About Our SportTrek Rudder
The number one reason our kayaks are so effective? The SportTrek Rudder. Read on for the details, or jump right to the features.
What's the main reason our kayaks are so amazing? It's simple: Lightspeed Kayaks are fit with the exclusive SportTrek Rudder System – the most advanced rudder in the ocean kayaking industry.
Introducing the Lightspeed SportTrek Rudder System
A part rudder setting gives light course maintenance help
in breeze and chop.
A full rudder under the stern keeps you on course,
even in troughs and following seas.
It is hard to compress all that should be said about the Lightspeed SportTrek rudder.
There was a time when sailboats did not have rudders and were turned by sail trim alone; but no self-respecting sailboat would be without one today.
The science of high performance hydrodynamics shows the importance of rudder design and position to the handling properties imparted to a boat. Unfortunately not a single kayak rudder system (other than ours) uses design technology that takes advantage of state of the art hydrodynamics.
Virtually all conventional rudders on present-day kayaks function by inducing drag and slowing one side of the boat.
Lightspeed Kayak rudders generate lift, not drag. The lack of drag when compared to other rudder systems is noticeable. Test paddlers have repeatedly been astounded by not being able to tell if the rudder is up or down. The real difference, however, comes on initiating a turn. At speed the rudder alone will carve a turn, handles the boat with sports-car flair and will track through wind and wave action with amazing efficiency. Beginners have immediate and unsurpassed control, and experts can use the rudder like a third paddle blade. It must be tried to be appreciated - the proof, as Granny used to say, is in the paddling.
Also, there is no deck clutter and when it's up ... it's simply gone, with no wind or wave effect! The rudder is activated by releasing a single line and retrieved by hauling on the same line.
Welcome to the new millennium!
Features of the Lightspeed SportTrek Rudder System
- The aerofoil wing-shape generates lift, not drag; there's no loss of momentum on turns.
- Part rudder setting gives light course maintenance help in breeze and chop.
- Full rudder under the stern keeps you on course even in troughs and following seas.
- To drop your rudder from the stern, simply release its line from the cleat at your right hand - it stays fully submerged even in the lifting action of a following sea, giving you sure, constant control.
- Ran over a shallow rock? No problem: the rudder's hinged and bungeed to brush and lift over obstructions, then drop right back into position.
- You can lock the rudder at an angle and use it as a skeg extension, giving mild correction for light wind and current conditions.
- We call it the "invisible rudder": there's no aft-deck clutter, no long, exposed deck cables to snag and wear.
- Less is truly more: less wind resistance and clutter - less wear and tear on exposed parts - more handling precision - more value.
