stock failure)?
2. We looked at the starboard gudgeons and they looked to be slightly misaligned (not much), but enough to distinguish with the naked eye. Would rudder not exactly in the vertical plane or not matching the port rudder’s plane be more apt to break? I’ll take some pictures and post them when I can.

I’d like to find out the root cause as to breaking the starboard rudder, as this is the second one that I have broken. Being the starboard rudder could be coincidence as both happened sailing downwind under spin on port tack in heavy wind.

It is entirely possible that my “technique” for bearing off was/is a little too radical and not as smooth as it should be. Heck, I was just trying to avoid an ender.