More balance, more grip, less drag

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Sigmas have always had very heavy rudders, the reason is quite obvious when you see the rudder out of the water. The blade is not balanced (left picture) and there is very little area forward of the pivot point around the rudder stock, this means the feeling is that of steering a door on its hinges and a pole. Another problem is the tendency of Sigmas to wipe out in gusts at the slightest hint of overcanvassing. Needless to say that a heavy rudder poses enourmous problems when trying to use autopilots, the effort required is to big and you end up breaking them all like i did last summer.

I've had a new rudder made keeping the old stock, the blade is about 20cm deeper, the area in front of the stock has been increased from 3% to 17% and the profile and section are greatly improved. Just for reference, 19% give a perfectly neutral rudder, which is not advisable, hence 17% should leave a nicely light rudder for autopilot work and enough feel for hand steering.

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