Rudder Damage

3 years ago
17

What happens when a rudder meets a concrete step.

The backstory: A 47' Bareboat charter was just a little too over confident in their abilities and tried to take the boat places it obviously didn't belong, such as the shallow small boat channel. After several boat owners scolded them in several languages, they quickly realized their mistake. They then decided that instead of reversing and turning out to port into the wind and open marina channel, that a starboard turn with the wind would give them access to the swim platform of an Azimut 68 in the concrete lift basin, and would be a great place to stop, for drinks I reckon? Much to the chagrin of the Azimut's crew, who also joined the chorus of protestations. So between the 18kt crosswind, a very unprepared crew, some bad decision making, some extra heat from owners and professional crew, the frying pan was too hot and the skipper panicked instead of stopping and reassessing the situation. I had never seen the stern a boat climb out of the water going forward before. Luckily the damage was not worse.

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