Downwinding & Rudders

I don't have any idea and haven't done a DW, but out of interest when your on a runner, is that when you are using the rudder, or do you steer by normal surf stance.

I would have thought it would be difficult to use a rudder while your surfing.

I notice Lacey Lane is going to do an EPIC paddle on a 14 ft board without a rudder. So what is the advantage of a rudder?

Thanks

Shane

I thought Laceys board was going to have a rudder (from the way the post was written)

umm, i'm not doing that paddle, at least for now. the rocket is rudderless, more of a flatwater board. have done some down winders on it and really do miss a rudder. i like turning all the time chasing ramps and lanes. generally trying to avoid being stuck in the bottom of a trough. the name of the game from watching and learning from the guns is not to lose board speed.btw, i generally like a good time not a long time, but if i do that paddle it would only be on a 17'- not brainer imo
cheers

Downwinder's comments are spot on. To stay in and link smaller runners you tend to use the rudder, once it's bigger you're back in surfing stance towards the tail.
I paddled a rudderless board for the past two years and switched to a board with rudder several months ago.

With the rudderless board you definitely have to get the footwork going and whether you are downwind, crosswind or upwind. Initially i thought the rudder would help with crosswind and upwind a lot, but I think it's minimal, compared to where you stand and weight. The rudder has more effect once you are moving on a bump..

Agree 100% on this, i found the biggest difference between my F14 and the F16's I tried was the ability to stay on the rudder. The F14 has a much flatter nose rocker and would pearl pretty easily unless you could steer across the wave face or step back to keep the nose up. On the F16 the extra length seems largely to be kicked up nose and that makes a huge difference to your ability to ride over little bumps and swells without stepping back. Being on the steering helps to link runners by constantly making small direction changes while you are just paddling to keep speed up rather than paddling to change direction. Of course you step back in and out of surfing stance all the time but the steering foot stays pretty close to the rudder unless you are on a real surfing face when you do step right back. So much of the speed on a down-winder is about maintaining momentum, you really aim to keep the board moving faster than the speed you can paddle by milking every little dip - inevitably you do bog down on the back of waves but that not only slows you down it costs a lot of energy to get the board going onto the next face.

On rudderless boards the ability to stay pretty much in regular paddling stance (or slightly surfing stance) and still turn the board easily to change direction to link the runners makes a huge difference, if you have to step back to turn you will be wasting a lot of energy trying to turn the board with the paddle. That's one of the things I'm really enjoying about the Starboard Surf Race, feels like i can just "think" it into a new direction and maintain my momentum.

I'd love to do that paddle with you guys

In the short amount of time that I watched Conner Baxter disappear into the distance on his way to winning the Maui to Molokai race I was staggered to see how much of a zig zag course he was taking, looking for and catching every runner possible. The other good guys do the same, get on the runner then go one way or the other to keep the nose of the board out of the trough and keep surfing the walls of the swells.

I enjoyed using the rudder and was thrilled with the opportunities it opens up but when the wind and swell are pretty well behind I think there is nothing more fun than stepping up and down the board on a fixed fin

Dave I am so pleased to hear Connor won the event!

The posts on the forum always seem to be say this guy is a power house etc, well having met Connor at Noosa he is a fly weight to say the least, however he is very savy on what goes on in the ocean.





Its not always the power house that will come first.

The board does have a lot to do with it but skill and training are still the drivers in racing imho.

Dave which one of the starboards was Connor riding.

Phill

I recon it will be between Connor & Ikolu Kalama to take out first & second for this years Molokai Race with Dave kalama to take out the over 40's & Jack Gillan over 50's anyone one up for a wager (carton of Melbourne Bitter Stubbies).

I'm stoked for Mark Raaphorts that other companies buy his SIC boards & put there own logos on them (too funny)

Doesn't Mark have a history with Starboard? I think he designed the Point for them.

Did Connor race in the Open Category on the F14 or was it 14ft class?

The reason I ask is there seems to be so many categories and different ideas on what the future holds.

It would be nice to have some stability in what is going on with race classes.

Phill.

Darn your cunning PT, I was hoping you would think those wires were just part of my surround sound iPod....