Regular equipment checks!

I only figured out last night that I hadn't tighted up the rudder screw (it still had another 1 mm to go to tighten it), so I've had the rudder yolk twisting around the rudder shaft and freelancing on me for the last 4 weeks, so last night I only had 20 degress of turning on the right rudder and about 70 degrees of turning on the left rudder...............which meant I couldn't turn that sharply on the clockwise turns and was loosing a bit of ground instead of gaining it. The fact that I was adjusting the pedals every 3 or 4 days, I should have clicked what was going on.

The ski is going to get a good clean and checkover today so I can start off fresh again.

Tonight I entered the regular Twilight race. I was a bit slow off the blocks at the start line so I missed the big wash of other skis closer to shore and since my rudder was a bit skew whiff I lost ground that I'd caught up in places, mainly on the right had turns. It was a Southerly, so the course was a two lapper from Hataitai Beach out around the boats to Cobham Drive around a couple of buoys then back to Hataitai Beach. I was a little bit generous and helped one of the boys out who turned too close to the 1/2 way turn buoy and had the buoy line well and truly jammed under his rudder, the only way to get it off his ski in the end was for me to roll off my ski to yank it out. I had just over a 60 second delay there, but being on a ski had a quick remount, and I was off again. I'm back out again today to enjoy the rejuvenated steering that my rudder will now give me.

I've just got a couple of photos here, the top one is of the rudder hatch showing the "yolk" where the loose screw was (allen key head) and the bottom photo with the Rubber 3M strip that we can buy here in Wellington from Barton Marine, Mitre 10, Placemakers or Bunnings.

Note: I have used the 3M under the fooplate as the rubber wears off quickly and after a while grit and footplate pressure will scour through the finish coat and through the kevlar if not protected. The 3M strip on the footplate is a must, as I find it's really slippery with bare feet.

I've also used a couple of bits of 3M where you pick the ski up ready to carry it as the top of the footwell is a bit too chunky too grip at times when the ski is wet. Click on phtos to enlarge.

Results from the Twilight Series http://www.kupe.org.nz/