[Public-List] Dolor sailor on Alberg 30 made it to Hawaii, broken rudder

[Michael Grosh]

I sailed on a friend's (36') schooner a couple of times. I was shocked at
how unresponsive it was to the rudder under sail. Sail trimming was
absolutely necessary to steer. The sweet handling of the A30 definately
spoils, if one doesn't know better.
michael grosh
#220


On Thu, Sep 23, 2021, 10:48 Gordon Laco via Public-List <
public-list at lists.alberg30.org> wrote:

> Funny you should mention Hornblower…
>
> When I was working on Master and Commander, part of my job was to
> choreograph the action sequences.   I did my best to describe to the my
> good colleagues on the production that loosing the rudder was a fairly
> minor inconvenience in a square rigged sailing ship, particularly when se
> was free to sail downwind.  The reason is that the complex rig is almost
> infinitely adaptable with regard to adjusting balance.   It is only holding
> a precise course that is impeded.   In the first battle scene… losing
> rigging forward would have made it impossible for SURPRISE to turn away
> from her antagonist.  She did not need her rudder to pile sail on forward
> and by that means turn her head away.  In a sailing ship 80% of steering is
> done with the rig, the rudder is only a trim tab.   Next time you look at a
> drawing of a sailing ship, note how small the rudder is.  Modern sailing
> vessels tend to have much larger rudders because they have to operate as
> powered vessels much of the time.
>
> I explained that losing the foremast and or bowsprit is what would have
> created the emergency we were depicting.  But the production correctly
> decided that we didn’t have the screen time to explain this to the
> audience, who would instantly associate a loss of the rudder with an
> emergency.
>
> In the storm sequence, losing the upper part of SURPRISE’s mizzen and
> having it dragging astern would actually have been a great aid in her
> survival.  Losing rigging forward would have caused her to round up and
> broach as we depicted.   And of course, towing some spars would not stop
> her as we depicted… it would have slowed her from the twelve knots or so
> she was doing, to eleven or eleven and a half…  and would have steadied her
> steering wonderfully…Warley who went overboard might have been seen for an
> instant swimming… but then gone in an instant astern.  I explained all
> this, but  ah well… movies…
>
>
> Gordon Laco
> 426 Surprise
>
>
>