Corsair 28R, Sailing Manual

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Copyright © 2014 by Corsair Marine International
HEAVY HELM
The tiller should always be light and easy to handle, with just one hand. If not, then
there is something wrong. Usual cause is the rudder blade has kicked back slightly. If this
is not the problem then rudder may not be raked far enough forward. This can be
changed by filling the pivot hole in the rudder blade and re-drilling slightly further
forward (say ¼”).
RUDDER/DAGGERBOARD HUM
This is not an uncommon occurrence due to the difficulty in getting perfectly fair foils in
a production environment, and even carefully handmade foils can develop a hum. This
can be reduced or eliminated with a little fine tuning by filling or sanding the trailing
edge of the foil concerned.
RUDDER VENTILATION
This can be a problem at very high speeds, and symptoms include a ‘whoop’ sound out
the back, a huge rooster tail, and no steering. This normally only happens with speeds
over 15 knots and fortunately the boat usually just keeps tracking straight.
The cause is air being sucked down the side of the rudder at high speeds, particularly if
over steering. Immediate cure is to waggle the rudder a little, or bring onto the
centerline until the water flow reattaches, or slow down.
To avoid, always keep the leading edge of your rudder smooth and fair, and if it
becomes a consistent problem then the best cure is to fix s horizontal ‘fence’ to the
leading edge of the rudder about 12” to 15” up from the bottom.
(Rudder ventilation solution.)