Hi Postville:
I'll also elucidate a bit, please excuse that I'll be writing as if to a beginner sailor. Don't think you are a beginner, but this may be useful to someone else, who knows?
First of all your rudder.. if you are not holding it, then it has minimal effect on the boat's movement, as there is no force on it. So your Lee Helm problem is not your rudder. As GL wrote, it's a beautiful rudder and I wish it were allowed in the DS Racing Rules... High Aspect, deep, apparently with a NACA profile, with a sensible set of rudder cheeks and made of a beautiful wood. If you want to get fancy one day, apply a bit of what old-time bicycle racers used to call "Drillium".. Drill out some holes in the rudder cheeks to lighten them. Any weight you save at the rear, even if just a few pounds, contributes to better boat performance (see below).
Sailing is all about balance. Very specifically, we are balancing the force of the sails in the air against the force of the hull, centerboard, and rudder in the water. Even though the in-the-water surfaces are so much smaller than the in-the-air surfaces (sails), they balance out because water is so much denser than air. If you did not have the underwater portions, then the boat would just skid sideways to the leeward (think of a plate with a sail on it), if you did not have the air portion then you wouldn't move at all. Both work together. The underwater portion has a Center of Lateral Resistance (CLR) that works like a pivot point, around which the entire boat can swing. The above-water portion has a Center of Effort (COE) which is the theoretical point that sums up all the forces on the sails. Both CLR and COE are constantly moving as the hull moves in the waves and the wind shifts on the sails.
Now, generally speaking, you want the COE to be BEHIND the CLR... so if you let go of the rudder, the boat will head up into the wind (Weather Helm). As you know by now, if the boat has a tendency to bear off to the lee (Lee Helm), then you run the risk of being overpowered. You want just a bit of weather helm, the COE should be about a foot behind CLR, no more, actually maybe closer to 6 inches behind. Just enough so that the boat turns gently upwind if you let go the rudder. Too much and you're creating turbulence, bad! Ever see a catamaran throwing rooster-tails? That's weather helm... Anyway, how do we get the COE behind CLR?
First option is to make sure the CLR is properly forward of the COE. Make sure to put your Centerboard down as far as you can for the conditions (amount of water under your hull), if it's at half-depth then the CLR will be set back a bit. Then sit forward... Remember, our boats are unballasted and weigh only 550lbs, so YOUR weight has a considerable effect on trim. Your wife is where the crew ought to be, right behind the cuddy, but you should be sitting almost right next to her. All else being equal, the CLR is somewhere on the front half of the centerboard, in other words right under the front thwart. So, if you are sitting between the rear of the Centerboard and the Transom, you are moving the CLR back at least a foot, just with your weight. Sit forward! Only exception is when you are running with the wind, then you want to scooch back (quite a bit if you are under spinnaker, I sit on the transom). GreenLake has more about this all in his writeup on Basic Sailing Techniques (
viewtopic.php?p=36889#p36889). Once you gain experience with the DaySailer, you'll find out that you can pretty much steer with your bodyweight, scooch forward to turn to windward, scooch back to turn to lee. For what it's worth, even if it's just a tiny bit, Drillium (lightening the rudder cheeks) will help you keep your overall weight forward.
The other way is make sure the COE is far back enough. As GL wrote, proper mast rake is key. Not the first thing I'd do (get your weight forward!), but important. However, the COE is actually very dynamic, for instance if you douse your jib the COE goes WAY back (good luck tacking). That's an extreme example, but you can see where sail trim affects the COE, trim in the main or loose the jib and COE goes back, vice versa and it goes forward (up to a point in both cases). Anything that you do to affect the mainsail's Draft also affects COE, so that would be Cunningham, Outhaul, and Vang (my favorites). And then there's mast bend. We're getting into the weeds here, things that affect the COE by mere inches, but crucial inches...
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Walk before you run, learn to distribute your weight properly, i.e Sit Forward. As I wrote above, CLR is also dynamic, it moves as the boat goes thru waves and/or heels. Your main way of controlling it is always your weight, where and how you sit. Truth is, I mostly sail with my ass.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Last year, I said that to my son and he made me watch the car-racing movie "Rush" (great film!), where Nikki Lauda says: "God gave me an okay mind, but a really good ass, which can feel everything in a car." Same same with our Daysailers!
Fair winds,
Tom