Optimal Rudder throw

[Stephen Robinson]

Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on the maximum rudder throw one should have.
I've seen 45° mentioned as well as 30°.
I'm setting up a 'new to me' IOM.
At our last meet, I tried 45° and added some Expo to try and desensitise the rudder at low throws, for jibing, but it didn't seem to be very effective.
It was still rather twitchy and I guess I had plenty of throw to round the markers.....

I'm going to try reducing the throw to try next time and see if anyhting improves.

Steve

[Bruce Andersen]

less throw = less drag
45 degrees seems a bit much and makes it tempting to use the whole throw, although it might be useful when trying to stop to avoid going over the starting line early!

[Stephen Robinson]

Thanks. I have changed it to 30° and will try that.