Rudders and Finns

At least the weather has been half decent this weekend which has allowed me to scratch the surface of the project. However I have also had to score some brownie points by doing some decorating and mowing the lawn - which had suddenly grown by about six inches. As all in the UK will know, spring is at least a month late this year and all the plant activity seems to be being concentrated. The picture in the last post showed a Japanese Magnolia and already the petals are turning brown and falling off. Here is a cherry tree taken three days ago and most of the blossom is gone already.

Beautiful but short lived

Most importantly I managed to clear most of the rust off the centreboard and was delighted to see that while there was a lot of corrosion there is still enough good steel. So a bit of rust treatment and suitably tough paint and I should have a board that will last at least a few years. I will need to replace the lifting ropes as they have seen better days but that shouldn't be too much of a problem and the box top, while functional, could do with remaking – easier to do while it's off anyway.

The other couple of tasks that have been completed (nearly!) is the old cross member has been removed and the grotty plastic tubing that had been put round the bow has been stripped off. Both areas need a little cleaning up now but the worst has been done. The plywood should arrive tomorrow so I hope to be able to cut out the cross member ready for mounting and I'll give it a coat of epoxy as that was delivered this morning. It's great to think that new parts are going on to the boat rather than old stuff coming off, though there's still more of that to do as well.

One other task I have managed is to roughly draw up the rudder and stock to scale and put a grid against the drawing. I'll try to tidy that up and put it on the WWPUK group files site. I'm confident I have the stock design (plan only) about right but the blade needs a little more work. As the transom comes down at a reverse angle the front edge of the rudder needs to be at worst vertical and at the moment it's following the line of the transom which won't work too well. Should have that done today but having said that my Dad has offered me an old Finn rudder which I may be able to make work though I suspect it will need some 'adjustment'. At least its basic shape is about right and I can dream my name's Ainslie but I suspect that pumping a Potter to windward in a Force 3 – 4 is probably missing the point of the boat!

Finn sailors are of course a special breed – I recall a story about Brian Saffrey Cooper, who sailed a Finn at the Tokyo Olympics, describing a hurricane as being “Top end of 4”. The boat certainly seems to be a training ground for some of the best racers around, take a look at the hall of fame – http://www.finnclass.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88&Itemid=14.