That's my biggest problem. Big ol' snake wake behind me.
Sitting on the windward bench, if you aim by the bow, you'll always be pointing to high.
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That's a good example of how humans can adapt but how difficult it can be to change our ways of doing things. Here is another view on steering a bike. He explains how we inherently steer the bike under us without even thinking about it and subconsciously initiate the turn by steering the opposite direction. The part about balancing a broom handle is kind of how I explained jibing a symmetrical spinnaker, steer the boat under the sail while the pole is off for the jibe (just to keep it relevant to sailing
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there were no cars... there were no steering wheels for that matter..... At the helm, there were always at least 2 quartermaster's mates at the big wheel, four on the big ships, standing on both sides... but commands were given relative to the rudder direction... It would have been confusing to relate the commands to the wheel instead of the helm/rudder. Dude........ nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, a 25 foot boat with a dinky wheel (because the cockpit is too small) looks unbelievably pretentious.... okay...I'll say it... bring on your flames... it looks stupid, ridiculous, absurd!!!! You just don't need a wheel on a boat under 30ft...... It's (forgive me) Power boat-ish.... but that's just my opinion. (Geez, this response somehow turned into a rant. Forgive me, please........... I'm old)
Is that so? I never thought of that. So I can understand, if we imagine a skeg-hung rudder, what does "right rudder" mean? I think it would mean that the rudder is deflected to the right, the tiller, then, to the left, and the boat turns to the right. Right? I would also think that the wheel turning towards the right, i.e., clockwise as viewed from aft, always did this. Not true?
I wonder when this custom changed. The square rigged boats I sailed turned in the direction of the top of the wheel. Of course this was in the last century, long since cars were around. It would be easy enough to swap the direction, just rig the rope to the top of the wheel rather than the bottom.
I don't think it ever changed, I want to see a historical reference for what Joe asserts. I think he's mistaken.
Actually, that term "right rudder" was not commonly used during the age of sail. It sounds like aeronautical or wheel controlled power boat vernacular. But I could be mistaken. I just know what I read. aka. patrick obrian, dewey lamdin, etc. Everything was related to wind direction and rudder position...and compass heading, of course.
Okay, but he was driving a Grady White like it was his car. No benches, no sails, etc.
It's entirely possible that I may have confused things....I just remember reading one of my many naval fiction novels about certain vessels being set up this way and certainly it was not the entire case. Rather than thumb through those novels looking for the piece, and after quickly scanning articles on some rather famous sailing battleships of the day (i.e HMs Victory) that contradict my understanding, I'll let it go. However, if, in the future you disagree with me, please have the common courtesy to address me directly, rather than tell me I'm wrong in the third person. Like I'm not in the room. That's just uncool. Okay... love all of y'all.
This is incorrect, and in fact, is internally contradictory. The tiller moves opposite of the rudder. Here's a reference:
I loved those books. I read all of the Patrick O'Brian Jack Aubrey books - 21 of them, as I recall. I still think the first and tenth were the best. I was blown away when I started at the realism of the Naval battle scenes. It turns out O'Brian gleaned these accounts from the ships' log books in the Royal archive. Incredible!
'Bout Time someone laid out the plain truth.... !Finally, I think there are some sailors that think that, in some misguided way, having a steering wheel instead of a tiller somehow makes the boat look higher quality.
That is backwards. It's the direction of the tiller that points to the direction the stern moves. The stern moves opposite of the direction the rudder points.
Circling back on this - you can tell I'm like a dog who's got hold of a bone - I have to disagree. How far back do you want to go? An example of a Georgian ship of the line that still exists is HMS Victory. On Victory, turning the wheel to starboard, i.e., clockwise when facing forward, moves the tiller to port and the ship turns to starboard. Victory was launched in 1765, I think, and of course, designed years before. And, I can't imagine they were breaking any new ground regarding steering on such ships.Funny thing is, on those old wooden wheel equipped ships... frigates, 4th rate, 3rd, 2nd etc.. the pulley system was NOT reversed like it is on modern boats. Turning the wheel to the right pointed the rudder to the right, not the boat, just like a tiller arm does, meaning you turned the wheel in the opposite direction you wanted to go... think about it... back in those days you didn't tell your new driver to "steer it like you're driving a car"
