Becoming a Sailor

· Lorraine Escher

Losing a Rudder at Sea, 500 Miles from Fiji

In short

We were about 500 miles from Fiji on a lovely sunny day when Paul went into the water to clear a line from our propeller and found that our port rudder was gone. No need to panic: the weather looked benign for the rest of the trip, and Rick was already looking into options for a new rudder. Betty and I made a short video of our Fiorentino para anchor in action.

I was sitting at the bow about 500 miles from Fiji completely unaware of our predicament. Lovely sunny day. Paul was about to get into the water to remove a line from our propeller. Soon, I hear a splash and a shout.

Is he reacting to the water temperature?

No.

A shark?

No.

We have lost a rudder on the port side. That’s what it’s like losing a rudder at sea.

Losing a Rudder at Sea on a Catamaran
Losing a rudder at sea: the remains of our port rudder.

No need to panic. We’ve got this.

Fiorentino Para Anchor

The weather looks benign for the remainder of our trip to Fiji. Rick is already investigating our options for a rudder. Betty and I created a short video that shows our Fiorentino Para Anchor in action.

Paul reports that the water is warm and clear. The sea temperature measures 28.7 degrees Celcius. We are now wearing shorts. The weather in Auckland was putting our limited wardrobes to the test. We experienced hail just before we left and the sea temperature was 20 degrees Celcius.

To end off, here are a couple of pictures of Karen (age 12). She is inspecting a flying fish that landed on our deck this morning.

Next in the story →Fiji Biosecurity Rules: Using Up Contraband Food at Sea

← Previous: Heavy Weather Sailing at Night: New Zealand to FijiPart of Melanesia · 19 posts →

Comments

  3. Hi Lorraine. Any idea why the rudder broke off? Was it while you had the sea anchor out? Was the shaft broken? Your experience is very helpful to other sailors. We depart for Fiji on our cat in 2 weeks time!

    Reply

    1. We were in sustained 4m waves with gusts of up to 50 knots. We didn’t hear or see the rudder break. If we had been on the hard in NZ perhaps we would have seen signs of water intrusion in the rudders. If you have Facebook, please friend me. I’m Lorraine (Hughes) Escher. on my Facebook threads we have had some interesting conversations lately about rudders with a few experienced sailors including Neal Peterson, who is a round the world race sailor, and Angelo Lavranos, who is based in NZ and designed our boat.

      Reply

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