Home / Watch out for that rudder loss!

By Pupa_Yelken

December 14, 2008

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I had my day skipper practical course in Turkey this summer. I chartered a (1 yr old) 37ft Bavaria in pristine condition in Gocek from a western company run by a very experienced New Zealander. This was a family event together with my wife, my son and my daughter. They completed their competent crew qualification alongside. Our training skipper was an able sailor with 35 years of commercial experience – an Englishman from Scarborough. I was told that the boat was fully checked and everything was ok. We had an inflatable dinghy. As we did not plan to go too far we were advised to drop it on the shore as it was taking space and flipping about. We did. We sailed two uneventful days  in pristine bays of Gocek (a very popular prime sailing/holiday area in southwest part of Turkey). The only odd thing we noticed that the turns of the helm was not the same in both direction. We did not get into any shallow area to risk the boat either. On the third day, we got out of Gocek Bay and moved into the larger Fethiye Bay. After a few tacks and gibes, I was on the helm and we were sailing off a small island and suddenly the boat veered into the wind violently. I tried to steer the boat with but with no avail. Then we saw the blue rudder and some yellow fiber/foam filler floating behind us. We immediately donned out lifejackets and calmed my son (youngest of the family) who was a bit excited and worried.

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Comments (2)

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lost rudder
Ken Upton - Jan 29, 2010 6:30 PM

Strong bucket on a good long rope , If more drag is needed tie ,a blanket ,sleeping bag or some like that ! to make a bigger drag factor . Fix line to a strong back deck cleat>> on the side that need to turn or keep the boat in balance . With a little practice you will soon learn how.Many of our AYRS members , know all sorts of tricks to get home . That's one of the problems doing real R&D in the open sea.To make sailing better and safer for the general public . If you like new ideas then join Ayrs and get 4 great Catalyst magazines a year .On all the latest technology , Catalyst is well worth it. Gives a good insight to what is possible and what is coming .

Losing Bavaria parts
Tor in Sweden - Feb 03, 2010 8:22 PM

This is a completely normal experience when sailing a one year old Bavaria. The expected working lifespan for these boats is 6-8 weeks.