Rudder or not?

[Craig jones]

I often back the Extreme in when landing in surf, as it is much easier to control, the flat bow has the boyancy of a log, so it goes into waves with more control. I wonder if the rudder is going to survive, as the tail of the yac occasionally strikes bottom.

[dgax65]

You should definitely pull up the rudder if you back in through the surf. The last thing you want to do is jam the rudder and strip out the threads for the mounting bolts. The Feather Craft rudder is aluminum and it can handle scraping the sand on a forward landing. I don't think I'd try that with a plastic rudder.

You don't really need the rudder once the wave starts lifting your stern. At that point the wave overcomes whatever rudder control you might have. If you leave the rudder down, the best thing to do is just center the rudder and control by bracing.