On a Wing and a Rudder - Part I

Andy Rice looks at the T-foil technology that propelled Zach Berkowitz to the title of International 14 World Champion

Zach Berkowitz and Trevor Baylis at the Worlds 2001

You dream of having speed to burn, as you blast out of a packed start line at a world championship. Imagine being 10 per cent faster than the rest of the fleet - you can start almost anywhere on the line, knowing that within the first 100 yards of the race you'll be bows out on your rivals.

That was the dream that came true for Californian Zach Berkowitz who, after 11 years of trying, finally won the International 14 World Championships. And he did it in fine style, winning every race that he competed in by minutes. His secret weapon? The three-foot wing half way down his rudder, the so-called T-foil.

"It generates lift and almost lifts the transom out of the water," explains Berkowitz. So much lift, in fact, that in a breeze he has to stand in the back foot loop going upwind. "That part of it isn't pleasant actually, it's not comfortable being pulled forwards so much by your trapeze wire." But if it makes you go fast, then it seems a sacrifice worth making.

The funny thing is, it was not so much of a secret weapon at all. T-foil technology was not unknown to the rest of the 14 fleet, who had seen Kris Bundy and Jamie Hanseler use a cruder version of a winged rudder to win the 2000 Worlds down at Beer in the south-west of England. It had been a light wind worlds, so the advantages would not have been as obvious in sub-planing conditions, but the writing was on the wall. Perhaps the 14 fleet had its Beer goggles on, because the advantages of the T-foil went largely unnoticed, despite the fact they had just contributed to a championship victory.

Hayling Island's Tim Hancock, who finished runner-up to Berkowitz in Bermuda crewing for Zeb Elliott this year, was crewing for Andy Fitzgerald at Beer. The winged rudders of the Americans had not escaped his attention. One of those using the new-style rudders was Paul Bieker, who has designed most of the fast shapes in International 14s in recent years and was the originator of T-foil technology in the class. "It was Paul Bieker's performance that surprised me most because he scored some good results for somebody who is normally a mid-fleeter," says Hancock.

Click on page 2 to read more about T-foil technology...